Christ Church

The Politics of Christmas (Advent Grab Bag #1) (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION 

As is our custom, we began using the Definition of Chalcedon this morning for our Creed, which was adopted and published in 451 A.D. The purpose of the Definition was to further defend the full divinity and humanity of Christ from several heresies, while preserving the Creator-creature distinction. 

All non-Christian societies are fundamentally what Peter Jones calls “oneist.” Oneism teaches that everything is essentially one, part of the same basic substance, and therefore oneism is pantheistic. Christianity is the lone religion in the world that teaches “twoism,” that there are fundamentally two different realities: God and everything else. This has profound implications for all of life, including how we think about politics and power. 

The Texts: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:21-23).

“Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Ps. 102:25-27). 

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXTS

The center of human rebellion is the refusal to acknowledge God as He truly is and that is “uncorruptible” and utterly unlike anything in creation, all of which is “corruptible,” and refusing to be thankful for this reality, people become foolish idolaters (Rom. 1:21-23). Likewise, Psalm 102 describes God as the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth, and the difference between the Creator and His creation is that creation perishes, wears out, and changes, but the Creator endures, remains the same, and has no end (Ps. 102:25-27). Finally, the Bible says there is only one God and one mediator between God and man: Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). 

THE COUNCILS & HERESIES

Leading up to the Council of Nicaea in 325, a pastor named Arius taught that Jesus was not fully God, but rather was a man who was very much like God. Arius taught that there was “a time” (so to speak) when the Son was not. He said, the Son had a beginning. Athanasius and others argued that Christ was fully God and was therefore of the “same substance” with the Father (“homoousias”). The later Arians would say that Christ had a “similar substance” with the Father (“homoiousias”). This really is a watershed issue. If Jesus is merely the highest created being, the most exalted creature, right next to God, then the Creator-creature divide has collapsed. Instead of the infinite chasm between God and His creation that the Bible teaches, there is a ladder, a hierarchy or gradation of “being” that may ascend to Godhead. 

The Council of Nicaea concluded that Athanasius was correct and published the Nicene Creed which affirms that Christ is fully God and fully man, eternally begotten, “not made,” and of the same substance with the Father. The Council of Chalcedon came along in 451 and further nailed the coffin shut on Arianism (and other Christological heresies), insisting that the Divine and human natures come together in Christ “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” While this might seem esoteric or pedantic, it really is glorious. It is saying that the Creator-creation distinction remains intact even in the one mediator between God and man. There is no hierarchy of being ascending and merging into God. There is only God and everything else, and Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and everything else, and in His person, those two natures are united “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union.”

CHALCEDONIAN POLITICS

The political ramifications for this are enormous. The tendency of all cultures dedicated to “oneism” is toward the Tower of Babel: consolidating global resources and power in an effort to ascend to Heaven, whether literally or simply by achieving heaven/utopia. This process always includes leaders claiming the authority of God/gods. In the ancient world, Pharaoh was the human representative of the sun god, Ra, and in Rome, Caesar was hailed as the divine “lord” and son of Jupiter. When the early Christians acclaimed Jesus as “Lord” and “Son of God,” this was in direct defiance of the emperor cult. Later, when the Roman Pope claimed to be the universal pontiff and exercised massive political power, it was somewhat based on the supposed authority to change bread and wine into the flesh and blood of God. Political power has often been exercised under the guise of unlimited divine power. But the Biblical religion has always insisted that all authority comes from God and is therefore “under God” and limited by God and His Word. While modern governments have not yet had the audacity to openly claim this divinity, this hasn’t stopped them from acting like it in their totalitarian claims on our property, income, children, and healthcare. 

APPLICATIONS

What we are celebrating at Christmas is not only our eternal salvation but also freedom from every kind of tyranny, beginning with death itself, but also sin, the Devil, and all Satanic manipulation, oppression, and power grabs. The state is not God, nor is it the mediator between God and man. And no one can ascend to God or Heaven. The One born in Bethlehem, He is the eternal Son of God, the Lord and only mediator between God and Man. All earthly authorities answer to Him. Christmas means limited government. 

And this is why the Kingdom goes forth as proclamation, baptism, communion, and worship. There is nothing that we can do to ascend to God in Heaven. There is no way for us to cross that chasm, and our sin only makes the distance greater. Only God can come to us, and so He has.

