the gate

The Bible is the Bible no matter what kind of binding it comes in . . . paper, plastic, metal (yes, Virginia, there really are metal Bibles), rubber, faux leather, or real leather. But if you’d like to own a Bible you can keep for a lifetime, and even pass on to future generations, Logos.com is giving away 72 Bibles that can take a licking and keep on kicking.

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“…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6)

(with apologies to Johnson Oatman, Jr)

Jerry Bridges has written some of the best Christian books available today. Here’s how he answers the question, do we earn God’s blessings?

“If God’s blessings were dependent on our performance, they would be meager indeed. Even our best works are shot through with sin — with varying degrees of impure motives and lots of imperfect performance. We are always, to some degree, looking out for ourselves, guarding our flanks, protecting our egos. It is because we do not realize the utter depravity of the principle of sin that remains in us and stains everything we do, that we entertain any notion of earning God’s blessings through our obedience. And it is because we do not fully grasp the fact that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins that we despair of God’s blessing when we have failed to live up to even our own desires to live a life that is pleasing to God.”

[ . . . ]

“Without a continual reminder of the Good News of the Gospel, we can easily fall into one of two errors. The first is to focus on our external performance and become proud like the Pharisee. We may then begin to look down our spiritual noses at others who are not as disciplined, obedient, and committed as we are and in a very subtle way begin to feel spiritually superior to them.”

“The second error is the exact opposite of the first. It is the feeling of guilt. We have been exposed to the disciplines of the Christian life, to obedience, and to service, and in our hearts we have responded to those challenges. We haven’t, however, been as successful as others around us appear to be. . . . We believe God is displeased with us, and we certainly wouldn’t expect His blessing on our lives. After all, we don’t deserve His favor.”

“Because we are focusing on our performance, we forget the meaning of grace: God’s unmerited favor to those who deserve only His wrath. Pharisee-type believers think they have earned God’s blessing through their behavior. Guilt-laden believers are quite sure they have forfeited God’s blessing through their lack of discipline or their disobedience. Both have forgotten the meaning of grace because they have moved away from the Gospel and have slipped into a performance relationship with God.” (The Discipline of Grace, pp. 18-22)

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Related post:
Our Filthy Righteousness

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last night, sonia and i took in our first foster child.  she’s 11 months old and super cute.  it was an emergency placement so we don’t expect her to stay very long with us. 

this morning i woke up and spent some time praying.  i prayed for her and her family, and quickly found myself wondering how to even pray for her.  i don’t even know why she’s in our care, the social workers gave us close to nothing in terms of information.  in fact, we know her name and birthdate and that’s about it.  oh, and a box is checked that tells us she has immunizations…what the heck does that mean?  

of course i prayed for the Gospel to find her when she is ready to hear it.  but beyond that, she’s not only a stanger but doesn’t have complex needs like we have.  she basically only needs food, baby wipes across the booty on occasion, and for her parents to get it together real quick.

i will probably never see her again after she goes back to her folks, and i’ll never know if the Lord answered my prayers for her salvation.  bumbling along i went, not really knowing how to pray for her or what to ask the Lord for.

this morning i came across this post on one of my favorite blogs, the gospel-driven church, and wanted to share it with you guys too.  it was encouraging to me and spoke to me directly, and i hope that it encourages you in your own prayer life.

As a writer and a prideful person, I am always trying to impress people with words. It is a relief, though, that I cannot impress God and that he approves of me in Christ anyway.

“The gospel, God’s free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don’t have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to—our helplessness—is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless. We can’t do life on our own.

Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks as the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers.”

—Paul Miller, A Praying Life

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dies at the young age of 50. I kept watching the footage yesterday simply because it was on every channel. Earlier I heard that Farrah had passed away. I heard the host of the radio show say, “Maybe we should watch less T.V. because we don’t know when it’s our last day.” He is right. We should really think about eternity every day. God knows the number of our days. People the fact is they are numbered. So we should live every day being a blessing to others, just as we have been blessed by God.

I learned of MJ’s passing when I got a text from my sister telling me he died. I had heard earlier in the day on the radio that TMZ had reported that Michael Jackson had been transported to the hospital due to heart problems. When you see people interviewed everyone was shocked. One girl said that she thought it’s Michael Jackson, he’s super human. It can’t happen to him. This culture obviously doesn’t read the Bible. The book of James tells us that life is like a vapor, that we are here one moment and then gone the next. We read in the New Testament where the sacred scriptures tell us that it’s appointed for us to die and then the judgment.

Folks I have news for you… we are all going to die. Every beat of our hearts is like a drum beat leading us closer to the day we beat our last. I think that people believe we will live forever. One day it will all be over. The death rate is still one per person, and we are all going to make it. Death should not surprise us because it is a fact of life and a consequence of the fall. It is these times that remind us all of all of our mortalities. No one is invincible and no one can cheat death.

I saw a guy being interviewed say of Michael Jackson, “I hope he’s in a better place.” That statement didn’t sound too hopeful. But I tell you this, that those that trust in Jesus, can know that they have eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Well, do you believe this?

