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Of Heat, C130's, Shadows and Wings

2010-10-07T17:40:00Z

Recently my husband and I took one of our grandsons to the Miramar Air Show. I should rephrase that to read, we “took one of our grandsons to swelter” at the Miramar Air Show. I don’t know exactly what the temperature was on the flight line, but my guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of ninety-plus degrees. We baked – without shade, without relief, for hours. And as much as we love the air show, I have to admit we were all pretty miserable.

While there I noticed something I’d never seen before. In order shelter themselves from that blistering sun, people were crowded under the shadow of the wings of a massive C130. Some were sitting on the ground, others had beach chairs, but they were all seeking shade. It was a beautiful analogy and as I pondered it, it became even more glorious.

Most of us are familiar with the passages in Psalms that speak of our hiding ourselves in the same way:
• Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! (Ps 61:4)
• Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. (Ps 17:8-9)

In these passages and others like them (Ps 57:1; 91:4) we see the Lord as the One who protects us from harm. When utter ruin or malicious enemies would destroy us, we can hide under His defending arms and know that our souls will be safe. When the blistering sun of trials make our hearts faint, we can find sweet relief in the Lord’s presence. In fact, we can find more than relief, we can find joy, “for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.” (Ps 63:7) We’re not simply hiding there, cowering, holding our breath until the danger passes. No, we’re singing for joy because we’re so secure. But that’s not all.

In his commentary on Galatians, Luther employs this metaphor in another way…a way that, quite frankly I’d never considered. He writes, "But I am covered under the shadow of Christ’s wings…and I live without fear under that wide banner of the forgiveness of sins that is spread over me. Therefore, God covers and pardons the remnant of sin in me; that is, because of the faith with which I began to lay hold upon Christ, he accepts my imperfect righteousness as perfect righteousness and counts my sin as no sin, even though it is indeed sin…So we shroud ourselves under the covering of Christ’s flesh. He is our pillar of cloud by day and our pillar of fire by night, lest God should see our sin. "

Can you see how this changes the metaphor? That threatening sun isn’t only foreign enemies or terrible trials from without. It is God’s wrath at my sin and the wings that shelter me from it is Christ’s own body. He suffered in the Father’s inferno – received His wrath in His own flesh – was scorched in the blast furnace that my unbelief and selfishness had fueled. Now I am safely anchored under those dear wings I can be confident that He’ll keep me, or as the pastor to the Hebrews wrote, “we who have fled for refuge [under His wings have] strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Heb 6:18).

So, although we may face trial and difficulty today we can know with certainty that we’re completely hidden from the scorching wrath our sin deserves. We have a strong encouragement because we know that what He has done in sheltering us today will continue forever! John writes,

Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Rev 7:15-17)

Submission is Harder than You Think

2010-09-21T22:12:00Z

    As a Christian woman and a wife, I’ve heard a lot of teaching on the topic of submission over the years. I assume that most women who attend good churches have, too. I’ve also had disturbing conversations with egalitarian women who think that submission is mutual in marriage: husbands and wives equally submitting to one another. Gallons (drums?) of ink have been spilled over the roles of men and women in the home and the true definition of what it means for a wife to submit to her husband. Yes, submission has been a hot topic in Christian circles for years.

    But there’s one form of submission that Paul speaks of that I’ve never heard anyone discuss – at least not in those terms. Here’s Romans 10:1-4:

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

    In this passage, Paul is expressing his deep longing for the salvation of his Jewish brothers. He recognizes that they have a zeal for God, a desire to stand righteous before Him, but in their zeal to serve and please God they are gravely mistaken. They are ignorant of the way of salvation—of the righteousness that comes from God. Is this ignorance just a lack of education or is there a moral component to it? It’s not simply that they are innocent, misguided seekers. No, in fact, their ignorance is willful. They are culpable because they have a desire for something other than the righteousness that comes from the God Whom they say they’re seeking to please. They desire to glory in their own righteousness so they aren’t willing to “submit” to His.
Isn’t that the difficulty with true Christianity? It forces us all, women and men, to subordinate ourselves – to bow low beneath the truth that if we want to be righteous we must give up all our efforts at righteousness and submit to His.

    I ought to rejoice that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,” but I’m not sure that I always do. Yes, of course, when I’m in my right mind, I exult in the truth embodied in those words. But there are other times, and far too frequently, when I find myself relying on my obedience to the law so that I can assure my own heart and beg to squirm out from under the total submission He’s demanded of me. You mean I can’t rely on myself at all? Really? Can’t I just craft a little something to hang on to when I start to doubt whether grace is enough? This feeling of freefalling into someone else’s mercy and righteousness is really quite unnerving. Sometimes grace gives me the shivers.

    I’ll admit that wifely submission is difficult. But this kind of submission, submission to an alien righteousness, a righteousness that I do not deserve and don’t really even always want, is utterly impossible. I will never, and I mean never, give up the moral high ground on my own. God must humble me and change my heart by His Spirit, compelling me to bow the knee at Calvary or I will always remain a proud Pharisee. Here’s the truth: sometimes I make efforts at submitting to my husband so that I don’t have to submit in this other way. Sometimes I make nice dinners and say, “Yes, dear, of course,” just so that I can assure my own heart that I’ve got a little righteousness of my own.

    It’s actually a nice distraction from the humiliating reality of an alien righteousness to spend time talking about being a godly wife – although that’s not a bad thing – it’s just that in my self-sufficient heart I’d really rather talk about anything other than that submission. That humiliation? That righteousness? That weakness? Really?
Let’s pray today that the Lord may grant us all, women and men, the grace to submit ourselves to His righteousness and stop seeking to establish our own…no matter what form that might take.

Why the Resurrection? What does it mean?

2010-09-01T15:42:00Z

I remember a time a few years ago when I was speaking with a friend who was relating to me some difficulties in her life. I asked her, "What does the resurrection mean in this situation?" She answered, "I know it should mean something, but I don't know what." Most of us are there. We know that the resurrection is important but we haven't connected it with our daily lives.

    Sometimes the chapter breaks in the Bible get in the way of our understanding truth. Here's the last two verses from Romans 4 and the first verse of Romans 5:

"But the words 'it was counted to him' were not written for his [Abraham's] sake alone, but for ours also. It [righteousness] will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

     The death of Jesus Christ was the ultimate expression of God's hatred of and wrath against sin. He slaughtered His own Son, pouring out upon Him all of the wrath for all of the sins of all of the elect that would have been their's for all of eternity -- in three short hours. Only the wrath of God could kill the Son of God. Christ's death signals God's wrath against sin.

    So what does the resurrection signal? Simply this: that Christ had paid the penalty and was now, once again, completely pleasing in the Father's sight. Jesus was back to being, "My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased." God raised Him up and declared Him, "Not guilty."

    Okay, that's all well and good as an interaction between the Father and the Son...but what about us? Here's the mind-blowing truth: When the Father punished the Son, he punished him for all the sin you ever have and ever will commit. All God's wrath for all your sin has been propitiated! So, where does that leave you and I who believe that this substitution was for us? Here: We are His beloved children, with whom He is well-pleased. Yes, we are not guilty -- but not simply not guilty. We are righteous and pleasing to Him. We are beloved sons and daughters -- with whom He is very pleased!

    How should this truth of expiated sin and complete acceptance and righteousness affect you today? All the personal sin you struggle with today has been taken care of. The enslaving power of it has been broken because you are now completely accepted and no longer guilty. Walking through suffering is transformed by the realities of His suffering for you and His guaranteed promise of future glory. He is completely at peace with you -- if you will believe that He is that good.

    All the wrath is gone. You're completely pleasing to Him. All you have to do is believe.

    For some of you, you may be thinking:" yeah, but what about confession ...repentance ...doing good...???"
To which I respond, "Of course!" All these things will be the natural outgrowth of true faith in Him and in what the resurrection says about Him, about you. But don't let the focus be on you and what you need to do. Let it be on Him and on what He's done. Then confess, obey, repent, do good. But don't do it because you feel guilty. Do it because you have been loved and welcomed. Do it because you're ALREADY very pleasing to Him and you love to serve Him.

    How important is the resurrection? It means everything."Wrath" is completely spent, "very pleasing" has come to stay.

Will Faith Be Enough Today?

2010-08-30T19:00:00Z

    I woke up this morning troubled by yesterday’s failures. In fact, I spent most of the night last night, trying to drown out the voice of my inner slave driver who incessantly told me that I’m still the same and that I might as well give it up. More confessions: The truth is that I wasn’t primarily troubled this morning about my sin before God. Yes, of course, there was that, but I was mostly concerned about my reputation before others. The question, “Why did I say that?” led as it always does to, “I might as well give up.” It was this refrain that had repeated in my head all night long. “Nothing ever changes. Everything will always be the same. You’re no different now then you were decades ago…Just give up.”

