We are Dispensable

You and I are both dispensable.

God has given each of us particular gifts, callings, and tasks to perform. But none of us is indispensable to God’s work or the ultimate accomplishment of his purposes.

Here are some humbling and encouraging words from Francis Schaeffer in a sermon titled “Only Jesus”:

Our conscious practice should be that Jesus Christ is the only Person who is indispensable. By this, I mean that other people can take our place. God does use individuals. You and I are not two interchangeable building blocks. The individual person has importance to God. But we are dispensable in the sense that as we come to the end of our work for God in this life, because of either death or failure, there will be someone to carry on, because Jesus Himself is the center of the work.

Schaeffer shows how whenever one servant — through death or failure — finishes his work another servant picks it up. Cain kills Abel, but God raises up Seth. Abraham is followed by Isaac, who is followed by Jacob, who is followed by Joseph. Moses is followed by Joshua, Eli by Samuel, and Saul by David. The list could go on and on. Schaeffer concludes:

None stood at the center, but at the center was a Person greater than any other, a Person who gave meaning to each man’s noncenteredness. Similarly, Christ must be the center of the perspective of every Christian—not only in his doctrine but in his day-by-day outlook.

We are loved by God. We are redeemed by God. We are called into his service. But we are not the center. Only Jesus is.

Freedom from Personal Spin Campaigns

A good reminder from Serge (formerly World Harvest Mission) about two different ways of living.

Freedom from Personal Spin Campaigns

A Life of Spin
There is a sizable institute called the Media Literacy Project dedicated to a single, increasingly-important purpose: helping people discern fact from fiction in news sources. Such a group does much needed work today, giving us fact-checking tools as we compare stories from FOX news, CNN, Twitter, and Buzzfeed among others.

It’s not just the news, but also the endless advertising. The latest products make big promises. How many times can the new smart phone really change everything? Drugs and treatments are advertised while minimizing serious consideration for side effects. Many today are tired of the slickly turned out spin. Is the church a refreshing alternative or just another place of pretense? In his short book Repentance, Serge founder Jack Miller wrote, “If we wish to be effective as Christian leaders, we must see that our own pharisaic pretense will eventually be discovered by the people we meet and rebuked by our own consciences.” Christ did not come, die, and rise to offer fresh spin on your life. He came for renewal.

The Authentic Way Out: Repentance
We are foolish if we think that modern men and women do not see when we are putting on a show. Think about it, how do you carry out your own personal brand campaign: In your church? In your family? In your workplace? In your prayer life? The Holy Spirit himself is deeply grieved, weeps holy tears over our religious fakery and instructs us in a better way – by the path of renewal through sincere repentance:

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:6,7

God is merciful in letting our self-promotion campaigns fail – He wants real relationship for us. In his letter, James is most direct with those who use God when it makes them look good:

“Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.… Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:8,10

Where Do We Begin with Repentance?
In Repentance, Jack Miller urges us: “We must stop parading around as a shell of person, living as those that T.S. Eliot called “hollow men.” Ask the Holy Spirit to make you willing to be searched by God (Psalm 139:23-24). And in turn, you will realize you are truly known by him. Do not expect the process of searching to be always painless and pleasant. No, hardly. But you will begin to have the joy of a clear conscience and a deepening fellowship with Christ as you realize He is unafraid of what He exposes, willing to heal, awaiting your return to Him. As you learn to thirst after Christ and drink of Him, you will find the living waters of the Holy Spirit flowing through you (John 7:37-39). No longer will you be the shiny appearance of something good, but you will be really living—and from you waters will overflow into others’ lives.”

Christless Change

There is a difference between gospel-centered change and self-reformation. David Powlison describes it this way in his book Seeing with New Eyes:

No one can truly change who does not know and rely on gifts from the hand of the Lord. Since Christ is both Giver and Gift, attempts to change without grace are barren of the very purpose, power, and Person that change is about. Self-manufactured change does not dislodge almighty me from the center of my tiny self-manufactured universe. Still in the futility of my mind and the hardness of my heart, I only act a bit different.

Successful living without grace describes mere self-reformation: get your act together, save your marriage, get off your duff and get a job. Failure in living describes failed self-efforts: when you can’t get a grip, you despair. Christless, grace-less attempts at change conclude either with the praise of your own glory or with your shame.

