New Testament Archives - Page 179 of 205

Theology of Christmas Gifts

Joe Harby on December 18, 2011

Introduction

One of the most obvious features of our Christmas celebrations is the gift giving. How are we to understand this as Christians? What are the pitfalls? Are all the pitfalls obvious? Because our lives are to be lives of grace, and because charis means grace or gift, this is something we have to understand throughout the course of our lives, and not just at Christmas. But it has to be said that the mechinery of our consumer racket does throw the question into high relief for us at this time of year.

The Text

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Mt. 2:11).

Summary of the Text

The first Chritmas gifts were given by the magi to the young child Jesus. This happened sometime within the Lord’s first two years of life. Because three kinds of treasures are mentioned—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—it is often inferred that there were three wise men. There may have been, but we don’t know. What we do know is that the gifts were very costly.

Some Background

Gentile wise men from the East sought out Jesus and they worshiped Him. The established rulers in Israel did not —in fact, Herod played the role here of a treacherous Pharaoh, going on to kill the young boys in the region of Bethlehem. We know what gold is, but what are frankincense and myrrh? They are both aromatic resins, harvested from different kinds of trees. Frankincense was often burned for its smell, and hence the smoke could signify prayer, ascending to God. Myrrh was used in burials (John 19:39), and Jesus was offered some mixed with wine on the cross, which He refused (Mark 15:23). It was associated with death. From the context of the magi’s visit, and the association with gold, we may infer that these were high end gifts. All three of these gifts were very expensive —in these verses, Matthew calls the gifts treasures.

No Either/Or

The relationship between God and your neighbor is not an either/or relationship. When it becomes that, it is the result of a sinful kind of dualism.

In any context where grace is necessary and called for, you can of course sin . . . · Through being a grump and begrudging the giving of gifts at all (John 12:5). · You can also sin by giving to your neighbor instead of to God (Rev. 11:10);
· By giving to God instead of to your neighbor (Mark 7:11).

The way through, the real alternative, is to give to God by means of giving to your neighbor (Esther 9:22). Your neighbor bears the image of God. How can you give to God, who dwells in the highest heaven? You reach up by reaching down, or by reaching across. No gift given here in the right way goes missing in the final tally (Matt. 10:42). With every form of unrighteous mammon, you have the opportunity to extend grace to your fellow creatures, in the hope that they will receive you into glory (Luke 16:9). But every gift given here in the wrong spirit is just thrown into the bottomless pit, that ultimate rat hole (Luke 12:34; Jas. 5:3).

We see our relationship to God mirrored in our relationship to our neighbor. The state of the one reveals the state of the other. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). When the two great commandments are discussed, we are told that the second great commandment is “like unto” the first (Mark 12:31). The Scriptures are explicit on this point. “No man hath seen God at any time. IF we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20).

What This Does Not Mean

This does not mean that we are to charge about aimlessly, buying and giving gifts willy-nilly. The grace of God is not stupid, so don’t give pointless gifts just to have done something. The grace of God was freely given, so don’t let a racket run by unscrupulous merchants extort money from you that you don’t have. At the same time, merchants are a form of grace to you. How does God get that daily bread to you (Matt. 6:11)? So don’t identify crowds with a racket. Crowds do provide an opportunity for pickpockets, but Jesus loved crows and He fed them. He gave them gifts (Matt. 14:21).

Cold Water & the Unspeakable Gift

The best gift we can give on another at Christmas time is the best gift we can be giving to one another all the time —and that is the gift of gospel-saturated grace. Gospel means good news, and as I mentioned earlier how God keeps a track of cold water gifts, we should always connect this with gospel. What has God given? Let us give the same way, and in the same spirit. “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country” (Prov. 25:25).

The Son of God from Heaven is the gospel from a far country. He is the gospel Himself; He is the good news. And we know that His contagious form of life has taken hold of us when we start gracing each other the same way that He graced us. Notice how the great vertical gift and horizontal gifts must be understood together.

