Christ Church

The Christmas Gift

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Our celebration of Christmas is all about the arrival of the one who was given to us. For unto us a Son is given (Is. 9:6). The Christ was given. God so loved the world that He gave. In Isaiah’s promise, there are two words that are repeated twice, and they emphasize the reality of God’s great gift. Those words are unto us.

The Text

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).

Summary of the Text

John tells us that God gave us His only begotten Son because He loved the world. He did it so that anyone who believed in that Son should not perish, should be delivered from the wrath that was already resting upon him, and could be ushered into everlasting life. But this love that God has for the world is not something He decided to do on a whim. God’s love for the world proceeds from the way He is. It proceeds from His ultimate and everlasting character. The love that God extends to the world (John 3:16) is the same love that we have known and believed in, the love that God has to us (1 John 4:16). And what kind of love is that. John tells us that God is love, and so it follows that the one who lives in love is living in God, and the one who lives in love has God living in him. But note the potency of that phrase—God islove.

Deep Error from Shallow Hearts

Before we are converted to God through Christ, we tend to veer in one of two directions. Whenever we conceive of ultimate reality, we either imagine unity at the top or we imagine plurality at the top. If the former, then we go in the direction of some form of Unitarianism—it could be Deism, it could be Islam, or it could be the generic God of American civic religion. The god at the top of this system is a solitary monad, the ultimate hermit god, the greatest bachelor.

The other direction is to assume some sort of multiplicity at the top. This reduces to some form of polytheism—many gods. And because each of these gods is contained by the cosmos, by the “whole show,” over time that cosmos in its entirety tends to assume the place of ultimacy, which has a tendency toward pantheism.

These two ways of thinking have a political expression as well. The Unitarianism system is a model of the cosmos that is a “tower of power,” and so the political arrangement that reflects this (remember that we become like what we worship) is authoritarian. The political arrangement that reflects polytheism is called pluralism. There is usually a hidden unity in the system somewhere, but on the surface we have many voices, many laws, many gods.

The unbelieving mind is incapable of resolving the problem of the one and the many. Which is ultimate? Unity or plurality?

God Is Love

When the early church was battling through the various controversies surrounding the Trinity, and then surrounding the relationship of the human and the divine in the Lord Jesus Christ, these were weighty controversies—they were notnontroversies.

Prior to the creation of the world, when there was nothing but God, how was it possible to say that God islove? How can we possibly claim that love is an aspect of God’s essential character? If there is no one else, if God is simply an ultimate solitary being, there can be no Beloved. If there is no Beloved, then God didn’t start loving until He created the world, and He needed to create the world in order to start loving. This would mean that He was dependent on something external to Himself in order to be love—which is intolerable. God islove.

God So Loved

Biblically defined, love means revealing yourself and it means giving yourself. When God loved the world, what did He do? He gave. What did He give? He gave His only begotten Son. The word here is monogenes, and the clear implication is that He gave Himself. But then what did He do? This is also important. He toldus about it. So God gave us Jesus, so that we could have everlasting life. And then God gave us John 3:16, to tellus that He had given Jesus so that we could have everlasting life. God gave us Himself, and then God revealed Himself.

These gifts are not offered to us insteadof Himself.

An Aside About Christmas Presents

Why do we give presents at Christmas? What is that all about? What we are doing is celebrating the greatest gift ever given: “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15). The gift that God gave to us was ineffable, indescribable, beyond all mortal calculation. Giftis the hinge upon which all human history turns. Gift is the meaning of everything. Grace provides the meaning of life.

In the beginning, God gave us a perfect world in the first instance, which we promptly wrecked in our insolence and rebellion. So then God undertook to repair that cosmos, making it much more glorious than it had been before, and He did this by bearing the penalty of sin Himself. This is how He gave Himself, and the Christmas message reveals how He gave Himself.

When you are shopping for presents, you are imitating that. When you buy a present for someone, you are not doing it so they will leave you alone for another year, or at least until their birthday. No, you are giving a token that represents you, that reveals you, that gives you.

Nicea and Chalcedon

Nicea testifies to the truth that God is love. If the eternal Word is God, then God loves His Son eternally, which means that God is love. It cannot be any other way. Love is not an add-on extra. Love is an essential part of who God is. The Father loves the Son eternally. The Son loves the Father eternally. Their mutual infinite love is Himself an infinite person, the Holy Spirit of God. This is why the Spirit is described as the Spirit of God, and as the Spirit of Christ.

