A Million Words

You've heard the phrase 'A picture is worth a thousand words'? Well that's true, if you want to do an inadequate job of describing something. I believe a picture is worth a million words (maybe more!). A new blog element will appear in the left column on occassion, entitled 'A Million Words'.

Dreaming?

I approached the lush riverbank. The parched and crunchy straw-like grass gave way to tall mature grass blades blowing in the warm summer wind as I neared the cool, refreshing water.

Mist drops of water from the rushing rapids blanketed my face and brought joy to my dry and cracked lips. And there I saw him - the man crouched down as if he were praying. Who was this man, I wondered. The closer I stepped toward him I could tell it was someone vaguely familiar, but from behind it was hard to tell. He seemed to be very busy at work as I yelled to capture his attention. I thought the sound of the rushing water made it difficult for him to hear me, so I yelled all the louder and approached even closer.

Who was this man so enthralled with his work that he didn’t hear my voice? I became angry and indignant. "Who are you?! I want to know who you are!", I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then I noticed his head slowly turn toward me.

"It’s about time", I thought impatiently. And then my burning anger and selfish impatience turned to sheepish embarrassment as I recognized the man’s face. He was also holding in his hands something that was easily recognized by only me. There on the riverbank knelt the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

As he turned to me, his look of disappointment was mixed with a gaze of love. There He was, holding my blackened soul in his bloody hands, scrubbing it clean. My ugly, dirty, sin-stained, wrinkled, tough-as-leather soul lie in the nail-pierced hands of the spotless One. ‘I forgive you’, were the only words He spoke.

With tears in each of our eyes, we embraced.

Up On A Roof

I spent the better part of yesterday helping my father-in-law put a new roof on his house. It was hot. Really hot! No shade. Direct sun. All day. It literally was the hottest day of the year so far, approaching the mid-90's in the afternoon, with maximum humidity levels. In my delirium, I contemplated the obvious effects of global warming in the countryside of Western Pennsylvania. The ice caps must be melting and polar bears are going the way of the dinosaur. It was really hot up there on that roof.

The excessive heat of the day caused my brain to think weird thoughts - like "what in the world are these global warming people thinking! This heat is NOTHING compared to the impending heat wave that the unbeliever is about to face". Maybe not such a weird thought...

Here's another thought... maybe instead of trying to save the planet and save the glaciers and save the whales and save the environment, we ought to be all about passing around the good news of the gospel so that people would be rescued from that 'eternal heat wave'. Not that we don't want to be good stewards of the earth we were given to live on, but an eternal conscious punishment in the lake of fire is of infinite more importance than 'global warming', as the buzzword goes. Losing someone to the eternal flame - the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, the place where the worm never dies - far outweighs ice caps and polar bears.

Justification - Gospel Thoughts for the Week

A few days ago I posted the definition of the word 'propitiation'. I think its good for Christian to define their terms, so I may occasionally define words that us Christians use.

Justification. This is a legal term – a legal declaration by God – a VERDICT - an instantaneous legal act of God in which He (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in His sight - we are completely forgiven and no longer liable to punishment.

Colossians 2:13-14 says, "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 1having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

What was the certificate of debt (or handwriting of ordinances) against us? This certificate of indebtedness referred to a handwritten note by the debtor acknowledging his debt. The decrees mentioned in this passage refers to the Mosaic Law – all people have violated God’s law and therefore we owe God a debt. This is enough to condemn us to judgement and hell because "cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law, to perform them" – Galatians 3:10. The 'canceled out' phrase is one I like. The Greek term for this phrase means "to wipe off, like erasing a blackboard". This certificate of debt has been nailed to the cross! Not a trace of it remains to be held against us. Forgiveness is complete.
John Piper comments on this passage from Colossians: "there is no salvation by BALANCING THE RECORDS, it must be wiped out, cancelled, blotted out".