Read Full Article

Psalm 142: Prayer Ascends from Low Places

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

This is a maskil, meaning a psalm of instruction. There is much for us to learn here. The occasion for it was when David was “in the cave,” with that being doubtless the time when Saul was in hot pursuit of him with 3,000 men. David was in a very low place, and this was compounded by the fact that he was in a very low condition, a very low way. But Scripture teaches us that “with the lowly is wisdom” (Prov. 11:2) Remember that the Lord has “respect unto the lowly” (Ps. 138:6)

THE TEXT

“Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cried unto the Lord with my voice; With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: Refuge failed me; No man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry; For I am brought very low: Deliver me from my persecutors; For they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: The righteous shall compass me about; For thou shalt deal bountifully with me” (Psalm 142). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This is a maskil about affliction, and who does not need to learn the lessons here? This is a prayer from a deep cave. David was in enough distress that he cried out to the Lord aloud (v. 1). He says this twice—he presented his supplication out loud. He did not pray about his troubles in a vague or general way—he poured them all out before the Lord (v. 2). He showed Jehovah all his troubles, and not because God needed the information. Rather it is because we need to see Him seeing it. David reminds himself that when his spirit was overwhelmed . . . God knew the steps of his path (v. 3). And the path that God knows is the same path where his enemies have laid their snares (v. 3). David looked at his right hand, where his defender should have been, and there was no one there (v. 4). All had abandoned him. Nobody cared (v. 4). Bereft of friends, he cried out to the Lord (v. 5), the God who was his refuge and his portion in this life (v. 5). He pleads with God to hear his cry. His first argument is his despondency (v. 6). His second argument is that he is very weak (v. 6). Bring me out of this prison/cave in order that I might praise Your name (v. 7). And then he turns, as on a dime. He ends on a confident and jubilant note . . . from the same cave. This deserted one will at some point be surrounded with righteous men (v. 7). And why? Because God is going to deal bountifully with him (v. 7).

NOBODY LOVES ME BUT MY MOTHER

There is a pitiful blues lament from B.B. King that we might remember here. “Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jiving too.” This is the dilemma of the psalmist in vv. 4-5. He looks around for support from friends, and he sees that he doesn’t have any.

This is a common theme in Scripture. We should not be surprised that Job experienced it (Job 6:15). The apostle Paul knew what this terrible experience was like also. Demas deserted him (2 Tim. 4:10). At his first defense, everyone was absent (2 Tim. 4:16). All of Paul’s friends in Asia had ditched him (2 Tim. 1:15).

And of course, the ultimate experience of this is seen in the passion of the Lord. The shepherd was struck, and all the sheep were scattered (Zech. 13:7). This is made more poignant in that Jesus saw that particular desertion coming (Matt. 26:31). Judas, who had been one of the twelve, betrayed Him with a kiss, a fact that Jesus noted (Luke 22:48). Peter, spokesman for the Twelve, and very loud in his professions of loyalty to the Lord, denied Him three times, and with curses (Mark 14:71). And at the final, fatal moment, Jesus turned and looked at him (Luke 22:61). 

“I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: They that did see me without fled from me” (Psalm 31:11). 

PRAYER ASCENDS

It is the nature of true prayer to rise, to ascend. And if all you have left is prayer, it is no argument to say that you are in a very low place. We sometimes joke that from “down here” there is no place to go but up. While that may or may not be true about you personally, it is always true about a sincere and heartfelt prayer. There is no place for such prayer to go, but up.

True prayers don’t puddle on the floor. They don’t sink down like a heavy gas. They don’t clatter when you drop them. 

ENVISIONING THE END

There are two sorts of imagining. One is the more common of the two, and can best be described as daydreaming. The second kind of imagining is that which sees Christ with the eye of faith. And when you see Christ, you see everything that comes with Him. When Christ delivers, He delivers in real time, in history. And so, when David lifted up his eyes at the end of the psalm, his eyes following his prayer, what did he see? He saw, with the eye of faith, how this trouble was going to turn out. He had been deserted by his sunshine friends, but one of the things he foresaw is that he was going to be surrounded by a crowd of righteous men. In the moment of desertion, it is a temptation to say there are no righteous men. There are no true friends. This is a lie. It is accurate to say that there are no true friends here, but there are true friends. Remember, David. Remember Jonathan, one of the truest friends in all of Scripture. 

And we all have a friend who is even truer than that. When we walk in the faith of Abraham we find that we have become friends with the Friend of Abraham (Jas. 2:23).