And Chalcedon means that that the God who is love is that love unto us. And as recipients of that love, what are we to do? Returning to the text, we are to dwell in the love He has bestowed, which is how we are enabled to dwell in Him. When we dwell in His love, we dwell in Him, and when we dwell in Him, He dwells in us.

Read Full Article

Honest With God: Confession of Sin

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

I would like to spend this week and next addressing honesty with God, and what it means to grow in grace. In brief, there are two elements to growth in grace. The first is the removal of impediments to that growth, which we will address this week, and the second is the presence of that which feeds grace. The first is negative, dealing with sin, and the second is positive, which has to do with the reception of means of grace.

Think of a house plant that has been knocked over, and the pot has been shattered. If the plant is to grow and flourish, it is necessary to repot it . . . but repotting a plant is not the same thing as watching it grow. Repotting is what is happening when sins are confessed. Growth is what happens when the soil is rich, the sunlight plentiful, and water is abundant.

The Text

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Summary of the Text

I have entitled this short series Honesty With God, and such honesty is essential to all true confession. Let us start with the passage from Proverbs. A man who covers his own sins will not prosper. It is striking that this action of covering is positive or negative depending on how it is happening. The word for cover here (ksh) also means to forgive. “Hatred stirreth up strifes: But love covereth [same word] all sins” (Prov. 10:12). Covering is what love does, and covering is what a self-absorbed sinner does on his hell-bent way to “not prospering.” A man does not have the authority to cover (forgive) his own sins. The offense was against God (Ps. 51:4), and so God must forgive. What is God’s way in this? The man who confesses (honesty), the man who forsakes (true repentance) is the man who finds mercy from God.

We find the same element of honesty in the passage from 1 John. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. The word for confess here is homo (meaning the same) and logeo (which means to speak). To confess is to “speak the same thing” that God is saying. We do not engage in any spin control. Note that God is the one who does the forgiving, and God is the one who does the cleansing. We do the acknowledging. So what do we contribute to this process of confession? We contribute the sin, which creates the need for forgiveness, and we contribute the honesty about the sin, which engages the promises of God—promises that ride on the fact that He is faithful, and that He is just.

What Shifts and Evasions Look Like

What are some of the shifts and evasions we employ to keep from doing what God summons us to do? Here are just a few. We justify what we did. What we did was really right, we say. We excuse what we did. It was wrong, but it all happened so fast, and besides, she started it. We hide what we did. Nobody knows about it and nobody is going to know about it. We confess what we did in vague terms. Lord, please forgive me for anything I might have done today. We rename what we did. Everybody makes mistakes. We shrug over what we did. Nobody’s perfect. We give up over what we did. I am going to do it again, so why bother? We barter over what we did. Restitution would be too costly. We pass the buck over what we did. The woman you gave me. We postpone dealing with what we did. I’ll confess it next Sunday. We are overwhelmed by what we did. Nobody could forgive that.

Honest on Our Behalf

Now the problem for us is that we live in a world that is simultaneously corrupt and, more importantly, dishonest about the depth of that corruption. All we have to do is be honest about our sin, the man says. But how? We can no more do that than we can achieve perfection in any other area. And here is the gospel of grace.

Jesus did not just die for you so that the penalty might be paid for the sins you committed. He did do that on the cross, but Scripture teaches us that all of the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us who believe. So you are afraid because you are such an imperfect repenter? Are you discouraged because it is so hard to be honest about things like this? Christ didn’t just die for you, He also repented for you (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:21). From the very beginning of His ministry, He identified with sinners, and He—the sinless one—went through the humiliation of receiving a baptism of repentance. Why would He do that? The man who administered it to Him wondered the same thing.

“And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him” (Matt. 3:14–15, NKJV).

Now He did not repent so that you wouldn’t have to repent. Rather, He repented so that you could learn how to repent, following in His footsteps, freed from all condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Let the one who repents, repent in the Lord. Let the one who is learning to walk honestly with God, walk honestly with Him in the honesty of Christ. This is what it means to walk in the light.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Walking in Christ means walking in the light. Walking in the light means walking honestly. And that means you will always be dealing with your sins in a well-lit area. Christ is that light.