“For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”

The Gospel and Thanksgiving

Joe Harby on November 20, 2011

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Introduction

The gospel is good news for everyone, and this includes all those who have already heard and believed it. The gospel is food, not just information, and so when the gospel is declared rightly it creates and reinforces true faith. The gospel does not unsettle true faith. You are a congregation of God’s people, a congregation of saints. So if I address you this morning with a charge to believe the gospel, it is not because your faith in Christ is doubted, but rather because we must all believe the gospel, and we must do so always. At the same time, to encourage you—not unsettle you—I want to declare the gospel to you. Established saints will be strengthened by it, professing Christians (but unconverted) may be quickened by it, and unbelievers who are visiting us may be called to Jesus Christ.

The Texts

“And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:17-22).

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7).

Summary of the Texts

When a young man runs up (whom I believe to have been Mark himself), he asks Jesus the way to eternal life. Jesus points him to the law of God, giving him a list of the commandments from the second table of the law, all but one—the prohibition of covetousness in the Tenth Commandment. The young man answered that he had done well on all that. All that obedience and he still did not have eternal life! So Jesus tells him that one thing was still missing. He gives him an assignment that touches the nerve center of his ongoing disobedience to the Tenth Commandment. He went away sad, it says, because he had great possessions, which he wanted to keep.

Saul of Tarsus was another young Jewish man who was prepared for the gospel by that same Tenth Commandment. He would not have known sin except for the law. He would not have known lust if the law had not said “Thou shalt not covet.” The second table of the law can be summarized. The law leads us to Christ by posing the fundamental question, which is, “what do you want?”

Wanting and Thanking

We are told in Scripture not to let anyone beguile us with enticing words (Col. 2:4). We are told to overflow with thanksgiving (Col. 2:7). Thanksgiving and covetousness are therefore mutually exclusive. Being seduced or enticed by covetousness (by what you are wanting) is therefore not possible in a thankful heart.

The Arc of the Story

One of the reasons the doctrine of regeneration is so important is because the doctrine of generation is so important. God fashioned man out of the dust of the ground in the first place, but it was the breath of God that established us after His image. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). First God formed, and then God breathed. When God breathed the breath of life into our first father, it was then that he became a living soul, created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). This scriptural language of “image” is closely connected to the reality of generation. When Adam had a son, it was a son in his own image, in his own likeness (Gen. 5:3). This is language that plainly echoes what God had done initially with Adam. Adam had a son after his own image just as God had a son after His own image. In some sense, Adam was son of God by generation.

The way it was with Adam downstream was also the way it was with Adam one generation upstream (Luke 3:38). And keep in mind that Adam means man, or mankind. We may therefore read it as “mankind, the son of God.” Now when Adam sinned, what he was sinned. He was a son of God who sinned. This meant that a new form of generation was established. In some sense, the sons of God became sons of the devil. The mechanism that accomplished this was the mechanism of separating us, as a race, from the life of God. “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 4:18). First there was generation, then degeneration, and then, for the elect, regeneration.

Here is the fundamental question behind each of these categories. Who’s your daddy? Never seek to define your identity apart from your relationships. When did we become sons of God? We were generated in His image when He breathed the breath of life into our first father. When did we become objects of wrath, children of the devil? When our first father took the fruit that had been forbidden to him, but which he coveted anyway (Gen. 3:6; 1 Jn. 2:16). When were we born again, when were we regenerated? When we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in truth, moved by the Spirit to do so, and God the Father became our Father once again. In short, it happened when the central covetousness died, and the central thanksgiving was born. What is it to be born again? It is the death of covetous wanting, and the birth of thankful wanting.

The Grace of God’s Law

Theologians refer to the three uses of God’s law. But the first use refers to a revelation of God’s character, the righteousness of God that condemns the unrighteousness of man. With regard to the rich young ruler, we are talking about the first use. In order to come to Christ, the old man must die (in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, which is the glorious gospel). But do not grab the old man, and cut his fingernails, or give him a haircut. Do not arm wrestle with him. He must be crucified—his beating heart, which is wanting, always wanting, must die. When that man is raised in Christ, his grasping covetousness has been replaced.