What are the results of the legal declarations of justification?
1). We have no penalty to pay for our sins (past, present and future!) (FORGIVENESS) Romans 4:6-8
2). We are now not merely neutral in God’s sight, but we are actually declared to be righteous! (IMPUTATION of Christ’s righteousness to us) See Isaiah 61:10 – He has covered me with robes of righteousness.
3). We have RECONCILIATION - that is, peace with God – See Romans 5:1

What is our response to this 'justification', this legal declaration of our standing in God's sight?
There are numerous responses. Standing in awe, continually thankful, as we pursue holiness - just to name a couple.

The photo above was taken in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the capital building in Harrisburg. We visited on a holiday, so we had access to the room, which normally would be a rare occurance. You can't tell from this photo, but behind the judges seat is a huge mural of Moses in front of the Ten Commandments. The courtroom is filled with other pictures and quotations that reference God, the Creator, the Divine, the Almighty. Interesting when you consider the 'separation of church and state' argument.

Mark

Stars and Stripes

Today was a big day for me. I was finally able to get my flag pole put up. I never had a flag pole in my yard. Flying an American flag is a necessity! It's like baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet.

This picture is obviously not my particular flag. These American flags fly proudly around the Washington Monument in our nations capital.

The box that my flag pole came in contained a fact sheet about the American flag. Here's a couple of items on that sheet:

The Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Red: stands for hardiness and courage
White: Is the symbol of purity and innocence
Blue: is the color of vigilance, perseverance and justice.

The flag should only be flown from sunrise to sunset. It should not be displayed at all during stormy or rainy weather, unless for some very special reason.

I love my flag. Alot of people died for that flag.

Be Ye Glad

Today I was reminiscing about our wedding day that took place almost eight years ago. I heard a song that we played in the prelude to the ceremony. The song is 'Be Ye Glad'. The reason we picked this song as part of our wedding celebration is that it speaks of the happy occassion of Christ taking our sin debt out of the way and (as we see in the following verses from Colossians 2:13-14) nailing it the cross.

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Here are the lyrics from the song. Wish you could hear the tune as you read the words. Maybe you know how it goes:

In these days of confused situations
In this night of a restless remorse
When the heart and the soul of a nation
Lay wounded and cold as a corpse

From the grave of the innocent Adam
Comes a song bringing joy to the sad
Oh, your cry has been heard
And the ransom has been paid up in full, be ye glad

Oh, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad
Every debt that you've ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord
Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad

So be like lights on the rim of the water
Giving hope in a storm sea of night
Be a refuge amidst the slaughter
Of these fugitives in their flight

For you are timeless and part of a puzzle
You are winsome and young as a lad
And there is no disease or no struggle
That can pull you from God, be ye glad

Oh, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord
Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad

Oh, be ye glad Oh, be ye glad
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord
Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad

(c) Michael K. Blanchard, ASCAP, Paragon Music Corp.Gotz Music & Diadem Sky, ASCAP

Only ONE Way - More Gospel Thoughts for the Week

You would expect that non-Christians would think there is any number of ways to get to Heaven. What is amazing to me is that Christians who say they believe there is only one way on one hand, but then also say there are two ways. I can't count the number of times I have heard professing Christians say, 'there are two ways to heaven, by living a perfect life or by faith in Jesus Christ'. I think that this odd statement is sometimes said with good intentions, because usually they will go on to say 'well, none of us is perfect, so we really are saved by faith in Jesus Christ'.

But why even mention 'living a perfect life'? It just makes the message of the gospel unclear. In fact, saying 'there are two ways to heaven, by living a perfect life or by faith in Jesus Christ' is not only unclear, it's WRONG - it contradicts what the Bible says.

To live a perfect life, you would have to keep all of God's Law - that is, all of his commandments and statutes, Every single one of them - 24x7, 365. The Law was given to mankind to demonstrate our utter sinfulness and inability to be righteous. Romans 3 and 4 is one section of scripture that explains about the Law and about faith. Early in Romans 3, the Apostle Paul quotes the Old Testament by saying 'there is none righteous, not even one', and 'there are none who seek after God', and 'there is none who does good', and if we didn't get it yet, Paul removes any doubt and confusion by making the famous 3:23 statement that 'all have sinned'.

And even if you could live a perfect life, that doesn't save anyone. Romans 4:13-16a should further clear this matter up: "For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace."