Read Full Article

Love & War

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

What pops into your mind when you think about “conversations” over doctrine? Chances are, “love” isn’t what comes immediately to mind. Shepherds love sheep by fighting wolves. Kings love citizens by fighting invaders. Husbands love their families by fighting the seduction of the workplace & the adulteress. Fences make the obligations of love clear.

The Text

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins….” (1 John 4:1-21).

Summary of the Text

John doubles down on why Christians have assurance of salvation: Jesus Christ is King & Conqueror. So, John gives a litmus test for whether a spirit is true or false: antichrist doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, the Spirit does (vs.1-3). Though false teachers are intimidating & often convincing, those born of God walk with confidence, because Christ dwells in them & so they’ve overcome antichrist (v4, cf.3:8 & 5:4-5). False teachers speak what the world wants to hear, because they are of the world (v5); but those who know God discern the Spirit of truth by listening to the Apostles’ witness (v6), which is how to tell right from wrong, doctrinally.

Christians are to love each other; which can only be done by those who know God, for God is love (vs.7-8). God’s love––being preeminent––was manifested in sending His Son to be both our life (v9), & our propitiation (v10). This is the spur for Christian imitation of His love (v11).

God is Spirit, and unseen. But, Christians loving one another,(which we can see) reminds us that God isn’t just a “force,” He’s personal: by dwelling in us, & His love being perfected in us (v.12). Because the Spirit bears witness that the Father sent the Son to save the world, our love for each other becomes an assurance that we dwell in Him, and He in us (vs. 13-14).

Only those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God dwell in God and God in them (v15); this is how you know & believe that God loves you, by dwelling in the love He showed us in sending His Son (v16). Any fear of the judgement is waylaid because our union with God’s Son, means that God looks at us & sees Jesus (vs. 17-18, cf.2:28). But we must get the order right, God loved us first (v.19). Receiving God’s love––as manifested in Christ––logically leads to the commandment to love our brother who is right in front of us (vs. 20-21). The chapter begins with discerning between spirits (true or false), & ends with discerning between brothers (obedient or disobedient).

Doctrine & Love

A loving community & a commitment to faithful doctrine aren’t at odds. Notice John’s rehearsing the same themes, “Here’s the Gospel, now do it.” Here’s the doctrinal foundation, now go live out the relational implications. Here’s what you should believe, now believe it in action. Here’s the root, now bear the fruit. Here’s God in the flesh––Jesus Christ––your lone salvation, your Mediator, your Messiah, now imitate & declare that love.

John––like a New York taxi driver telling you about the Yankees’ latest win––jumps up & down on the importance of Christ’s incarnation. He weaves this doctrine into its real world relational cash-out. Believe a false gospel? Trust in a false savior? You will murder your brother. Only God in the Flesh can save us from our sins and restore our fellowship with each other. Only the Messiah can intercede for us before the Father and reconcile us with each other. Only Jesus can unite us with the Father and with each other.

False-christs can create a pseudo-community, but certainly not forever (and usually not for long). Disinterested gods stay up on Olympus. Earthly saviors can give us pseudo-community, but never eternal life. An impersonal First Cause might theoretically give us life, but never communion.

Giving What is Best

This is no “pass the peace pipe” kind of love. It’s a life-giving, sin-covering love. Both grace & mercy are on display here. This love has, as its foundation, God’s character & nature. It’s rooted in the love of the Trinity. The Spirit’s message is that Jesus coming to earth should make us see that the Father loves us (vs.13-14). In essence, God gave us Himself. His love, then, is the bedrock for our ethics.

So, how should a husband love his wife? A mother her children? A slave his master, or a master his slaves? A Jew a Gentile? Does it mean you give yourself? Yes & no. Love aims to give supreme happiness to the object of love. You & I are pretty lousy & will never bring complete joy to those we love. However, you are to give yourself––in Christ & by His Spirit––to those you are called to love. You give Him. After all, you don’t have anything better to give.

God in the Flesh is Love

We can know God, & know the love of God, by looking at one thing. Not by looking to our own inward experience (i.e. feelings). Not by looking to philosophical gymnastics to discover metaphysical realities (i.e. reason). Not by putting our love for God (i.e. good works) on the scales. We hear God’s love by how He spoke to us in the person of His Son (cf. Heb. 1:1-2). We see it in the flesh & blood of the man from Nazareth. We know it because this is what the Spirit teaches us. We experience it because His love in & through Christ has made us new, & we now love & are loved by our brethren in the same manner.

