Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 6/3/09

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, our You Asked For It series continued with the question, “How do I know if I’m saved or not?” The questioner asked if the fact that they were even having those thoughts was a sign that they likely weren’t saved, and if they should “feel different.” I started my answer with the encouragement that the fact that someone asks that question is more likely a positive sign than a negative, because of the fact that they are actually concerned about it. This is a question that almost every Christian will struggle with at some point in their spiritual walk. How do we answer it?

The obvious starting point should be the gospel. I assume that the person who asked the question would mentally agree with the gospel, but that must be our starting point nonetheless. Do we believe in God’s holiness, our sinfulness, Christ’s sinless life and sacrificial death, his victorious resurrection, and the free offer of grace through faith? That is the only way that we find peace with God, so we must start there. However, we can fake beliefs, can’t we? In fact, we are so good at being deceptive that we can even deceive ourselves into thinking that we are Christians when we’re really not. Jesus himself warned against this, saying that on the last day many would speak of what they did for him while hearing the dreaded, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” We certainly don’t want that to be us, so we seek assurance that the faith we profess is real, and not a deception of our sinful heart and mind. How do we do that? In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul encourages us to test ourselves to see if we are really believers. If we are really in the faith, then there should be tangible evidences in our lives that we can look for and evaluate. So, what are they? I believe that the book of 1 John is a great place to start. As John himself says in 5:13, the book was written to us so that we could know that we have eternal life. In very straightforward terms, he gives us a series of things that should be present in our lives if we are truly in Christ. Last night, I used those things to form eight questions that we can ask ourselves in an effort to do exactly the testing that God has commanded. I’ll list them for you here with a reference to where I’m getting them from 1 John and a brief description.

1. Do You Walk In Darkness? (1:5-7, 3:1-10) – Obviously, we’re not perfect, and even as Christians we still sin. However, do you perpetually walk in darkness? Are you still comfortable with your sin? Does it still dominate your life, with no real desire or effort to change? If so, consider Scripture’s warning.

2. Are You a Self-Righteous Person? (1:8-10) – The flip side of the first question. Do you depend on your own goodness for your confidence before God. You may not verbally claim perfection, but does your life communicate that you’re mistake-proof and that you’ve got it all together? A Christian should be humble and reliant upon Christ for forgiveness.

3. Do You Love Learning About God? (4:1-6, 5:6-12) – John’s book isn’t all about actions – he’s concerned with false teachers and stresses the importance of right belief. Does learning about God and his works excite you, or are you bored by the Scripture. Certainly, some parts of Scripture can be tough to work through (Leviticus, anyone?), but do you stay unmoved even by things that you understand? Do you desire to know God more?

4. Do You Follow Jesus’ Commands? (2:1-6) – One of John’s more blunt statements, and important for us to think about. If you say you love Jesus, then do you follow the things he said? Do you avoid the things he calls you to avoid (anger, lust, apathy towards God)? Do you do the things he calls you to do (show mercy, forgiveness, love for God)?

5. Do You Love Like Christ? (2:7-14, 3:11-24, 4:7-21) – The most frequently mentioned theme in 1 John. Do you show the kind of love that Jesus did (selfless, sacrificial, even for enemies), especially to your brothers and sisters in Christ? Or, are you the type of person whose love for others is conditional on what they do for you?

6. Are You In Love With This World? (2:15-17) – We are warned here against being consumed with things that are passing away. Obviously, we are to show love for those in the world, and we don’t want to make the mistake of monasticism that withdraws from any earthly comfort or pleasure, but we need to watch ourselves, especially in our wealthy culture, that we don’t neglect our first love and fall in love with lesser things.

7. Are You Persevering In Faith? (2:18-29) – John here writes about some from among them that fell away from the faith, and he says that indicates that they were never truly Christians to begin with. Perseverance (continuing to the end) is the proof of true faith. Are you pressing on? Are you growing? Or, has your faith grown cold and routine to the point where now its just a show for keeping up appearances?

8. Do You Love God Supremely? (5:1-5) – This is the culmination of the first seven. Do you have a love for God that surpasses all else? Do you see him as supremely valuable, supremely beautiful, supremely satisfying? Is your faith a duty, or a joy? Are his commandments burdensome, or are they life to you?