    Of course, I knew that the ways that I had sinned by not loving my neighbor, by trying to impress others, was ultimately tied to the gospel but I was having trouble getting there. The first impulse of my heart was to “get my act together.” I determined what I needed to do to demonstrate that I really was going to be different today. Honestly, I wasn’t drawn to prayer and Bible reading. I felt agitated and was drawn to list making. But God in His kindness inclined my heart to start my day back where I needed to. In my reading through Romans, this was my portion for the day; this was how God spoke to me:

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness" (Rom 4:18-22 ESV).

    God made a promise to Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, that his children would number as many as the stars in the heavens. The promise had been given twenty-five years before but still he had no children. He considered his own body and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb – their inability to fulfill their part of God’s promise should have crushed his faith. But Paul tells us that he “grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”

    I know that you’re familiar with this story and that you know that its ultimate fulfillment is in the promised Messiah. But this morning this story spoke to my heart in this way: I could look at the weakness and barrenness of my life. Those were, indeed, true realities. In response, I could get out my list, my sticky-notes, and devise ways of feeling better about myself. To switch back to our patriarch’s story, I could go visit Hagar. Or I could give glory to God knowing that even though I am still so very weak, so very barren of true love for my neighbor, God had already promised me that I would be fruitful and that my life would somehow count. How? Only through faith in the righteousness of another. It was in this process of rehearsing God’s promises to me, of giving Him glory for His wonderful mercy, grace and kindness, that my heart was changed and I walked out into faith again.

    Every morning…every moment of every day…I have a choice to make. I can trust in my heart’s default position: Work it out, work harder, prove I’m better, show that I do love my neighbor, engage with Hagar and my sticky-notes. Or, I can rest in His promise that even though I look at myself and realize that for me it’s been nearly forty years since I first believed the promise, the One who is able to speak into existence things that don’t exist, has declared that I am righteous now and that this faith is enough now. It must be enough or I can’t breathe. That was the choice for me today and it’s the choice we all face every day.

    Don’t get nervous. I’m not saying that now I’ll cavalierly spend my day being rude and popping bon-bons. No, this transformation means that I have faith to fight the war again – this time with a smile. I have the courage to get up again and seek to love my neighbor and love my Father because I know that for Him…it’s enough. My belief in His grace is enough for Him. May it be enough for me today, Lord.

The Odd (Wo)Man Out

2010-08-02T20:21:00Z

I’ve always felt like I’m the odd one out…like everyone else is on the inside and I’m standing there, tapping on the window pleading in a whiney-sounding voice, “Hey, guys…I’m out here…can I come in, too, pleeeaaase?”

When I was a child I had a terrifying recurring dream, especially when I was fevered. In it I was standing on a dark stage and I was completely alone. I was aware of the fact that I was alone and had no place to hide. The isolation was horrifying. Five decades later, that dream still impacts me.

Then, when I was a teen, Petula Clark recorded a song entitled, “The In Crowd.” In the song she boasted, “ I’m in with the in crowd, I go where the in crowd goes…I know what the in crowd knows.” Well, needless to say, most of us never really hung out with the “in crowd”. Most of us relate more to tapping on the window, hoping to be let in. But, even if you’re one of those popular people who always found yourself “in”, you know that sense of belonging doesn’t last for very long because there is always another group that’s more in than yours. We weren’t meant to find our identity in the “in crowd” or the cool, loser “out crowd”, or in the “isolated, I-don’t-give-a-rip” crowd. We are meant to find our identity in Christ.

Adam and Eve never experienced this awareness of alienation before the Fall. In fact, wasn’t their sin and subsequent exile from Eden the genesis of our sense that we “just don’t belong”? Ashamed, banished from their true home, we’ve all been wandering ever since…seeking and never really finding that one place where we know we’re loved, welcomed, accepted for who we are: Home. None of us really fit in here because we’re not meant to find our primary identity in family or friends. We’re meant to find our identity in Christ.

Why is there such alienation? Why do we feel so alone? Our problem is that we are sinners. Our sin separates us from each other. Others sin against us and we turn from them in disappointment or disgust. We sin against others and they turn away from us, too. We see their sin and feel self-righteous and wary of relationship with them – as if their sin might contaminate us. We see our sin and feel guilty and self-condemned so we hide, hoping that the “good face” we put on will be enough to fool them and open the door to relationship, to home. And, worst of all, at the bottom of all this separation, we feel alienated from God. “How can God love and welcome me?” is the question that’s at the heart of, “How can you love me? How can I love you?” These questions plague us, so we continue to hide, tap on the window, hope that we’ll be let in and all the while fearing that we will be. We think that we’re different from everyone else when, in fact, we’re all the same. That’s the secret that our enemy keeps trying to hide from us all. We all feel alienated. No one is ever assured that they’re really in the “in crowd”, no matter what Petula Clark says.

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, the High Priest who became one of us, was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He became part of the “loser” crowd. What this means is that he was tempted to experience sinful self-consciousness, self-protection, self-pity, isolation, comparison and judging. He was tempted to disassociate Himself from the sinners around Him; He was tempted to idolize the love and support of friends; He was tempted to worship the opinions of others rather than the opinion of His Father. He was tempted to love popularity with people more than He loved people. He was tempted to find His identity apart from His Father.

The gospel tells us that because of the incarnation, we are not alone in our temptations. But his identification with us is not the only good news he brings. He has gone before us, yet without sin, so His perfect record is ours: He took up the towel, He laid down His life, He prayed in anguish alone, He was crucified outside the city, He was forsaken by His Father. Remember that in all this, He never sinned. Justification means (in part) that His perfect record is now ours. His servant-love, His self-sacrifice, His faith in the midst of abandonment is now how our record reads before the Father who isn’t fooled by our outward appearances. Amazing grace! When the Father sees us He sees loving, generous, servants who find their identity in Him. We’ve been let in because he was alone (amazing!) and sinless (more amazing!) and that’s our record (shockingly amazing!).

The blessing of justification is that it not only makes us welcome before the Father, it also frees us to love and welcome others. Because everything that we’re vainly trying to hide has already been publically declared about us (we’re so sinful we deserve to die!), we don’t need to fear relationship. We don’t need to hide. Because we’ve been forgiven and declared righteous: welcomed and loved by God, we don’t need to fear rejection either. He was righteous and rejected for us. We can forgive, love and serve because we’ve been forgiven, loved and served. Isn’t that the message of 1 John?

When you step off into eternity and wonder if you’ll be tapping on the window of heaven, hoping to be let in, or if you’ll be on that blacked out stage, standing completely isolated on your own, your Husband, Jesus Christ will come to you, take your arm and say, “She’s (he’s) with me.” Then, when our faith becomes sight we’ll know that we’re part of the only “in crowd” that will ever matter…and all because of what He’s done for us.

A Slap on the Hand, A Kiss on the Cheek

2010-08-02T20:09:00Z

The workers were an hour and a half late arriving at my home. Now that they had finally come, I struggled to get my dogs outside, necessitating my dragging them out of the house by their collars. I had been working on an article on my laptop in the kitchen, getting ready to eat lunch and I now, too, needed to get out of the way. So I decided to stack a plate, a boxed salad, two phones and a nice big cup of coffee on a tray and try to navigate my way out the sliding door onto my patio. Strange thing, though…that tray? It was actually the keyboard of my laptop. I’m sure you can guess what happened next. The coffee went flying and my computer fried.

I confess that I had been impatient with the tardy workers and stubborn dogs. I responded to this situation in a sinfully foolish manner. While I was cleaning up the mess, I knew a fried computer was what I deserved. I hadn’t loved my neighbor nor the Lord as I should have. I had quickly fallen into self-righteousness and pride: “I’m never late!” “These dogs should obey!” “Stacking all this stuff on my computer might be foolish for some people, but I can handle it!” A fried computer was undoubtedly what I had earned.

Don’t misunderstand. As I walked through the next few hours and the real possibility of having ruined my computer, I didn’t question whether God had stopped loving me. I thought that He was lovingly using my sin to teach me a lesson. I knew that I deserved a slap on the hand and I thought He had given me one. It was time for me to pay the price for my sin – not the ultimate price, of course, no, not the atonement. Just a little hand slapping from a loving God who knew what I needed.

But then, something amazing happened. I received unexpected news of answered prayer. I was delighted and stunned. I had assumed that this day would be a day of hand slapping. I thought I knew what I needed: a lesson about the follies of impatience and pride. But this surprising answered prayer wasn’t a slap. No, it was a kiss on the cheek. And then, the next morning…another kiss. My computer was limping back to life. I didn’t lose all my data. What did I deserve? A slap. What did I get? A kiss.

For most of my Christian life I would have been very comfortable with saying that the Lord disciplines me for my sin (a slap on the hand), but would have struggled terribly with thinking the Lord blesses me in the face of my sin (a kiss on the cheek). Is there room in our very-serious-about-the-sinfulness-of-sin theology to say that sometimes, (many times?), the Lord woos us into obedience through kisses rather than slaps?