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Nevada has implemented a law that will enable the state to seize the assets of those who are convicted of trafficking underage prostitutes (click here to read story). It will also let judges impose fines of up to $500,000 for trafficking in prostitutes younger than 14, and $100,000 for trafficking in prostitutes ages 14 to 17. Every state should do the same! Perhaps increase the fine for those trafficking 14 to 17-year-olds. Why not if we are serious about stopping this heinous injustice in the U.S.?

Imagine what could be done with the money. These kids could get the help they need to get their lives back. They could receive counseling and education. New group homes could be established. College scholarships could be funded.

Here in California, because there are so many underage kids forced into prostitution, we might even be able to cover some of the gap in our state education and health budgets. (Levy heavy fines against the clients too!)

Sacramento, please take some notes and get such a law on the books!

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Related posts:
National Missing Children’s Day

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“…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6)

Often those who don’t understand the wonderful gospel of Jesus do good things, even religious things, and then ask God to bless them for their good works. Yet God tells us here in Isaiah that our righteous acts (ALL of them, he says) are like filthy rags. Just picture what we’re doing when we offer up our religious deeds and activities to God and ask, expect, or demand that he accept and bless us because of them. We’re holding up a wad of filthy rags and telling God he’s supposed to bless us in exchange for them!

That is not resting in the gospel. That is not Christianity. God’s acceptance of us, even as Christians, is not based on our good works. Does my sin matter to God? You bet it does!

But as Pastor Tim Keller says so well:

To “get the gospel” is to turn from self-justification to rely on Jesus’ record for a relationship with God. The irreligious don’t repent at all, and the religious only repent of sins. But Christians also repent of their righteousness. (Galatians Study Guide, p. 30)

The good news of the gospel is that our heavenly Father relates to us completely on the basis of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, if we rest solely in the finished work of Christ. Trying to add my works on top of the work of Jesus . . . well, that just won’t work. As for me, I want the blessings Jesus earned! What about you?

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Related post:
Do We Earn God’s Blessings?

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not quite pentecost, but very interesting:

the setup (john chapter 20):  Jesus is crucified -> Jesus’ body getting funky for 3 days -> Jesus comes out of the tomb -> mary sees Jesus and runs back to the disciples to tell them -> the door is locked because they’re scared of the jews - > Jesus comes in anyways :)

and when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side.  the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came in and stood in their midst, and said to them, “peace be with you”.  and when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side.  the disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus therefore said to them again, “peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  and when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “receive the Holy Spirit.”  (john 20:20-22)

we all know about pentecost as it is told to us in acts chapter 2.  but the precursor of pentecost came when Jesus went back to see His disciples, some seven weeks before pentecost.  this is, in some sense, the passing of the mantle from Jesus to the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was not in teacher mode anymore, He was not interested in sitting down with the disciples and saying “see, i told you guys” or even further clarifying any of His statements that they still didn’t understand.  Jesus’ mission was complete.  it was now time for them to receive the Holy Spirit.

that’s it.  just an interesting passage i thought i’d share.  enjoy.

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In his book Knowing God, Dr. J. I. Packer writes,

What is a Christian? The answer can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God for his father.

[. . .]

You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. ‘Father’ is the Christian name for God. (pp. 181-182)

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In the letters of Paul, “thanksgiving was almost a synonym for the Christian life.” (Don Carson quoting Peter O’Brien)

Paul insists that all people everywhere ought to give thanks to God continually, and ought to offer him the praise that is his due. Our failures in this respect mark not only our wilful rebellion but the measure of our alienation and lostness. (Romans 1:21-23)
- from Paul’s Mission and Prayer, by Don Carson

If we understand the gospel, our heart will be filled with thankfulness!

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For Christians the worship service has top priority in the church, but it is not a high priority in the Bible we preach from.  An interesting phenomenon has developed.  In most churches in America, the people are encouraged to join small groups.  These groups are like small spiritual families where all the “one another s” of the New Testament are practiced.  This is indeed the church.  But participating in such groups is usually considered optional, whereas most Christians feel they must attend the Sunday morning worship service.  They think it is the biblical mandate.

The truth is that the New Testament clearly makes mandatory participating in the spiritual family, the small group.  The larger gathering is optional.  This is the very opposite of contemporary practice.  There are many mandates in the New Testament directing people to come together as a church, but it is for service to one another, not a worship service that includes preaching.  We are so immersed in the current forms of ministry that when we read these verses, we read into them an understanding of church that is not contextually accurate.

…

Let me be just state it clearly; attending a church service is not the same as being in a church family.  The church, according to the New Testament, means being involved with one another in an open, vulnerable, and interactive relationship.

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I hope that I have been clear in this, I am not against weekly worship or the church.  I am not saying in any way that it is wrong to gather together weekly for worship.  I do question, however, the high value we place on the Sunday morning service, often at the expense of practicing the New Testament “one anothers”, which are indeed the true expression of the church.

…

I am not saying that coming together to worship God is wrong or a mistake.  Not at all.  I believe it pleases him when we do, but I also think we can please him as much (if not more) by interacting with one another intimately and personally.

(Neil Cole - Organic Leadership)

** note: i’ll post the “one anothers” in a separate post for more info

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