So, do you pass the test? You won’t be perfect, but do you see these qualities in your life in increasing measure? If so, press on, and persevere in your faith knowing that it is God who is at work preserving you to the end, and he is always faithful and true. If you must honestly say that these things show you to be outside the faith, then my advice to you is simple. Trust Christ! Why not today? Turn from your sin and trust Christ, and you’ll find his power at work in your life to begin to make these things a reality in you.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 5/27/09

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we kicked off our summer question and answer series by tackling the question, “Can a Christian really fall away?” To answer the question, we took a hard look at one of the passages most often used to make the case that the loss of one’s salvation is possible – Hebrews 6. We especially zeroed in on verses 1-9, which on the surface can easily provoke that question. After all, the passage seems to discuss the topic of the difficulty of restoring to repentance one who has fallen away from the faith. However, this would seem to go against the overwhelming witness of Scripture that indicates that salvation is a work of God, eternal in nature, for God always finishes what he starts (as seen from such passages as Philippians 1:6, John 6:38-40, Romans 8:28-30, Galatians 3:1-6, Jude 24-25, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Hebrews 7:25 and 10:14). So what do we do? How do we reconcile these passages? Last night, I sought to not only help my students answer that question, but also to show them how to go about answering the question, so that they will be better equipped to handle Scripture well in the future.

So how do we reconcile these passages? The first step is to have a firm trust in Scripture. If we believe that the Bible is the very word of God, and God is trustworthy and true, then we will approach such difficult passages not seeing contradictions, but seeing passages that we are misunderstanding, and thus prompting further study and meditation. Once we have that foundation in place, the next step is to begin to examine the passage in context, both on the book level and the chapter level. So, we must ask the question – what is Hebrews about? In short, it’s a book written to a group of Jews who had been exposed to the gospel and now sat on the fence, tempted to simply go back to the comforts of Judaism. The author thus writes a letter which has as it’s basic premise the idea that Jesus and his new covenant is superior to Moses and his Old Covenant. He argues that the OT finds its fulfillment and true meaning in Jesus. Take a quick glance at the progression of the letter – chapter 1 begins by declaring the supremacy of Christ, chapter 3 speaks of him as superior to Moses, chapter 4 lauds him as our great high priest. The point of the author’s writing becomes abundantly clear. Secondly, we need to zero in on the immediate context of the passage, in this case examining chapters 5 and 6 together, since they constitute one unified argument. In chapter 5, the author says that he wants to draw a further comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek, but his audience is not ready for it, for thought they have heard the message of Christ enough to be teachers of it, they are still ignorant themselves. That reality sets the table for the warning that begins in chapter six.

Now, having seen the passage in its proper light, we are better ready to examine it in detail. In the first three verses, we see the author outlining the situation that the people faced. He tells them that it is time to leave the basics of the doctrine about Christ, not relaying their foundation. Why on earth would he talk like this, speaking so dismissively about the basics of the faith? This seems strange. If we examine his exhortation in the context of the book, though, the meaning becomes clearer. What are the “elementary doctrines” he’s talking about? They are the Old Testament law, which he’s just spent five chapters demonstrating points to and reveals Christ. He’s telling them to leave Judaism and their fascination with the law and move on to maturity by following Christ.

It’s here, then, that the meaning of the passage hangs. The author is not addressing Christians here, but Jews who have been exposed to the gospel message, have understood it, have been around Christians and witnessed the Spirit’s power firsthand, and still cling to the old covenant rather than embracing Jesus by faith. This gives the warning of verses 4-6 an entirely different thrust. Notice that in the descriptions given in verses 4-5 the author never uses terminology that is used of salvation (born again, filled with the spirit [he uses “partakers” instead, which in the Greek carries the connotation of an association with, not an indwelling], justified, redeemed, etc.). He is calling out to those who are on the fence, who are toeing the line, to believe in Jesus, for if they reject what they have been given it is impossible for them to be saved (note as well, that though many people will say that this passage teaches the possibility of losing salvation, almost none will say that it is impossible for the apostate to repent and return – a key inconsistency). Why? Because there is nothing left to see! If hearing and understanding the Gospel and witnessing the Spirit’s work is not enough to call them to faith, what else is left? This is why the author makes reference to them crucifying Christ. They are identifying with the mob that condemned him – a group of people that had listened to Jesus’ teaching and witnessed the miracles and power, but still rejected him.