Although I know and love the gospel, I frequently find myself functioning in that quid-pro-quo, “God as Vending Machine,” world. I fight sin and fulfill my spiritual duties and expect God’s blessing or at least protection from fried computers. Conversely, when I don’t fight sin or when I neglect prayer, I assume God will discipline me. Don’t misunderstand -- I recognize that both blessings and discipline are functions of His Fatherly love for me. It’s just that I think I know how He should motivate me to obey. But He uses both slaps and kisses.

Now, here’s where the gospel turns everything we know about how we grow in obedience on its head. It speaks of kisses of betrayal given to our Faithful Friend (Luke 22:48). It tells me that He was slapped for me and punished for my rebellion. I read that “…the guards received Him with blows” (Mark 14:6). He got kisses and slaps…for me. And because He has endured all that, He’s free to bless me and woo me and speak tenderly to me and surprise me with little kisses on the cheek when I least expect it..when I’m expecting the slap. His kindness is meant to lead me to repentance. His kisses draw me near. And now, instead of thinking about my guilt and punishment, I’m spending my day thinking of His kindness and it frees me to love him in return.

Am I saying that’s all He ever does? No, of course not. Discipline, as Hebrews tells us, is painful rather than pleasant. But, then again, haven’t there been times when you know you deserve a slap and suddenly He dazzles you with a sweet kiss on the cheek? Is there room in our theology for a God who kisses His dear foolish children and draws them with cords of love? Do we really believe that it is the “grace of God” that saves us and trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and makes us zealous for good works? (Titus 2:11-14)

Gentle Jesus, Meek and...Modest

2010-07-15T18:04:07Z

I live in Southern California and now that it’s summer, a familiar problem has returned. The problem is immodesty and now that the temperature is rising, the problem is becoming more and more obvious…again. But summer or not, modesty has been a topic of concern for me during my whole life. For instance, back in the days when I was in Catholic school, modesty was demanded. At any point during the day a nun could check to see if I was obeying the rules about skirt length. I had to kneel on the floor and if my skirt didn’t touch the ground, I was given demerits. (Of course, as soon as the nun turned the corner, we all hiked up our skirts again!)

Taking a cue from my parochial education, perhaps now that it is summer, I’m tempted to think that we should install immodesty checkpoints at the doors of the sanctuary. Perhaps we should make up rules about inappropriate clothing and station a deaconess or two at the doors to be sure that the rules are being enforced…better also station one ‘around the corner’ for when the young girls hike their skirts up again!

        On the other hand, perhaps we should just ignore the whole immodesty problem all together because after all, “God looks on the heart…” And our pastors and brothers will just have to learn to look only at a woman’s face.

Rules? No rules? Is there a better way? Is it found in the gospel?

      Hebrews 4:15 informs me that my Savior has been tempted in “every respect” as I have, yet without sin. Could this possibly mean that Jesus was tempted to immodesty but didn’t sin? Because we don’t usually think in these terms about Jesus, perhaps at this juncture it might be helpful for me to define what I mean by “modesty.” Christian modesty is simply a refusal to show off out of love for God and one’s neighbor. Jesus refused to show off His power. For instance, when tempted by Satan, He refused to show off His ability to turn stones into bread or cast Himself off a high tower (Matt 4:1f). When attacked by His accusers, He “opened not His mouth” (Isa 53:7). When facing the humiliation and excruciating pain of the cross, He refrained from appealing to His Father for legions of angels who were waiting to bring Him deliverance (Matt 26:53). Jesus didn’t show off His power or authority because He loved His neighbor, His bride. Jesus was modest because He loved the church.

     Conversely, immodesty flows out of the heart of a show off. Maybe we’ve worked hard at the gym or purchased an expensive new pair of jeans. Maybe we want to prove how free we are to dress in any way we choose, no matter how scandalous. When we show-off we’re failing to love our brother (and sisters) who may be tempted to lust or covetousness or sinful imitation. Showing off is a fruit of pride and love of self. Immodesty demonstrates a cold unconcern for the church.

        The beauty of the gospel, however, is that it informs us about who we are and what Jesus has already done. While it convicts us that we’re all unloving show-offs (in some way), it also assures us that we’ve been loved and that we no longer need to show off to get other people’s approval because (here’s the best news of all!) the record of our Modest Redeemer is ours! Our identity isn’t wrapped up in the approval or envy or lust of others. Our identity is found in Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Christ is our life. He loved us and refrained from showing off so that we could be His and freed from the need to prove that we’ve got a great body or wardrobe or…because we’ve been lavished with His love instead.

        Of course, in this promiscuous culture women (and men) might need to be taught what modest attire looks like and there’s nothing wrong with doing so. It’s just that the transforming power that changes a show off into a servant doesn’t come from rules about blouses or skirts. It comes from remembering the gospel and seeking to show Him off instead. So, let’s spend this summer talking about modesty…mostly His.

Thesis 28 -- The Qualitative Distinctions of Love

2009-09-12T11:00:00Z

There is simply nothing like God's love. God's love is so high above ours, so powerful and transformational, there's really no comparison. I suppose that living in the veritable "light" of that love is what will make heaven as wonderful as it will be.

Here's thesis 28: The love of God does not first discover but creates what is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through attraction to what is pleasing to it.

J C Ryle echoed Luther when he wrote, "Our love is excited by the extraordinary charms of worth and grace... Who ever loved that which was altogether hateful? Such is the manner of man." The manner of our God is entirely different. "God loves us before one particle of grace enters our soul, when we are a loathsome mass of vice and iniquity. God loves that which is altogether unlovely." (Holiness)

God "loves sinners, evil persons, fools, and weaklings in order to make them righteous, good, wise and strong. Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good." (113)

Look it, here's the truth about me and my "love". I have problems loving even those I find lovable. That's not to say that the Lord hasn't worked in my heart, but the longer I bask in God's love for me in Christ, the more I understand that I don't really love like this at all. In fact, I think it's kind of funny when people make fools of themselves on WipeOut and bounce off those big balls or get smashed in the gut with the sweeper. Oh, for the day when I can look into the face of my brothers and sisters and really love them...freely, genuinely, generously. But in the meantime, my love is "awakened by attraction to what pleases it. It must search to find its object and, one might add, will likely toss it aside when it tires of it." (113) So, won't you please sign up for WipeOut so I can laugh at you?

Christ did not come to call the righteous (lovable). He came to call unlovable sinners. "This is the love of the cross, born of the cross, which turns in the direction where it does not find good that it may enjoy, but where it may confer good upon the bad and needy person. 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" (Go figure. Did you ever understand that verse in that context? I sure didn't.)

"God is not, as in the theology of glory, one who waits to approve of those who have improved themselves, made themselves acceptable, or merited approval [through believing!], but [he is] one who bestows good on the bad and needy." (113)

And so we come to the end of our disputation. We began talking about our utter poverty and inability to obey the law. We must die. "The sinner must be reduced to nothing." (114) We must suffer the humiliation of knowing we bring nothing but debt. But we can face this destruction of our "ego" because we've been loved. We haven't been loved because of anything lovable within us. We've been loved because He chose to love us and in that very act of choosing us and loving us into His kingdom, he's made us perfectly righteous. It's from this position of having been loved like this that experiential heart change takes place. We begin to love others -- not in any effort to earn or merit -- but simply in response to what he's done in loving us. God looks over the whole earth of our hearts, sees that they are formless and void, sends the Spirit to brood over us, and creates that which he can look upon and call "very good." He creates ex nihilo -- out of nothing. From the "nothing" of our souls he creates beauty that pleases him.

In Christ we have true goodness because God's love is powerfully transformative and makes us, by the very act of loving us, worthy of love. Yippee?!

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I've enjoyed doing this study with you all. Thanks to all of you, particularly those of you who posted. Thanks for the lively discussions and pushing me to think more deeply.

I'll be back to this in a few days with some thoughts on how we might proceed from here. Oh, BTW, if you're interested you might check out my store at www.shop.elysefitzpatrick.com. I'm trying to help fund our son Joel's seminary education, so if you want to buy any of my resources, please check us out and Joel will be glad to serve you.

Why don't you write back with your fav Luther/Forde quote? Thanks for dropping by.

Thesis 27 and Down With Summer Brain and Weather Pansies

2009-09-05T15:17:00Z

Lovely. Here's one of the most beautiful theses in the whole disputation and one which, if we but believe, will enable and "arouse" us to good works.

For those of you who don't have the book in front of you here it is: "Rightly speaking, therefore, the work of Christ should be called the operative power, and our work, the operation: so our operation is pleasing to God by the grace of the operative power."

Yes, yes I know that's a bit confusing, but don't succumb to lazy Summer Brain. It's summer and today it's supposed to be 95...although "they" keep saying that the weather is cooling...it's still going to be 95 today. I know all about lazy Summer Brain. I'm tired of it being hot and, yes, I know I'm a weather-pansy and this hot weather gives me lazy brain...or perhaps it's just an excuse for me to not push through and really think. Maybe it's the same for you. I'll try to help and hope that my poor old-lazy really-gray cells will come alive and that I don't have a hot-flash in the meantime.