Reformation Sunday 2011: Reformation in the Boneyard

Joe Harby on October 30, 2011

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Introduction

The end of October approaches, and as we mark and celebrate Luther’s Reformation, our heart’s desire and prayer should be for future historians to be able to describe it as a relatively small one. “Small” does not mean insignificant, but we should still see it as the Holy Spirit just getting started (Heb. 9:10). Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has prepared for those of us who love Him. So as we emphasize the five solas (as we should), let us exult in the one which is the true integration point for all of them—solus Christus—the cornerstone of every future reformation.

The Text

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2 Cor. 5:16).

Summary of the Text

Christ died and rose for the world, and if we are to follow the apostle Paul’s argument here, this means that we have an obligation to see that world differently. We are called to see the world as saved in principle, beforehand, in the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection. We should not see the world as saved when our eyes finally tell us it is all right for us to believe. Who hopes for what he already has? The world will be saved because we already see Christ crucified and risen, and so we declare to the world what that means. What is it that overcomes the world? Is it not our faith?

The apostle tells us that how we see non-Christians is directly related to how we see Jesus. How we see the world is directly related to how we see Jesus. We like to think that a high Christology and a low cosmology go together, but they do not. We like to think that a high Christology and a low anthropology go together, but they do not. New Age mystics and distorters notwithstanding, we worship a cosmic Christ. Externalists notwithstanding, we worship a personal, heart-felt Jesus. “For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart” (2 Cor. 5:12).

Believing this to be the case, we are no longer permitted to understand any man “after the flesh.”There is a way of understanding humanity that does not take into account what Jesus did on the cross, and what He accomplished when He rose from the grave. That way of understanding humanity may call itself “realistic,” but how is it realistic to ignore God’s inauguration of the new creation?

The Obstacle of Total Depravity

Some may want to see men “after the flesh” because of the orthodox doctrine of total depravity (which is the orthodox and biblical doctrine), but how is it that we have come to believe that total depravity somehow has more power to hold down Jesus than the stone tomb did? The fact that Jesus was buried in a stone tomb is a biblical doctrine also, but that was not the end of the story.

Yes, unregenerate mankind is totally depraved. Yes, it is true that we cannot autonomously contribute in any way to our own salvation. Yes, it is true that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. But let us never preach the doctrine of total depravity without also declaring there has been a great earthquake, and that an angel of the Lord has rolled away the stone in front of that imposing doctrine.

We should magnify the greatness of our disease so that we might magnify even more the greatness of the cure. We do not magnify the greatness of the disease in order to proclaim that “not even Jesus, the great Healer, could deal with it.”

Resurrection Talk is Crazy Talk

This is crazy talk, I know. But it is also biblical talk. This whole world, since the sin of Adam, has been nothing but one, vast, pole-to-pole boneyard. We believe that death is the one inexorable ruler. We live in a global Marbletown. Whatever could Jesus do in a world like this? What could He possibly do that could transform a world like this? The gospel reply is that He could come back from the dead in it.

Billions of sinners, dead in their sins. Son of man, shall these bones live? Ah, sovereign Lord, you know. Son of man, prophesy to the bones. But Lord, bones can’t hear anything. Son of man, prophesy to the bones. But Lord, they are not paying any attention. Son of man, prophesy to the bones. But Lord, that’s not how I learned to do it in seminary. Son of man, prophesy to the bones. But Lord . . . but Lord . . . To see men after the flesh is to see nothing but the bones.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

We do not invite Jesus into our lives—down here in the boneyard. Rather, Jesus invites us into His life, and the whole world is invited. The ministry of reconciliation is based on the fact of the cosmic reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

Definite Atonement Both Ways

Some may object that this dilutes the truth of definite atonement. Not in the slightest. All who were purchased for eternal salvation by Christ will in fact be eternally saved. Those who were not so purchased will not be. The point here is not that Christ died indiscriminately for every last man, whether elect or damned. The point is that Christ died for the world, and those who are excluded from Christ are therefore excluded from that world—they are cast into the outer darkness. To be saved is to be saved into the new humanity. It is to be saved into the world.