Read Full Article

Psalm 141: Christ as the Incense of Prayer

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

We now come to the final decade of psalms. We first began this series almost twenty years ago—when some of you young marrieds were still pre-school. This might make us feel odd in all sorts of ways, but one thing it should remind us of is the fact that Scripture is a vast storehouse of treasures, and one lifetime doesn’t even begin to touch it. 

THE TEXT

“Lord, I cry unto thee: Make haste unto me; Give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; And the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: And let me not eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: In thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape” (Psalm 141:1-10). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The psalmist is in real trouble, and he cries out to the Lord, urging the Lord to hurry up (v. 1). He asks the Lord to treat the prayer as incense, and the lifting of his hands as the evening sacrifice (v. 2).  He prays that God would set a guard over his mouth. This could be taken generally, but remember that he is the middle of praying (v. 3). He asks the Lord not to incline his heart to wickedness, or to become a companion of iniquitous men. He doesn’t want to share in their dainties (v. 4). He would rather a righteous man strike him than for a wicked man to feed him caviar (v. 5). A righteous blow would be a kindness. The psalmist prays against the wicked (v. 5). When their judges are thrown off a cliff, they will hear David’s words (v.  6). As when someone plows up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol (v. 7). This is likely the trouble that occasioned the psalm in the first place. But he still looks to the Lord, expecting deliverance (v. 8). His adversaries are cunning, and so he prays that he not fall into their traps and engines (v. 9). Not only does he seek deliverance, he asks that their wicked stratagems backfire on them (v. 10).

PALACE INTRIGUES

We cannot say definitively, but this psalm is likely from before David was king, when he was out in the wilderness, and Saul was still on the throne. David was out there because of Saul’s paranoia, and because of various lies told about him at court (1 Sam. 26:19). The fact that he wants his outstretched hands to serve as the evening sacrifice indicates that he is being kept away from the place of worship. The scattered bones around the mouth of Sheol some take as scattered bones because of the words of Saul, referring to the slaughter of the priests by Doeg the Edomite. Surrounding all of this, we can see that the plots David is concerned about here is appear to be schemes in the plans of the wicked party in Israel. The cause of God looks to be hanging by a thread.    

THE BLOWS OF A HAMMER

The ungodly could overthrow David in two ways. First, their plots and traps could work. Courageous men do not fear open battle, but they despise secret plots. One of the ways they could work is by provoking David into an exasperated and unguarded response. This is why he asks Jehovah to set a guard on his mouth. He does not want to be goaded into saying something stupid, which could be then twisted around and used against him. 

But he also knows that the reason for their antipathy is because he is on the Lord’s side. They could overcome him through an enticing and flattering bribery. Come, sit with us. Come, eat with us. Here is a platter filled with dainties. The temptation here is to turn coat, and David asks for protection from all of it—whether hostility or seduction. 

He knows the antithesis. When he says, “let the righteous strike me,” the word for strike is a forceful one, like a hammer blow (Is. 41:7). He would rather have that than to have a butler in the mansions of the wicked offer him a delectable delicacy. Rebuke a wise man and he will love you (Prov. 9:8). He knows the antithesis. When the tables finally turn, and the evil judges he is dealing with are thrown off a cliff, he knows that his words will be validated then. The word for overthrow is the same word that was used for pitching Jezebel down from the balcony (2 Kings 9:33).    

INCENSE RISING

The comparison of prayer to rising incense is made in various places in Scripture. “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” (Revelation 5:8). “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:4).

Following the suggestion of John Owen, if we compare our prayers to the offering of incense, we can take four spiritual lessons from it. 

First, the incense needed to be ground, crushed, or pounded before it was used. Don’t offer up wholesale prayers. Prayer must proceed from a contrite heart. Second, the incense is of no use whatever unless there is fire under it, and it needs to be fire from the altar. Third, the incense was designed to ascend into the heavens. Set your minds on things above. And last, it resulted in a sweet aroma before the Lord.

Christ is our ultimate prayer, and He was crushed for us (Luke 22:44). Christ came to earth to cast fire (Luke 12:49). Christ ascended into the heavenly places, there to intercede for us (Acts 1:9). And He was offered up to God as a sweet-smelling aroma (Eph. 5:2). We pray in the name of Christ because Christ is our ultimate prayer.

Read Full Article

How to Be a Christian Kid #3

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

One of the best ways for a Christian child to honor his father and mother is to surpass them. If a child outgrows his parents in love for Christ, in knowledge of the Bible, and in a true grasp of what the gospel is all about, no one who truly loves God can begrudge it. And there is a paradox involved in it. One of the best ways to surpass your parents is to make sure you look up to them. The first will be last, and the last first.  