I love the language of dislodging “almighty me” from the center of the universe. Whether you succeed or fail in your attempts at self-reformation, you are still focused on yourself. The one thing that is necessary for true and lasting change hasn’t happened: “He must increase and I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

Intelligent Mysticism

I just started Tim Keller’s new book, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. In the first chapter, he quotes John Murray to the effect that the life of faith is one of “intelligent mysticism.”

Intelligent mysticism is a fascinating phrase. Here is Keller’s explanation of it:

[Intelligent mysticism] means an encounter with God that involves not only the affections of the heart but also the convictions of the mind. We are not called to choose between a Christian life based on truth and doctrine or a life filled with spiritual power and experience. They go together. I was not being called to leave behind my theology and launch out to look for “something more,” for experience. Rather, I was meant to ask the Holy Spirit to help me experience my theology.

I looked up the section in Murray that Keller was referring to and found the following comments about intelligent mysticism:

It is not the blurred confusion of rapturous ecstasy. It is faith solidly founded on the revelation deposited for us in the Scripture and it is faith actively receiving that revelation by the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. But it is also faith that stirs the deepest springs of emotion in the raptures of holy love and joy.

I like how “intelligent mysticism” highlights that prayer must embody both truth and experience, thinking and emotion. In prayer our theology and our hearts need to intersect.

Fruits of the Gospel

Here is a great comment by theologian Graeme Goldsworthy:

All the fruits of the gospel are just that: fruits of the gospel. Regeneration, faith, sanctification, and final perseverance are all fruits of the gospel. They can grow on no other tree. Legalistic demands, cajolery, and brow-beatings for ‘deeper commitment’ and ‘total surrender’, when cut loose from the grace of the gospel are but wretched weeds which can produce only despondency, disillusionment and rebelliousness.

This is essentially what Jesus means when he says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The Christian life is rooted in the good news of being united to the crucified and risen Redeemer.

Neighbor-Keeping

I appreciated these comments by Iain Provan about Cain’s shameless question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Provan notes:

The question is never explicitly answered, because it does not need to be. From the perspective of biblical faith, the answer is obvious. Yes, if you have been created to work the garden and take care of it (literally to “keep” it, Hebrew shamar; Genesis 2:15), you are certainly also to “keep” (shamar) your brother. Just as the good God “will keep you [shamar] from all harm — he will watch over [shamar] your life” (Psalm 121:7), so also a righteous image bearer of God will watch over the life of his fellow image bearer. That is the core of right relating to my various neighbors: to “keep” them.

What is amazing about the story of Cain and Abel is that God continues to “keep” Cain even though Cain did not “keep” his brother. Instead of putting Cain to death, God sends him into exile with the promise that he won’t be overtaken by bloodshed (Genesis 4:14-15), the very blessing that Cain denied to Abel. God watches over and protects Cain even though Cain does not deserve it.

If neighbor-keeping is being “like God” and reflecting his image and imitating the way he keeps people, then we should think about the way God treats Cain. It teaches us that we are to be our neighbor’s keeper even when they don’t deserve it, even when they’ve acted like an enemy, even when they can’t see their own hypocrisy (after all, what is more hypocritical than Cain complaining to God that someone might kill him?). God’s “keeping” is always rooted in grace and not in the worthiness of the recipient of his care.

Old Covenant vs. Old Testament

There are two terms that I often hear people confuse: Old Covenant and Old Testament.

These two terms are not the same.

The Old Covenant refers to the particular relationship that God established with Israel on Mount Sinai (cf. Exodus 24). The Old Testament refers to the Scriptures of Israel before the time of Christ, what Jesus called “the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40) and what Paul called “the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2).

The Old Covenant is temporary and provisional. It includes land, law, temple, priesthood, sacrifices, etc. as part of God’s dealings with Israel that find their fulfillment in Christ. The Old Testament is not temporary or provisional. The books of the Old Testament form an enduring witness to God and his ways that continues to have authority alongside the New Testament.

The Bible says some things about the deficiency of the Old Covenant (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:7-13). But the Bible never speaks about the deficiency of the Old Testament. Just the opposite: Jesus said if people don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16:31). And when Jesus rose from the dead and met a pair of confused disciples on the Emmaus road, he used the Old Testament as the way of providing the context and content for making sense of who he is. “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (Luke 24:27)

Today the church does not live under the Old Covenant. But that doesn’t mean that the church does not live under the continuing authority of the Old Testament as it teaches us in its own way who God is, the shape of his salvation in Christ, the character of his people, the nature of worship, the goal of mission, etc.