But it further means that definite atonement is not synonymous with “tiny atonement.”The reality of definite atonement is seen in the specific numbers allotted to each tribe—12,000 from each tribe, no more, no less. The majestic extent of definite atonement is seen when John turned and looked. What did he see? He saw a multitude that no man can number (Rev. 7:9). How many will be saved? We can’t count that high. Look at the stars, Abraham. Use the Hubble telescope, Abraham. So shall your descendants be.

How will these things happen? What will bring it to pass? The glorious message of a glorious substitution will be declared and presented to every living creature. What shall we tell them? We should give them the message that we were told to give to them. We should prophesy to the bones. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

The Fatherhood of God

Joe Harby on October 23, 2011

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Revealed as Father

We are familiar with the story of the Exodus, the plagues and such. But why do the plagues culminate in the striking down of the first born sons of Egypt? In the Exodus, Moses came to Pharaoh to announce to him that Israel was the Lord’s son and that the Lord was Israel’s father. If Pharaoh didn’t let Israel go, then God was going to strike down Pharaoh’s first born, a proportional judgment (Ex. 4:21-22). Jesus taught us to pray to God as Father, “Our Father, who art in heaven. . .” (Mat. 6:9). So our relationship to God is, in one sense, the relationship of children to their Father.

A Fallen Image

This metaphor, that of fatherhood, is an image used by God to teach us something about what God is like, an image built into creation. Earthly fathers are a reflection of what our heavenly Father is like. This is problematic, since these are fallen images. And the fact that they are fallen can make the whole thing offensive. Many people hear about a God who is an omniscient, omnipotent version of their earthly dad and they say ‘no thanks.’The problem is that you can’t just edit fathers out of how we have been made. We were created in the image of God and so fatherhood and a need for fatherhood is built into us. Both good and bad fathers reveal something about God the Father.

Love

First, we need the love of a father. God has built this into our souls. This is how fathers, by common grace, instinctively feel about their children. Jesus shows us how the love of our earthly fathers points to the love of our heavenly Father in Luke 11:9-13, via the Jewish “Kal vaChomer” argument.

Delight

Second, not only do fathers love their children, they delight in them. Delight is really just the manifestation of this love. This is all a reflection of the ultimate father / son relationship – God the Father and God the Son (Mat. 3:17). Because fathers can allow their love to grow cold, what began as an intense love for their children does not manifest itself as delight, at least not in the conscious lifetime of their children. This leaves a void that only the heavenly Father can fill.

Pursuit

And lastly, because fathers love and delight in their children, they seek out their children. Loving parents will endanger themselves to save their children. God sought out Israel in Egypt, because Israel was his son. But our earthly fathers are fallen. And the same man who would have given his life to save his child in a house fire, will later sinfully sit and watch his children walk away from the faith with no effort on his behalf to pursue. But our heavenly father is not like this.

Ironically, our heavenly Father has pursued us by becoming a father to us. He has saved us though his fatherhood. He sent his own son, Jesus, so that he could become a brother to us (Heb. 2:14-17). And in becoming our brother, Jesus has shared his sonship with us, so that his father, God the Father could become our father (Gal. 4:4-7). Through this union with Christ we have God the Father as a perfect Father. We are loved, as the Son is loved. The Father delights in us, as he delights in the Son. The Father is pursuing us to deliver us, as he did his Son Jesus, and his son Israel.

He is a model for us to emulate to our own children. And he is the perfect fulfilment of the type that our own fathers were for us. Where we fall short in this work, our children still have a perfect father above us, to whom we must be pointing them. And where our own earthly fathers have failed us, we have a perfect father, who loves us, delights in us, and has pursued and saved us.