Here's what Luther means in a nutshell: "The real operative power in all works that can be called "good" is the work of Christ, that outrageous assertion that in Christ all that God demands has been fulfilled and that this Christ dwells in us by faith. The believer is "aroused" to work through living faith in Christ's work, to be "imitators" of God..."drawn" after Christ." (111)

So it is this very knowledge...come on...track with me...the very knowledge that everything, yes really everything!!! has already been done for us AND that Christ dwells within us in power and love. Here are the two sides of this truth: Christ has done everything that needs to be done by us AND he indwells us giving us his mind and his Spirit and his desires. I think that deserves a "wow." Wow.

I found myself sinfully angry at ineptitude yesterday. This happened in a number of areas too boring to discuss. I awakened this morning to the realization that my life and love yesterday wasn't anywhere near what I think it should be -- again. How do I fight to try to believe that today will be different? Where is the joy and peace and faith that will overlook the small trifles of others and rest contentedly in God's providence? Simply here: Everything that I should have done yesterday was done by Him in my place. Everything I shouldn't have done (but did, nevertheless) was atoned for by Him in my place. This alone is my record today. And this is the motivation to try again. Yes, I'm sinful and impatient and short-sighted and crabby (a nice word). But he isn't and His record is mine! Not only that, but He's indwelling me by His Spirit, so my union with Him assures me TODAY that I have unhindered access and full acceptance before Him and that I can fight this sin again.

So now this is what I understand from Luther/Forde and Thesis 27: "The impetus to do good works comes entirely from being moved, aroused, and motivated by the completed work of Christ, who dwells in the believer through faith." (111) He has loved me like this! He has atoned for it all! He has completed it all! He's placed himself, as a good husband in union with me. That's love and it's that sort of motivation or operation that God has accomplished that draws me to good works. God pleases himself by completing all the work for me, saying "It is good" and then loves, woos, draws, impels and motivates me to get up off my sinful...ness and fight the war again today, even though it's hot and I'm a pansy. Only love motivates us to continue to fight. The law fails. Our pride wains. Our good intentions fade in the heat of idolatrous desires for ease and comfort and a cool day. Only his love for us motivates or as William Romaine wrote -- we need the power of a new affection -- affections that have been warmed and enlivened by such a love as this.

Okay...there you've got it. Back to the iced tea and Lazy Summer Brain. You're loved and welcomed even when you're sitting in a pool of sweat and your faith is wilted and you couldn't care less and you wished people had their act together (like you). And..if you live in Phoenix, I don't want to hear about how hot it is there. It's supposed to be hot in the desert. It's not supposed to be hot in San Diego. .

What the Law Requires From Us is Freedom From the Law -- Put Your Dancin' Shoes On!!!

2009-08-30T06:00:00Z

How on earth I'm going to encapsulate in a few short paragraphs the depth of the riches and wisdom and grace and mercy of God as distilled by Luther/Forde on pages 107-110, I don't know. When practically the entire passage has been underlined (more than once) and I've got my personal notes scribbled in margins and exclamation points everywhere...how can I distill this for you? I feel what Forde must have felt as he wrestled and finally gave up and said,

"The language has to break out into preaching. Never mind that when we look to ourselves we find no sign of good works. Never mind our fears and anxieties. We are looking in the wrong place. Look to Christ! He has done it all. Nothing will be gained by trying to shore up the OId Adam. Christ leaves nothing for the Old Adam and Eve to do. The old can only be killed by the law, not given artificial respiration by recourse to it. That is the point of the language here and its exuberance. To the theologian of the cross the language of grace and faith must be pushed absolutely to this length -- until it kills the old and raises the new. We will only fall back into law where the demand continues endlessly and nothing is ever finally done. So we can only let the language of grace sound forth. Grace says, "believe it" and everything -- EVERYTHING! -- is already done. It is the creative Word of God. If that doesn't work then nothing will." (110)

I'm having to control myself now. I want to dance! I'm remembering that lovely scene from the movie Babe when the staid old farmer is alone with his pig and the music starts and he dances with abandon for joy. That's what I'm feeling right now. I'm getting a feeling that that's what I'll feel like for eternity in heaven. EVERYTHING! has already been done! Yippee! I'm in love! I'm filled with joy! I'm at peace! I am coming to "know and believe the love that God has for me." This is a Dancing-Shoe-Mandatory Zone. Don't be afraid that this kind of talk will make you apathetic, lazy, cavalier. Just the opposite will happen. Don't be afraid of being loved like this.

I don't know how to proceed. I'm stuck trying to decide how to summarize what Lewis called "the language of heaven" (joy). I'll just write out the thesis and a few of my favorite quotes and let them work on you till your feet start twitching and you've got to jump up and burst forth with hallelujahs and thank you's:

Thesis 26: The law says, "do this," and it is NEVER done. Grace says, "believe in this," and EVERYTHING IS ALREADY DONE.

"In commanding love law can only point helplessly to that which it cannot produce...What the Law requires is freedom from the law." (108)

"...grace, instead of demanding love, simply gives it unconditionally. It is simply the "I love you."

"Faith justifies. Faith is the righteousness God wants and aims to get...Faith obtains what the law commands. Through faith Christ is in us. We fulfill everything through him since he was made ours through faith."

"The insistence that only those works are truly good that are done spontaneously and joyously out of faith, hope, and love belongs to the very heart of Luther's Reformation. That is why he can make the claim that faith doesn't have to be prompted to do good works because the Christ who fulfilled all things dwells within the person of faith, EVERYTHING! has already been done! There is simply nothing to do!...The Christ of the cross takes away the possibility of doing something."

And now to the truth that this entire discussion has been heading: The point is precisely that the power to do good comes only out of this wild claim that EVERYTHING! has already been done. (110)

Oh, my sister, my brother: be done with the law! Embrace this faith, this wild, illogical, incomprehensible reality. EVERYTHING! has already been done! Wholly lean on Jesus' Name! I'm singing now...On Christ the solid Rock I stand...All other ground (my own works, abilities, goodnesses) is SINKING SAND! ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND. Flee the sinking sand. Get up now. Lift up your hands. Dance and believe. Really. Now.

Section 4 God's Work in Us: The Righteousness of Faith

2009-08-26T23:15:00Z

With this discussion we begin the final section of our book. Since there are only 4 theses and they're each so very yummy, I think I'll write a bit on each one. Here's the first:

Thesis 28: He is not righteous who works much, but he who, without work, believes much in Christ.

As Forde writes, this doctrine of justification by faith alone, is always "a polemical doctrine and a permanent offense to the Old Adam and Eve." (104) Yes, it is, once again insulting to think that I have nothing to bring. Honestly, when I read that thesis, I begin to wonder if I'm doing enough believing -- you know, if I'm working hard enough at it? Ah, my heart.

Then Forde writes what I think is one of the most pointed and profound sentences in the whole book: "What is asserted here is precisely that God simply is not interested in works issuing out of the self's concern for its own righteousness." (104) I'm reminded of Tim Keller's parable of the man who gives a horse to the king believing that he'll be richly rewarded for it. When he doesn't receive anything honoring his gift and asks why, the king's paraphrased response is, "You were giving that horse to yourself and you have your reward." If we are doing good so that we receive God's approbation, we are doing it for ourselves not God.

What it means to die and be raised to newness of life in Christ is simply believing in Christ and dying to everything I would bring to assure myself and earn credit from the Lord. "Works performed on the premise that one was going to become righteous thereby are not good to begin with. They defend us against the goodness of God. They are not done for the neighbor but for the glory of the self." (105) This has been the theme of our discussions throughout this entire book, hasn't it?

Then Forde brings us to the wonderful reality that there are works that come from us, but they "flow from righteousness as from an overflowing vessel...It is not like accomplishing something but like dying and coming to life. It is not like earning something but more like falling in love..Once it is clear and actually believed that only we who 'without works' believe much in Christ are righteous before God, once that preposterous joy actually hits us, a new day dawns. It is like the joy and ecstasy of love...[So that now] the way is cleared for good works.

I love those words. I love preposterous joy and the ecstasy of love. I'm thrilled that my works, because they are his and have already been done are like falling in love. Of course I want to work when I think in this way. I'm in love! I've got zeal to work and pray and witness because I've been fully convinced that he loves me this much, he's this good, his grace is this great. Now...I can rest and while I rest I can work. Freely, joyfully, zealously, lovingly. Why? Because "Good works are God's work" in me. He's already done everything that needed to be done and so, in response to that and because of the work of the Spirit in my heart, I can joyously serve.

If service has become onerous to you, don't decide to buckle down, make a list and try harder. No, you need to fall in love. And how will that happen? Think about what he's already done for you and believe.