Someone once told me that theology is the art of making distinctions. It is important to distinguish Old Covenant (a temporary covenantal arrangement) from Old Testament (Israel’s scriptures as an enduring theological witness).

Does God Have Anger Issues?

Anger is an aspect of God’s character that we probably don’t like to think about. It’s also an aspect of his character that we easily misconstrue. People who have had an angry parent, an angry spouse, or anger issues in their own heart can start to view God as having similar kinds of anger issues. He’s mean, disagreeable, easily provoked, and harsh.

Iain Provan, one of my Old Testament profs, has some helpful comments about God’s anger in his new book Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters. He notes three things about God’s anger:

1. God’s anger is reasoned

God’s anger is not arbitrary, capricious, or spiteful. It’s not the result of wounded pride or having a bad day. God’s anger is his outrage against evil and his passion to bring justice to those who are oppressed. In this sense, God’s anger gives us hope that, since he cares about creation, he will intervene and set things right.

2. God’s anger is slow

God does not blow his top or act rashly like we often do. Provan notes, “God is for his creation, and his anger is always constrained by his compassion and grace. This is why the world continues on its way at all, for, as the psalmist asks, ‘If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?’ (Psalm 130:3).” Ironically, it is God’s being slow to anger that makes Jonah (who is quick to anger) so upset.

3. God’s anger relents

Those who suffer God’s anger can still experience God’s compassion. Micah 7:18 says that God delights in showing mercy (I am not aware of any passages that states God delights in showing anger). Provan says, “There is hope that once an accounting has been made of wrongdoing, there might be a restoration.” This is the news that Isaiah brings to Israel: “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer.” (Isaiah 54:7–8)

Because God’s anger is reasoned, slow, and relenting, Biblical authors can talk about it with frequency while not feeling that it contradicts or obscures God’s goodness.

Two Kinds of Knowing

I was recently reminded of the distinction between the knowledge of God we have by acquisition vs. the knowledge of God we have by acquaintance.

Say you are watching a Vancouver Canucks game and decide to learn a little more about their goaltender, Eddie Lack. You look him up on Wikipedia and discover that he is Swedish, that he used to play for the Manitoba Moose, and that he is nicknamed “The Stork.” You memorize his save percentages. You even know the name of his hometown (Norrtälje) where his father Jan faithfully drove him to practices as a kid.

Now let me state the obvious: you don’t know Eddie Lack.

You have acquired some information about him. But you don’t have any personal acquaintance with him.

J.I. Packer puts it this way with respect to knowing God:

One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of him. I am sure that many of us have never really grasped this. We find ourselves with a deep interest in theology. We read books of theological exposition and apologetics. We dip into Christian history, and study the Christian creed. We learn to find our way around the Scriptures… All very fine — yet interest in theology, and knowledge about God, and the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes, is not at all the same thing as knowing Him. We may know as much about God as Calvin knew — indeed, if we study his works diligently, sooner or later we shall — and yet all the time (unlike Calvin, may I say) we may hardly know God at all.

Once we understand that there is a difference between knowing about God (acquisition) and knowing God (acquaintance), then we can start turning our learning about God into an activity done before God, with God, and to God.

The Essence of Holiness

A lot of people think that the essence of holiness is practicing spiritual disciplines (praying, reading Scripture, etc.) or following certain rules that will keep them from being “worldly” (i.e., don’t drink, don’t dance, etc.). A lot of people think holiness is about working hard to be good so God will love and forgive you.

I thought this was a great quote on the essence of holiness:

You will cleanse no sin from your life that you have not first recognized as being pardoned through the cross. This is because holiness always starts in the heart. The essence of holiness is not new behavior, activity, or disciplines. Holiness is new affections, new desires, and new motives that then lead to new behavior. If you don’t see your sin as completely pardoned, then your affections, desires, and motives will be wrong. You will aim to prove yourself. Your focus will be the consequences of your sin rather than hating the sin itself and desiring God in its place.

Heart. Motives. Desires. This is where real holiness begins: seeing that we are pardoned through the cross and being transformed by the gospel of God’s love in Christ by the Spirit.

(The quote is from Tim Chester, You Can Change, p. 28.)