Ask and it Will Be Given to You

Joe Harby on July 17, 2011

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The Promises

When it comes to the topic of prayer, the teaching of Scripture is, to be honest, hard to believe. It’s not hard to understand, just hard to believe. If we were to take these promises of Scripture at face value, it would be hard to disagree with the confident boasting of the “health and wealth” / “name it and claim it” preachers.

John 15:7, Ps. 145:19, 1 John 5:14-15, Mark 11:22-24, James 5:16-18
We are all biblical inerrantists, but do we really believe these verses? We all surely know the exasperation of asking for something repeatedly and not seeming to get what we received. Do we just say that sometimes the answer is no?

The Qualification

We all know that we counter the “name it and claim it” application of these verses by explaining that the promise needs to be contextualized (1 John 5:14, etc). We insert a proviso in the promise that these promises are only there if our requests are according to the will of God. But this proviso, the way we are tempted to use it, essentially empties God’s promises of any real comfort. Imagine telling your kids, “Tonight you can have whatever you want for dinner. You name it and we will have it. As long as you pick meatloaf.”

Now this qualification is real. It is true that becoming a Christian does not turn God into your vending machine in the sky. But how do we add this qualification in such a way that we aren’t completely emptying God’s promises of any real meaning? Psalm 37:4 says – “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” There is a kind of desiring that is both straight from our heart (the thing that we really and truly want) and is blessed with a promise from God that it will be fulfilled.

Delighting in His Desires

When people teach on prayer one of the images that you will commonly hear is that of artillery. Prayer is artillery because it hits the enemy from a distance. And though there is much truth in this, distance implies safety for us, something that leaves us untouched. And that is a mistake. When we really pray, we are vulnerable as well. Prayer hits us also.

Prayer is an expression of desire, it is wanting. But it is not “wanting” in the abstract, it is “wanting” before the throne of the Father. And you can’t stand before that throne without the presence of the King having a major impact on what you want. Your delights or your wants are shaped by the one to whom you are bringing them. God offers us this incredible blessing – he patiently teaches us to want the right things. In fact, God actually wants to give to us what we want John 15:7-8.

Earnest prayer consumes us. Look up a bit at Lk. 11:5-8. God wants us to be consumed with our desires and to do it in front of him. Our Father wants us to be pesky with our desires. Paul exhorts us to be vigilant in prayer (Col. 4:2), to be always praying (Eph. 6:18), to be without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:18).

Church Prayer Requests

So let me conclude with some prayer requests on behalf of the church.

Evangelism

Moving up further in Luke 11, the preceding bit is the Lord’s Prayer, where we are commanded to pray that God’s kingdom come on earth (Lk. 11:2). We see the command to pray for the salvation for men in every position in 1 Tim. 2:1-4. We see the example of Paul praying for people and peoples that God has brought to his mind – Israel (Rom. 10:1) Agrippa (Acts 26:29). So please consider praying regularly for the evangelistic ministry of CRF, of the international student ministry, of the Threshold service.

Raising Up Preachers

We also see the continued example of praying for Christians who are specifically engaged in this work. We should pray for the raising up of men to preach the Gospel. – Lk. 10:2. Consider Col. 4:2- 4 and Eph. 6:19-20. So please pray that we would be gathering, training, and sending out Gospel preaching men. Pray in particular for Greyfriars that we would have a bumper crop of strong men.

Faithfulness of the Next Generation

The next decade will be an important season of transition in our church life. One of the perpetual follies of “the next generation” is to try to invent something new under the sun. The other perpetual folly is to enshrine/encrust the externals of what went before, all the while missing the spirit of what had once been radical and now is traditional. One example of this is the upcoming fall conference. We would differ on a number of the particulars with how Mars Hill in Seattle operates. Nevertheless, we see the Holy Spirit blessing what is currently going on in the “young, restless, and reformed” movement. And we don’t want to stand against it. We would like to be in a position where both of us can learn from one another. Please pray for us to have wisdom in this and for God’s blessing on this conference.