Why "Good" Friday Is Good

2009-08-20T20:18:00Z

Let's discuss the second half of our section, "The Great Divide: The Way of Glory versus the Way of the Cross" now. I'm going to collapse this entire section into one entry, even though there are so many wonderful thoughts here.

Forde begins his discussion of thesis 21 by pointing out our tendency to want to blame our "theology" [something outside of us] for our love of the glory story. Of course, this is just another way we try to dodge our inner fallenness. He writes, "Our temptation is always to change the subject. In this case the blame is switched from us to theology...[The truth is that] [t]he theologian is ALWAYS the culprit here, not the theology as such." (81)

I can see this very clearly in my own thinking. I frequently militate against the theology of glory without remembering that it is the theologian of glory who is the problem. We construct these faulty theologies, as Forde writes, because we "must". "Faulty seeing leads inexorably to false speaking." So let's have an end to believing that if we could just straighten out everyone's theology we'd all be fine. No, the problem is that our man-centered theologies have their genesis in our man-centered hearts. We'll never get completely over this. At least not in the here-and-now.

A theologian of the cross, then, learns to see and speak plainly. She [he] learns to talk honestly and openly about what we do and what happens to us. We see this most clearly in the ways we respond to suffering. The suffering that Forde/Luther is referring to here is the good suffering of knowing that you are "worthless and that [your] works are not [yours] but God's." This is the great suffering that the theologian of glory refuses to admit. Instead he "prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general, good to evil." (82)

It's only through the good of the suffering of the cross that we can see and know good and truth as it is. "Direct, plain, entirely unsentimental, but for that reason difficult and offensive words" are the result of seeing the suffering of the cross and embracing it.
What seems evil is actually good. What seems good is actually evil. "Good" Friday seems evil. What can be "good" about a stripped, humiliated, bloodied, dying man stretched out on a Roman cross, receiving insults? What can be good about God's plan seeming to have gone awry? Good question. What's good about railing against Whitney Houston's lyrics deifying children..."Show them all the beauty they possess inside, Give them a sense of pride..."? Should we give children a "sense of pride"? Don't they already have it? I'm pretty sure that's something I passed on to my kids without any help from Whitney. Good for me.

So, here we are again, "We are inveterate theologians of glory We are tempted and bound to be so. We invest all our capital in works...We depend upon and glory in our works and we call these self-serving deeds good. Suffering [primarily in admitting that what the cross says about us is true, but also admitting our struggle with sin in the midst of difficulty] is bad." (83)

"The suffering that Luther has in mind first and foremost is the result of God's operation on the sinner...We suffer this unilateral action of God. We suffer because we don't like it. We don't like being put out of control. It means that we are rendered totally passive by the divine operation through the cross and resurrection of Jesus...". (87)

Narratives like the Book of Job mystify and terrify us so we make up excuses about why Job suffered. I've heard it said that Job suffered because he was afraid so what he "feared came upon him." This is again a perfect example of the defenses we must erect against seeing the cross and God's view of suffering as it is: good. Forde writes that we're like "Job's friends, [who] try to make excuses for God. We adjust our doctrine of God to fit our glory projects. If God doesn't 'play fair', how can our works count? Thus we render God innocuous by our flattery. Instead of being brought to the praise of God, we bend our efforts to justify him." (89) Yipes.

"God can be known and had only through the divine deed of the cross. The cross...attacks and afflicts. Knowledge of God comes when God happens to us, when God does himself to us. We are crucified with Christ (Gal 2:19). There is no cure for the theology of glory." (90) The only cure is death. Our only hope is that we have been crucified with Christ!

Let me draw one more point from this section and leave you to meditate on these truths. We love the law (and rules and charts and lists and...) because we think it will help us be better people. We think that God is the "pot of gold at the end of our rainbow of merit." (85) Aside from our Christian lists, the world bombards us continually to trust in ourselves. For instance, I've decided that I'm not going to buy any product that advertises itself as helping me "feel good" about myself. This is such...um...garbage. These advertisers are appealing to our sinful desire for self-righteousness to sell their products by telling us we can "save the planet." Whatever. Want to be good? Feel good? Simply buy our product. Being green, eating organic is where it's at. At the end of the day how many people assure their souls that they are good because they recycled or ate free-range eggs? No wonder our kids starve themselves. I'm pretty confident that at the end of time when I stand before God he won't be asking me, "What did you do with my chickens? Did you recycle your plastics?" May God have mercy on us!

Here's Forde and then I'll be done:

"Religiously we like to look on ourselves as potential spiritual athletes desperately trying to make God's team, having perhaps just a little problem or two with the training rules. We have a thirst for glory...We are always tempted to return to the safety and assurance of doing something anyway. Generally, it is to be suspected, that is all we planned to do, a little something. But to surrender the "wisdom" of law and works, or better, to have it taken away, is the first indication of what it means to be crucified with Christ."(92-93) God must "extinguish" the desire for glory by merit through the suffering of the cross.

Why is Good Friday called good? Because true good was accomplished there: a good we could never conceive, a good that seems evil, a good that strikes and crushes our sense of pride and a good that ultimately frees us to die, to be resurrected and to live freely. This is the good that God alone will accomplish in all his children.

Section 3: The Great Divide: The Way of Glory vs the Way of the Cross

2009-08-17T01:38:00Z

We're now beginning the third section of our book, "On Being a Theologian of the Cross." In theses 19-21 Luther deals with "the way the theologian operates, while theses 22-24 deal with the improper use of wisdom and law." (71) So, taking our lead from Forde we'll group our discussion together in the same way.

Personally, I found this section more difficult than the other two we've worked through. Not that I disagree with anything here, but that I don't think I quite get it...so I'm looking forward to this discussion in the hopes that I'll learn.

Thesis 19 dismisses the "theologian" of glory who "looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things that have actually happened (or have been made, created.)" (71) Forde writes that "theologians of glory operate on the assumption that creation and history are transparent to the human intellect, that one can see through what is made and what happens so as to see into the 'invisible things of God.'" In this thesis Luther is militating against our being able to discern "virtue, godliness, wisdom, justice, goodness, and so forth" by looking at the creation. His concern is that we're setting up our own way to God, a "glory road, which should eventually lead to God." (73)

As I was pondering this thesis, I was reminded (through my reading of Heralds of the King, Dennis E Johnson, ed.) of the folly of Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration. In Luke 9:28-36, the "appearance of [Jesus'] was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah...Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah' --not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud [yep, me too]. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!'"

It seems to me that Peter is the theologian of glory who thinks he gets it. In this instance, he thinks that the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah) and Jesus are on an equal par. Great men who help other great men become greater men. But he missed it all together, didn't he? Peter gets the divine hand over the mouth as he babbled on..."This is my Son! My chosen One! Listen to Him!" The theologian of glory assumes that he can extrapolate what God is doing and inevitably ends up figuring out a way to get in on the act himself. "Hey, this is a great event! Let's build three tents here and memorialize this! And, I'll be in charge....!" Here's the deal: we can't write ourselves into His story. It's His story, not ours. We will never completely understand God's nature, plans or purposes. We can't make this story about us.

And then...when we realize that God really is something "other" we're afraid (like Peter was). "Oh! You mean he's not interested in all I have to offer???" The only thing that can calm our fears now is simply this: the Father's love demonstrated for us on the cross. The only way for us to taste divine life is to die and be resurrected. Like Peter before me and the men of Babel before him, we're all looking for a way to get to the attributes of God and bypass the cross. It always starts out like this, "I've got a great idea to help God out...".

Forde writes, "How shall fools be made wise? The problem is that at the deepest level we have here not just a set of teachings, theological opinion, or that which we might take or leave at will and which might be corrected by better information, but temptation. As we have already indicated, it is a matter finally of self-defense" (76-77). Self defense against what? Simply the realities of our bankruptcy. But does our striving to prove that we can achieve something/anything of God's life make us better people? No, in fact, just the opposite happens. "Knowledge of divine essences and qualities, Luther asserts, does not make wise men out of fools. Indeed, it is more likely to make fools out of the wise!" (77)

But then...what can we do? What is the path of wisdom? The path of suffering (the humiliation and stripping) and the cross. We can't get around the cross. All the "good" things (virtues) that we long for are actually the things that "put Jesus on the cross." (77)

We don't need another Book of Virtues. Why? because even those who might be tempted (and I mean tempted in the biblical diabolical sense) to write such a thing cannot become virtuous themselves. They are simply looking for a way to puff up pride and avoid the suffering of the cross and the terror of free falling into grace. Our children don't need Aseop's fables. They need an incarnate God who suffered in their place. We all need to listen to the Son -- not moralistic stories told by tomatoes and cucumbers, even though they are cute and the music is catchy.