If living a perfect life could save us and catapult us into heaven, then Christ died needlessly.

There IS only ONE way, not two.

Propitiation - Gospel Thoughts for the Week

Propitiation (prō-pĭsh'ē-ā'shən) .
Now there's a word you don't hear very much. What does it mean?

Systematic theologian Wayne Grudem explains it like this: a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath toward us into favor (Systematic Theology, page 575). It isn’t a ‘doing away’ with wrath, but a transfer of wrath from one object to another.

Is the 'God of love' angry and wrathful? You bet. Consider Psalm 7:11, "God is a righteous judge and one who has indignation every day", and Ephesians 2:1-7 where rejecters of God are called "children of wrath". Romans 9:22 makes reference to "vessels of wrath". Consider also the account of Adam and Eve, specifically in Genesis 3:8: "They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day". In a book on marriage (ironically) Charles Swindoll describes that the Hebrew phrase ‘cool of the day’ is RUAH or WIND. He goes on to say that research into this phrase suggests it could mean "during the wind of the storm". When we experience a storm, a severe storm, don't we imagine fury and wrath? This explanation of this phrase makes perfect sense when we consider what just happened between Adam and Eve and God.

Consider also the following quotes on the wrath of God from great men of God:

Jonathan Edwards (from his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) - "They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow."

William Gurnall (1660) said: "When I consider how the goodness of God is abused by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of his mind that said, The greatest miracle in the world is God’s patience and bounty to an ungrateful world. But think not, sinners, that you shall escape thus; God’s mill goes slow, but grinds small; the more admirable His patience and bounty now is, the more dreadful and unsupportable will that fury be which ariseth out of His abused goodness".

John Piper says that we have preferred other things… "God is not indifferent to that. Our sin is not small, and in fact is quite insulting to our Creator. The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the One being insulted. Failure to love God is not TRIVIAL- it is TREASON".

Back to Ephesians 2:1-7 mentioned above... read this passage. God doesn’t take bad people and make them good, he takes dead people and makes them alive. How does he do this? By sending Jesus to absorb the wrath (diverts that wrath) that we deserved, taking the full brunt of the force in the cross. Christ is our SUBSTITUTE. He bore the wrath we deserved and thus SATISFIED the Father’s JUSTICE.

What is our response to this? When we recognize the seriousness of our sin, and the wrath that we’ve avoided because of the finished work of Christ on the Cross we, the only response is to be awestruck!

I like this word 'propitiation'.

Patriotic Quiz #2 - Answers

Two of the hands belong to Abraham Lincoln. The closed hand indicates his strength and determination. The open hand represents his compassion.

The hand clenching the weapon is from the three soldiers keeping watch over the Vietnam War Memorial Wall.

One hand in the relaxed position is at the right side of Thomas Jefferson - third President of the United States and the writer (and a signer) of the the Declaration of Independence.

The other two pictures of hands are from the Iwo Jima Monument located next to Arlington National Cemetery. The monument was erected in honor of the brave soldiers who conquered Mount Suribachi on the strategic island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean in WWII. The group of hands belong to Mike Strank, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley and/or Franklin Sousley. Harlon Block was the soldier with his hands at the base of the pole, so he is not in this picture.

The set of hands that can't quite reach the flag pole belong to Ira Hayes. In the book, Flags of our Fathers, the author James Bradley (son of one of the flag raisers) mentions that this was Ira, different, apart from the rest, unable to grasp the pole just as he was unable later to get his hands around his life. Ira died after the Iwo Jima Monument was erected and dedicated. He was found face down in a ditch where the cause of death was listed as hypothermia and too much alcohol. Ira Hayes is buried in Arlington. Ira Hayes is an American hero, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his death.

We should pause for a moment and thank God for all of these people for their valuable contributions to America.

Patriotic Quiz #2

Without the providential hand of God active in the life of our country, it's hard to tell where we would be. Here are some images of other 'hands' that were instrumental in the progress of our country. If you've been to Washington DC and seen some of the monuments, you can probably guess whose 'hands' they are. Answers tomorrow.