The message which John received & is declaring to Christians––so that their joy might overflow (1 Jn. 1:4)––is that the one true God is not the mere force of the Universe, but is a personal God. This God has spelled out His love for us––with big, neon letters––by sending His Son to become a man; suffering in the stead of Adam & his sons, that all who believe in Him might obtain forgiveness of sins & eternal life. This was the Gospel which all the Apostles proclaimed:

“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, & gave him glory; that your faith & hope might be in God (1 Pt. 1:20-21).”

“[Our salvation] is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, & hath brought life & immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10).”

Read Full Article

Apostles Creed 18: The Communion of Saints

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

What we now know as the Apostles Creed descended from an earlier form of the creed, known as the Old Roman Symbol. The beginning of the creed dates from as early as the second century. We do not have any direct evidence that it was penned by any of the apostles, but it is an admirable summary of the apostolic teaching.

Introduction

As we turn to discuss the communion of saints, we first have to deal with how the term communion itself has been downgraded into something fairly mundane. We tend to think of something like community, and since there is a religious tint to it, we make that a nice community. But in our day, we also have the step dancing community, the ham radio community, the LGBT community, and so on. In our idolatry, we have come to believe that we are the tie that binds. But by all that is holy, we are not.

The Text

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord.  He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin, Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended into Hades. On the third day He rose again from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Summary of the Text

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ . . . But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:3,7).

As always, we must begin with gospel. That which was from the beginning, the Word of life, was in our midst (v. 1). This life was manifested to us, and the apostles bore witness to the eternality of this life (v. 2). Our fellowship is both vertical and horizontal, and only horizontal because it is vertical (v. 3). This is written so that our joy may be full (v. 4). God is light, and in Him there is no darkness (v. 5). It is not possible to have fellowship with Him while also having fellowship with darkness (v. 6). But if we have fellowship with the light, then we also have fellowship with anyone else in the light (v. 7).

And so this is what the communion of the saints means. Through the gospel, we have union with Christ. Because we have union with the bridegroom, this means that, of necessity, we have union with the rest of the bride. The unity of the saints flows from the head. The unity of the saints pervades the entire body of saints precisely because of their connection to the Lord. If we have fellowship with the Light, we have fellowship in the light.

Partaking

The Greek word in the Creed for communion is koinonia, and this is echoing the deep and profound meaning of this reality in the New Testament. You could translate it as fellowship, but for too many Christians, fellowship just means coffee and donuts. Communion is a bit better, but it still does not pack the wallop that koinonia does. The closest I can come is to render it as mutual partaking.

Reformed According to Scripture

Because this phrase came into the Creed a few centuries after the initial composition of it, and because there was so much misunderstanding in the medieval period about the nature of sacraments and saints, churches and so on, it is important for us to register our particular Reformed understanding of this. So permit me to quote the Westminster Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism on this, and I trust you will see the same vertical/horizontal emphasis that we find in our text.

“All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His grace, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man” (WCF 26.1).

“What do you understand by ‘the communion of saints’?

First, that all and every one, who believes, being members of Christ, are in common, partakers of him, and of all his riches and gifts; secondly, that every one must know it to be his duty, readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts, for the advantage and salvation of other members” (HC.55).

Union with Christ is first, and then, as a necessary consequence, you find yourself loving those others whom Christ also loves, and loving those others who, together with you, love the Lord Jesus.

And All By His Spirit

“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:15–16).

The biblical logic of partaking works in this way. We grow up into Jesus, and as a result of this, we find the body being knit together. This knitting is truly mysterious, like a child being fashioned in the womb. How and why does it work? How do all the parts know what to do? This is the mystery of a biological body, and the spiritual body works in a similar way, under the hand of our infinitely wise God.

And it is by no means limited to the people in this room, or to the people who have signed off on your denominational distinctives, or even to the people who happen to be alive at this moment. Those who have passed on before us are still connected to the Head, just as you are. That means that, while you must not pray to them, you also must exult in the body together with them. And as for your great, great grandchildren, they also have their place in God’s eternal purposes, and that place is where all of us must turn.

Again, always and forever, this is all about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Read Full Article