I'll close now with one more quote from Forde: "God refuses to be seen in any other way, both for our protection and to put down the theologian of glory in us. Theologians of the cross are therefore those whose eyes have been turned away from the quest for glory by the cross, who have eyes only for what is visible, what is actually THERE to be seen of God, the suffering and despised crucified Jesus. It was the pagan Pilate who said it: Ecce Homo! Behold the man!..." (79) "...What is vital here is ABSOLUTE CONCENTRATION ON THE REJECTED, CRUCIFIED JESUS....Theologians of the cross are those from whom all support other than the cross has been torn away...we operate on the premise that faith in the crucified and risen one is all that we have going for us." (80)

So, let's be quiet and stop hammering away at that tower, that plan, that project and listen to the Son. He's continuing to speak -- can you hear him? Are you willing to free fall into his grace?

God Gives Grace to the Humble So Give Up and Believe the Gospel!

2009-08-09T23:00:00Z

In case any of you have missed the ongoing discussion on free will between my dear shirt-tail cousin, JoAnne, and I, you might want to look at it. Because I've spent a good deal of time responding to her, I think I'll just blast through the rest of this section. I'm assuming that most of you who are reading this blog are already on board with the Doctrines of Grace and wouldn't profit from more meandering through this section. And yet, there are a few points that I think are helpful for us to remember:

"[Saving] Grace is acquired not by 'doing what is in one' [by just trying your hardest]. It is acquired when we are so completely humbled by God's alien work in law and wrath that we see how completely we are caught in the web of sin and turn to Christ as the only hope." (61)

Of course, as Forde points out, the theologian of glory will say. Yipee! Humility is a work that we can perform! But, "the humility Luther has in mind is in no way a human work....[we must say that] humans have no active capacity to humble themselves but only a passive capacity. They can be humbled. Thus...humility is always something done to us...Humility in this context means precisely to be reduced to the position where we claim absolutely nothing."

"The law humbles, grace exalts. Something is done to us." (62) The theologian of glory always wants to make our salvation about us, about something we can do, even if that "doing" is humbling ourselves. "Thus the impetuous question of whether or not humbling oneself or falling down and praying for grace is 'doing something' can only be turned back on the questioner: 'When you humble yourself and plead for grace, are you making the claim that you are doing something? If so, you are not pleading for grace, but only your own cause. And so you are still lost. Give up and believe the gospel!" (63)

The thought that we have nothing to offer shouldn't bring despair. Rather, despair is the fruit of belief in one's own ability to do ANYTHING sufficient for salvation. ["Theologians of glory are trapped in the 'merit machine' and thus can fight despair only by falling back on their own accomplishments." 64] The Doctrines of Grace bring us hope that in all our insufficiency, God is sufficient. We must simply give up and believe that God is that good and that loving.

And, finally, we'll just think a moment about the nuanced distinctions Luther makes between ultimate despair (the despair of a Judas who believed in his perverse pride that not even the grace of God can blot out his failures." (66) and utter despair of our own ability. In other words there is an evil despair, one that forces us into ourselves and batters our pride with thoughts of inadequacy. I think that this is the kind of despair that people mean when they say that they "can't forgive themselves." Aside from the fact that we're not commanded to forgive ourselves, the truth is that we struggle with doing so simply because we really haven't believed the gospel message. We really don't think we're that bad and then when we do something that's REALLY BAD we can't get over it. Why? Because we're theologians of glory and think we ought to be able to do better. Is it in this way that God uses our sin for good, to show us our poverty and need for a Savior? to free us from our innate theology of glory?

There is another kind of despair (what Luther calls "utter" despair) that forces us to Christ. Paul talks about these differences in categories of worldly and godly sorrow. Godly sorrow always leads to repentance -- to running to Christ, to giving up and believing the gospel. Worldly sorrow brings death -- the death of a Judas who couldn't live with the realities of his sin. Rather than making us morose, godly sorrow brings us joy and happiness. Yes, I am insufficient. Yes, I am unable to save myself. But I have come to know and believe the love that God has for me and that's all that matters. I believe he loves sinners. I am a sinner, therefore, I'm qualified to be loved by him.

"Ultimate [Judas'] despair is due to the temptation to believe that there is no hope beyond our own abilities. Despair itself then becomes ultimate and so leads to death. Utter despair of our own ability, however, looks to the grace of Christ and so leads to life. This subtle nuance points to a fundamental theological divide." (67) So, we are to despair but not ultimately.

Now then, where do you see ultimate (Judas) despair in your own life? Are there sins in your life that you just can't seem to forget, even though you've asked for forgiveness for them? For instance, all the times you and I have said, "I just can't believe I said/did/thought that," we're proving that we still haven't completely given up and believed the gospel. And although we'll never get this perfectly right, we'll never completely believe our poverty of soul, we can ask the Lord to help us give up our striving and self-flagellation and simply believe.

Like you, I need grace. I need grace to give up on my glory story and humbly believe that Jesus Christ bore my sin and suffered his Father's just and immeasurable wrath for me. And that now, because of all he's done, I stand righteous before his sight -- as though I never believed in my own goodness, as though I never struggled with pride and self-reliance. May God grant us all the humility to give up and believe the gospel.

The Problem of (Free?) Will

2009-07-31T18:02:00Z

In this, the second section of our book, we're beginning to look at the problem of will.

Remember that the question Luther is seeking to answer is simply this: What advances us on the path to righteousness?

In the first section, he obliterated our works as advancing us in any way. In fact, he said that seeking to obey the Law of God in order to gain righteousness before God was mortal sin. It cuts us off from grace.

In my Bible reading this morning, I came on this study note for Galatians 2:18 (in my ESV Study Bible, of course!) "Ironically, the one who is most clearly seen to be a sinner is not the one outside the law, but the one under it." So, following the teaching of Paul, Luther refuses to allow any righteousness-producing Law keeping. None.

In Galatians 1:10, responding to those who kept the Law so that they would look good to other slaves of the Law, Paul writes, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man [by obeying the Law], I would not be a servant of Christ." When we read Luther/Forde, we feel like they're saying something really shocking. But when we read Paul and personalize what he's saying, we're completely undone. Here's what I think might be a fair paraphrase:

"Are you seeking to approve of yourself or have other people (religious or irreligious) approve of you? Are you seeking to quiet your conscience by your own works or are you seeking God's approval that ONLY comes through Christ? If you are still trying to approve of your goodness and have others approve of you, you are not a servant of Christ. You're only serving yourself." Well, yipes.

So, there you have it. The Law does not advance us on the path to righteousness. Okay, now we come to an even thornier issue. Let's assume that we all acquiesce now to the fact that our obedience to the Law doesn't save or advance us; but certainly the choices we make can advance us, right? I mean isn't it a little bit like Ben Franklin's old saw, "God helps them that help themselves?" So, we make baby steps toward God and he supplies grace and we make more baby steps and he supplies more grace and on and on as we advance ourselves toward righteousness (with a little or a lot of help from God).

Here's the question at the heart of our musings: Do we make the decision to serve Christ? And when Paul/Luther/Forde all answer, "Nope. Sorry, you can't do even that," we want to pull our hair out and scream, "Oh yeah? But I remember when I went forward or prayed that prayer or...Don't tell me I didn't make that decision!" Can you see why the RC's wanted to kill Luther? Following St Augustine, Luther agreed that "without the aid of grace the will is bound and can do nothing to merit salvation...we are saved by grace alone." (49)

"Yeah, but what about the decision I made. I remember making it?!?" And here we get to the crux of the matter. The question isn't whether you made a decision or not. I remember the night in June of 1971 when I bowed my knees in my little apartment and prayed for God to take me and make me His. Again, the question isn't did I do that or not? Of course I did. The question is "Why?" Why did I bow the knee? Was it, as some in my family have said, "You're a good sort of person." But I know better -- if people had known me then, they would never say that. Am I particularly wise? Absolutely not. You see, that night in 1971 I had a will and it was free -- but it was only free to choose according to my nature. And my nature had been fallen and dead spiritually. But my humble prayer in 1971 was evidence of God's sovereign election and regeneration of my soul, of His prior work, making me alive to Him and inclining my heart to desire and giving me the strength to obey. My salvation is of the Lord and I freely choose to serve Him because He had so inclined my heart and made me alive to Him. And so, that night I prayed and my prayer was answered because it was in accordance with His will that He had already written on my heart.

Luther's point is that the very frustration that we feel when someone tells us that we don't have the ability or desire to choose God and that He must (and does! thankfully), choose for us is proof that we don't want Him to be our God. If it aggravates you that God chooses, you've made Luther's point. Forde writes, "But the point is that this kind of protest is precisely the proof of the pudding. It is evidence of theologians of glory at work defending themselves to the end. They actually admit that they cannot and will not "will" God to be God...The cross stands behind the question of the will. The cross itself is the evidence that we did not choose him but that he, nevertheless, chose us (John 15:16)." (51) If we could choose Him, the cross was a cosmic overreaction. Instead of sacrificing His Son and pouring wrath out on Him, God should have just given us better self-improvement instructions and a little help and we would be able to work it out. But, of course, that's not what he's done.