THE TEXT

“Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; Who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; A generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God” (Psalm 78:1–8). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This psalm contains much that we could consider, but I would like to draw out one basic lesson from the first eight verses. This passage outlines for us how a younger generation might surpass their parents in spiritual maturity. Asaph begins by exhorting the people to listen to the words of his mouth (v. 1). The next verse is cited by Matthew (Matt. 13:35) as an explanation for why Jesus taught in parables. Here is it “dark sayings of old,” and in Matthew it is things “kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Whatever else this is, it is big. The people have heard and known about them (on the surface at least) because their fathers told them (v. 3), and the sayings will be passed on to the generation to come (v. 4). What will be passed on? The answer is the praises of the Lord, His strength, and His wonderful works (v. 5). A testimony was established in Jacob, and a law in Israel, which was a command to “our fathers” (v. 5), that they might teach their children (v. 5). This was so that the next generation would know, and in turn instruct their children (v. 6). To what end? That they might hope in God, not forget the works of God, and keep His commandments (v. 7). This would have the good effect of enabling them to not be like their fathers—stubborn, rebellious, wobbly, and with a spirit that was not steadfast (v. 8).

In sum, the fathers hand down the memory of God’s mighty works so that their children might learn to not be like them. Honor your parents. Respect them. Look up to them. Listen to them. And do not imitate their frailties and sins.   

NO HUMAN AUTHORITY IS ABSOLUTE

The Bible teaches us that human authorities are true authorities. They have been given this position by God. This is true of civic authorities (Rom. 13:1-7), it is true of church leaders (Heb. 13:7, 17), and it is true of parents (Dt. 5:16). God has established these three institutions directly, and He commands us to honor them all.

At the same time, Scripture also teaches us that this is a fallen world, and so it has to be recognized that no human authority is absolute. There are times when all these authorities must be disobeyed and disregarded. Their authority is not absolute. This is true of civic authorities (Acts 5:29), it is true of church authorities (3 John 9), and it is true of family authority (1 Sam. 25:25). And this means, children, that your parents do not have the authority to require you to sin, and they do not have the authority to require you to be silent about their sin against you or your siblings (e.g. if there is real abuse). Of course, check your motives before resisting. But how do you do that? One of the best ways is to be as obedient as possible in all the areas where there is no conflict between your family culture and Scripture. 

HOLDING YOU TO YOUR BAPTISM

The fact that you are still young does not set aside the requirements of Christian discipleship. When the apostle Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, he wrote to all the different kinds of members. He wrote to husbands and wives. He wrote to slave owners. He wrote to slaves. And he wrote to kids. You are part of this. It is not the case that you are not called to be diligent Christians only after you get to a certain height or weight. The name of Christ is on you now.

You are not old enough to have long-established habits of reading the Scriptures and praying to God. That might seem like a disadvantage, but if you flip it around it means you have the great advantage of establishing these habits while the concrete is still wet. You are in the same position that Timothy was in. “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). The word for child here is brephos, which would be better translated as infant. Timothy heard the Scriptures from infancy.

But as you do, make sure you grasp the inner logic. Make sure you learn the secret that was hidden from the foundation of the world. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; And he will shew them his covenant” (Psalm 25:14). 

BRING IT ALL BACK AROUND

In the sixth chapter of John, the Lord Jesus has an encounter with the people that illustrates how the dark sayings of old both hid and transmitted a knowledge of God. Jesus saw that the people were going to make Him a king by force (John 6:15), and so He evaded them. They tracked Him down at Capernaum, and Jesus said they were as interested as they were because “they did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (v. 26). Don’t labor for that kind of food, but rather for the food that lasts forever, Jesus said (v. 27). They asked Him what they should do in order to work the works of God (v. 28). Jesus told them that they should believe on the one who was sent (v. 29). The people replied by asking for a sign, quoting our psalm as they did so (Ps. 78:24). And Jesus said that Moses did give them bread from Heaven, but what they really needed was the true bread from Heaven (vv. 32-35). And He was that true bread. 

Read Full Article

Salvation Belongs to the Lord (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on

A Universal Song from A Particular Situation
Psalm 3 in Light of 2 Samuel 14-19

The Four Step Movement of Psalm 3

1) Tell God What’s Happening
2) Remember Who God Is and What He’s Done For You
3) Face Your Fears, Trust in God, and Ask Big Things from Him
4) Praise God for His Salvation and Blessing

Read Full Article