That's not to say that we don't choose things. We are free to choose according to our nature. So I can choose to blog or not to blog. But I will NEVER choose to humble myself before the cross of Christ and an all-sovereign God unless he inclines my heart to do so. So the question before us is simply this: Will you accept a choosing God? And the answer is, "No; not unless he inclines my heart to do so." (We'll get to the obvious next question of responsibility in a subsequent blog.)

Here is Thesis 13: "Free will, after the fall, exists in name only, and as long as it does what it is able to do it commits a mortal sin."

This thesis is the most offensive to the theologian of glory and was to Luther, "the highest and most important issue of our cause." (53) Since the fall, our will has been bound by sin and "hence not free." (54) "'Every one who commits sin is a slave of sin...So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.' Further backup comes from St. Augustine, "Free will without grace has the power to do nothing but sin." (54)

I'll end this now with one more quote from the book: "Sin makes it impossible for the will really to be called free because sin means an enslavement and bondage from which it is impossible for the will to escape. The self seeks its own self in all things, even in its piety."...Hence, "doing our best becomes a defense against the totality of grace."

Once again we are brought to the truth that what we must have is God's grace through the cross and God's grace alone. And then our hearts are where they should be and we're humbled and thankful and free amd filled with joy -- all to the glory of God. And that's the Christian life.

Theses 8-12 -- The Painful Truth about the Problem of Good Works or Wow! Earthquakes Are Scary!

2009-07-22T23:50:00Z

In this post we'll finish up the first section, "The Problem of Good Works," of our book. Thanks to all of you who are pushing past our typical response to tectonic shifts in our assumptions: "put it down and turn something (anything!) else on..."
.
Before I begin to unpack them a bit for you, here they are:
Thesis 8: By so much more are the works of man mortal sins when they are done without fear and in unadulterated, evil self-security. (Wow.)
Thesis 9: To say that works without Christ are dead, but not mortal, appears to constitute a perilous surrender of the fear of God.
Thesis 10: Indeed, it is very difficult to see how a work can be dead and at the same time not a harmful and mortal sin.
Thesis 11: Arrogance cannot be avoided or true hope be present unless the judgment of condemnation is feared in every work. (Wow again).
Thesis 12: In the sight of God sins are then truly venial when they are feared by men to be mortal.

I live in Southern California. (Right now I'm blogging from Boston, but that's beside the point.) Whenever I travel out of SoCal, women are always saying things like, "Oh, you live in San Diego? It's beautiful there...but we have seasons here...". When I hear this I'm most frequently tempted to reply, "Yes, we have seasons, too. Spring, Summer and Fall...mostly Spring." Then a comment about earthquakes is usually made. "I could never live there! You have earthquakes!" I've lived in SoCal pretty much consistently for nearly 60 years. I can remember some earthquakes. Last year when I was teaching up at the Master's College there was a doozie. Like most (all?) of you I don't like earthquakes. Unlike Carol King, I don't like it when the "earth moves under my feet." Earthquakes scare me.

Over these last 12 theses, Forde and Luther have been hammering away at the ground upon which we love to stand. They've been stripping us of our self-security. They've been telling us that we need to fear our good works as much as (more than?) we fear our sins. These last four theses simply complete that work...Not that we're completely convinced (any of us) that our good works are to be feared, but they've come to the end of this present line of reasoning.

Luther himself makes the point that none of us are convinced as we should be:

"It is impossible to trust in God unless one has despaired in all creatures and knows that nothing can profit one without God. Since there is no person who has this pure hope...and since we still place some confidence in the creature, it is clear that we must, because of impurity in all things, fear the judgment of God...Thus arrogance must be avoided, not only in the work but in the inclination also, that is, it must displease us still to have confidence in the creature." (47)

Here's the point even (especially) for we theologians of the cross: if you think that you've finally got the theology of the cross, that you're finally trusting perfectly in Christ, and that this trust in His righteousness and personal self-doubt will make you acceptable to God, you're simply to falling, once again, back into the glory story. Yipes. I'm always looking to save myself. Even in the blood soaked mud at the foot of the cross.

All my life I've been taught to stand under a door jamb when an earthquake strikes. Supposedly, that's a safe place to be. That's how it is in my spiritual life, too. I'm always trying to make it under that door jamb, trying to find a place of security. If I throw out the theology of glory then I'll stand under a theology of the cross thinking that if I can just get this right I'll finally be okay. Every fiber of my being militates against the free fall of faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone. Or, as Forde writes, "All possibility of confidence in our own works...are impossible. This, of course, seems quite depressing to inveterate theologians of glory." (48) Yes, it is depressing. And please don't miss my point. My heart is boastful enough to take the theology of the cross and make it into a theology of glory. This is the truth about me. And, yes, it is depressing. Is there nothing in my heart not addicted to the glory story? Of course not! Will I never lie down at the feet of my heavenly Kinsman-Redeemer and let him put his robe over me? Not for more than a millisecond!

But Forde and Luther do not leave us there. Here's how Forde finishes up the section on the problem of good works and I'm thankful:
"...[W]e should not miss the new note that sounds out of the rubble of rejected human works. It is the note of hope. It is not possible...for true hope to be present unless the judgment of condemnation is feared in every work. Every hope built on human work will prove untrue. the hope that arises out of the ashes of the refining fire will not disappoint. The way, however, is the way of the cross." (48)

I bring myself once again to rest -- under that blessed door jamb, under the cross beams -- and in thankfulness I know that He's forgiving my self-delusion and reminding me again that it's not about me at all. And then I go running out from under again and again and again and I wonder at the perversity in my heart and then I wonder why I wonder at it and then I rest again for the moment. And the Lord keeps reaching down, covering me again and I lay down again and rest and wait for our wedding day when the heavens and the earth will melt away and everything will be made new and I'll see Him in His glory and be fully at peace. And then the ground shakes and I go racing off to find that door jamb du jours again...

Theses #5-7, Charles Spurgeon, J I Packer and the International Christian Retail Show

2009-07-16T17:44:00Z

Here are theses 5-7 from "On Being A Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518:
Thesis 5: The works of men are thus not mortal sins (we speak of works that are apparently good), as though they were crimes.

Thesis 6: The works of God (we speak of those that he does through man) are thus not merits, as though they were sinless.

Thesis 7: The works of the righteous would be mortal sins if they would not be feared as mortal sins by the righteous themselves out of pious fear of God.

I've just returned from the 2009 International Christian Retail Show in Denver, Colorado. I was blessed by my publisher, Crossway, to be able to attend and was there talking about my book, "Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ." I'm thankful for Crossway and for publishers who are standing for truth.

I'm going to try to be very measured in my remarks about the state of "Christian" publishing in the US. To say that I was grieved, burdened and utterly heartbroken at ICRS would be about right. I won't share everything with you that I saw -- some things you would hardly believe. I will simply say that the gospel of Jesus Christ was (aside from a few notable exceptions) pretty much missing. Not just downplayed. Utterly missing. The primary theme of the convention was what are the 5 steps that one must take in order to gain God's approval and have fun on the beach. Really. If the books that sell well in Christian bookstores are analogous to the spiritual state of the American church, we're back in Rome without all the litergy and deep thought. We're sort of in DisneyRome. Cotton candy purgatory. Luther wasn't writing only for himself and his contemporaries. He was writing for us. Of course, the problem is that we don't think his concerns apply, which, I guess, proves his point.

Rather than becoming rabid about ICRS now -- I was, in fact, very encouraged by a Tweet from John Piper yesterday -- I want to simply copy a few quotes from the book and then close with two other quotes: one from Charles Spurgeon and J I Packer (neither of whom wrote in the 16th century). Then I'm off to the Women Discipling Women conference in Sun Valley.

From our book: "A deadly sin is one that actually separates and seals us off from God. That occurs when the apparent goodness of our works seduces us into putting our trust in them, that is, it occurs when the very goodness of the work is such that it dissuades us from confessing [that our works must be wrought in/by Him and that even (especially?) when I think they're really good I can't trust in them]...the works of the law are used as a defense against the very unconditionality of the gift of grace...Deadly sin lurks in the most pious places." (37)

Most poigntly: "When then are the works of the righteous not mortal sins? When they fear that they are!" (39) And finally, "The point here is that when we have no fear of the Lord and we instead presume to come before the Lord bustling with self-confidence in our own accomplishment, enjoying ourselves in our works, as Luther puts it, our works are deadly sins even if we think they are done with the help of grace. [We must see that they are done by Him, not just that He is "helping us."] For then our works stand between us and God; they usurp the honor belonging to God. This is a transgression of the first commandment. The self sets itself as an idol. Piety is no protection." (42)

Now for the more "modern" theologians -- thanks to Of First Importance for these quotes:

The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a hand in the justification of the soul before God; preparations for Christ are dreamed of, humblings and repentings are trusted in, good works are cried up, natural ability is much vaunted, and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human tools upon the divine altar. It were well if sinners would remember that so far from perfecting the Saviour’s work, their carnal confidences only pollute and dishonor it. The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man’s chisel or hammer will be endured.

There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with your tools. Fall on your knees in humble supplication. Accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of your atonement, and rest in Him alone.”

- Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2001), 204.

“The holiest Christians are not those most concerned about holiness as such, but whose minds and hearts and goals and purposes and love and hope are most fully focused on our Lord Jesus Christ.”

- J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 134.

Well, that about sums it up for me. I saw that the blasphemy of seeking to add to what Christ Jesus has accomplished is alive and well in DisneyRome where we live and skip merrily, as my friend, Beth said, down the road to self-godulization. May God have mercy on us. Thank God that His love is everlasting on those who fear Him and fear that they may trust in themselves and not in him.

Theses #3 and 4 -- Naked Confidence

2009-07-11T20:33:01Z

Theses 3 and 4 "Although the works of man always seem attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal sins. Although the works of God are always unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits."

Let's summarize where we are, where we've come from: Neither the law of God, the natural law nor 27 steps to self-reformation can accomplish righteousness before God. I once visited a cathedral in Mexico City where the penitent, needy, and seemingly spiritual believers crawled on their knees through a massive courtyard to demonstrate true piety. Listen, you can crawl on your knees from here to Rome and back and all you'll get is bloody knees and a heart shattered by pride and despair. Not interested in being Romish? How about those 7 tried-and-true steps to becoming a more beautiful, wonderful, successful, powerful, spiritual you? We've even got verses!

Perhaps we're not as far from Our Lady of Guadalupe as we think. All those steps that seem so good, so reasonable, so useful are actually steps away from true righteousness because they speak lies to us. They tell us that we are good and simply need a little help from the man upstairs and a sprucing up here or there. We need to demonstrate true sincerity. These steps or "works of man" always seem attractive and good but nevertheless are likely to be mortal sins. We scoff at people who whip themselves or crawl on their knees. Are we that different? Perhaps we know enough to avoid saying 15 Hail Mary's as penance for our misdeeds. But do we see things as they really are? Do we promise God we'll be a better person tomorrow if he just helps us find a parking place today?

The works of God always appear unattractive and evil. They aren't very optimistic. The works of God are a bloody baby born to a woman of questionable morals, whimpering in a feeding trough. They are a not-so good looking bloke being misunderstood, abused, bloodied, stripped, crying out in anguish. They are dark skies and earthquakes. They are wrath poured out and life given up. They are a borrowed, musty tomb. They are also a risen Christ, yes! (hallelujah!) -- but where is he? Why doesn't he show himself? If he's still alive, why must be also be ascended and ruling sovereignly -- hidden to our view? I want to be on the winning team -- not hanging out with a bunch of pathetic losers. So, let's join a political party and transform the world! Want to be a millionaire? Start acting like one! Hate being a loser? Make choices like you're a winner! At heart, don't we militate against the outward unattractiveness of Christianity? That's why we're always trying to spruce it up by adding something more respectable (worldly wise) to it. It's just so unattractive (to use Luther's term).

Yes, it's easy to get there, isn't it? We hide our eyes from the One with no form or beauty that we should desire him. And yet, that's what we are, too. Here's Luther's point: We've got no beauty or comeliness and God ought to hide his eyes from us. But he hid his eyes from his Son instead and now he's hidden us IN his Son. There's no false optimism here. It really does look to the world like we're the losers who are awaiting some pie-in-the-sky-in-the-sweet-by-and-by while they go for the gusto. But the truth is that we've got real righteousness. Why? Because God's Spirit has so worked upon us that he's humbled us so that now we believe we don't have any of our own.

What do we have? Where can we stand? Only in the bare confidence in his mercy. He "humbles us thoroughly, making us despair, so that he may exalt us in his mercy, giving us hope..." (33). What does God's work accomplish in us? It humbles (humiliates is better, I think, doesn't sound so gentle...) us. The cross itself demonstrates the truth of our poverty. And then it implants within us the fear of God. Not the cringing, slavish fear -- rather the realization that even my best deeds (which appear so beautiful to me) are actually putrid before him. Yet...in his mercy he purifies and beautifies them and presents them as sweet offerings to my Father. That makes me worship -- that gives me hope.

Does all this seem a bit pessimistic? I hope it does. I hope it's pessimistic enough to drive us all out of our blind and self-deceived optimism and into naked confidence in the mercy of God. Want merit with God? Strip yourself of everything that makes you feel like you deserve it and stand in naked confidence that he's as merciful as he says he is. There. Stand there. Undoubtedly you'll have to strip down a thousand times a day. That's okay. Fifteen minutes from now you'll forget you ever read this. That's good, too. Because then you'll begin to know that even your ability to stay naked won't save you. Your ability to keep this mindset isn't meritorious. Naked confidence in mercy is ALL we've got. Whether we remember it or not. The humility that comes from the realization that I keep forgetting this truth and that I'll never be good enough is all that I've got to offer. But it's enough. He welcomes it because it's his unattractive, seemingly evil work (it's HIS WORK!) which really is eternal merit because it postures you as a receiver, not a contributor, not a giver. Standing naked clothed in his righteousness alone. There. Stand there. Receive.

A Housekeeping Memo

2009-07-08T17:14:00Z

For some reason that I can't figure out, some of you are still being put in "moderation." That means that your comment stays inactive until I post it. Don't get discouraged. Just go ahead and comment and I'll try to be faithful to get those comments up there by the end of the day.

Thesis #2 -- The Seven Secrets to "Successful" Self-Reformation, Pride and Despair

2009-07-06T04:14:00Z

Thesis #2: Much less can human works, which are done over and over again with the aid of natural precepts, so to speak, lead to that end.

My husband, Phil, always jokes around about how he'll live after I "write the big one." I tell him he's got a rich fantasy life. I'm thankful for the way that the Lord has used my writing but I'm pretty sure I won't ever write "the big one." At least not one that will enable my poor dear to retire early. Humanly speaking, my books won't be best sellers for at least three reasons: First, because I'm too serious for most women (a sadness to me), men won't read a woman's writing (a conundrum to me), and I'll never write about the Seven Secret Steps to Success, Happiness and a Great Sex Life Without Trying Too Hard (thankfully). I suppose I should also say that I won't have a best seller because I'm not that great of a writer...Don't blog back at me about this. I'm okay with it. I don't see myself as a writer -- more like a counselor who's somehow gotten into print.

Luther is getting at this last reason (the Seven Secret Steps one) in Thesis #2. In #1 he stated that the way of God's Law was not the way to righteousness because none of us obey it. Now he takes his proposition a bit farther. You are not able to reform yourself through natural law or repeated self efforts. That's where the whole self-help movement went wrong from the beginning -- and by the way -- that's also why it continues to be successful. People continue to buy the latest "Seven Step" book and then after a year or so (and after falling into both pride and despair) they hear about the new hot secret and buy it. Best seller in the making. The book we're reading, on the other hand, has fallen off the grid. Why? Because as Luther says, it's not very optimistic about our abilities to reform ourselves. And who wants to pay $17.99 to hear that? Again, the cross is rather insulting, isn't it?

Luther's point is simply this: if we only become more wicked by trying to reform ourselves through God's holy law, there's no way in the world that we'll be transformed by our own clever ideas. Snap your wrist with a rubber band until your hand falls off and you still won't change your heart or become righteous. We cringe when we hear about the self-flaggelation of the Hindu's but are we all that different? Of course, we shy away from too much blood and guts...unless we're into cutting or starving ourselves. But a little smack on the head with a nerf bat might just do wonders, mightn't it? I digress.

Here's where Forde believed we are now: "The modern world too tends to reject the law of God as a word from without. The self is encouraged to turn inward to the "moral law within" ("listen to the force Luke") and the self's own inner resources for assurance and power. Whatever may be the usefulness of such encouragement in the human sphere (it's better for one's family if you're not a cocaine addict), this thesis insists that it can hardly advance the cause of righteousness before God." (29) So, we're told to turn inward and access the 'truth" within. This, of course, will end in futility, too.

"The cross makes it clear that the law, whether from without or within, is a dead-end street when it comes to the question of righteousness before God. For the law demands love. ..It is not able to produce or induce what it demands...What the law requires is freedom from the law! Or as Luther could say, putting words into God's mouth, 'I'm obliged to forgive them their sins if I want the law fulfilled by them; indeed I must also put away the law, for I see that they are unable not to sin, especially when they are ... laboring to fulfill the law on their own."

So, if I want to love God and obey I don't give myself the law because the law will only make me guilty and despairing or proud. Instead I give myself the free grace of Christ and let that work upon my heart to produce love and joy and generosity. In the meantime, I fight to obey and pray that my motives are what God would have them be: love for Him, not approval of myself or the approval of others or even a best seller.

I'm working at this. In the meantime, I'll continue to write as long as the Lord opens the door. But I won't get rich and Phil won't retire. I've just read this to Phil and he's decided to reconsider the Lotto. Just kidding. Good thing I'm a kept woman.