This interpretation is further strengthened by the illustration used in verses 7-8, speaking of how the rain (which is a representation of the Gospel) falls on the ground, but while it produces good crops in one place in others it may produce only thorns and briars that are gathered up and burned. These people had soaked in the rain, but they were producing no fruit, because they had not been born again. In verse 9, the author expresses hope for better things for them – things that accompany salvation.

In summary, what we have here is a very real and very sobering warning that applies to professing Christian and rank pagan alike. God is warning us of the danger of being an “almost-believer.” We are treading on dangerous ground if we see the Gospel in the fullness of its power and remain unmoved to faith. This is especially dangerous for those of us who have spent our whole lives in the church and know all the answers and all the rules, but may never have put our trust fully in Jesus. Last night, I told my students that I hope they came away from this passage with three things in mind: a serious and sober reflection on whether this warning is one that hits their hearts, a thankfulness in the power of God’s spirit to cause us to stand on the last day, frailty and all, and a desire to dig deep into God’s Word rather than cowering and capitulating when things become difficult to understand. I pray the same for you as well, and I look forward to the questions we’ll ponder together as this series continues for the summer.

Hebrews Warning Passages: What Do They Mean?

Tonight, I start You Asked For It, my summer Q&A series, with my youth group. We'll get things started by tackling a question submitted by one of my students about how to approach the Biblical passages about falling away. We're going to dive in headfirst to one of the more difficult such passages - the warning of Hebrews 5-6. I'll post a summary of the lesson tomorrow to give you my take, but I'd be curious to hear from any of you on how you approach this text.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 12/3/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Two weeks ago, we wrapped up our series in the Gospel of John. After a week off for Thanksgiving and before venturing into another book study, I decided to take a couple weeks and revisit our “You Asked For It” Q&A series from the summer. We had a few students’ questions left in the box when the series ended, so I decided to spend last night answering one of them. The question involved whether or not we should judge those who are in sin. To find our answer, we first tried to think about what is meant by “judging” someone. That word carries a very negative connotation in our culture. When asked, my students said that it brought to mind thoughts of a holier-than-thou person laying into people they didn’t even know based upon generalizations or stereotypes. Certainly all of us have seen Christians exhibiting this kind of behavior (or even been guilty of it ourselves!) at some time or another. How do we avoid it? Should we avoid passing judgment on others altogether? What did Jesus mean by “Judge not?”

For our answers, we took a look at Matthew 7:1-6. The passage begins with Jesus’ famous words, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” This passage is among the most frequently quoted (and misused) in all the Bible. Upon first glance, Jesus seems to be saying that God will judge us by whatever standard we apply to others, so it’s best to be gracious. However, when examined in light of other parts of the Bible (Galatians 3:10, James 2:10-11) or even Jesus’ words from this very sermon (Matthew 5:17-20, 43-48), that idea makes no sense. Those passages make it pretty clear that God will judge us all by the same standard – his own holiness. So what is Jesus saying here?

He’s warning us that our standard of judgment will be turned back upon us by those whom we judge. When you point out a fault in someone else’s life, what’s the first thing they tend to do? They look for something to fire back about you. It’s human nature. When we’re told we’re wrong, we look for the opportunity to label the accuser a hypocrite so that we can dismiss whatever it is that they’re saying. Jesus wants us to realize that this is what we can expect when we point out sin in someone else’s life. So, he tells us to make sure we take care of ourselves first. He gives the humorous example of a man who tries to take a speck of sawdust out of his friend’s eye while he has a tree protruding from his own. This is silliness – and we look just as silly when we make judgments about other people’s lives while remaining blissfully ignorant of our own shortcomings.

We might be tempted to stop here, and imagine that Jesus is just telling us to mind our own business and let others mind theirs. That’s the American way, right? One of my students pointed out last night, “But if we don’t help each other fight sin, we’ll all end up in bad shape.” Very true, and that’s why we need to notice what Jesus says in verse 5 – “First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” When we are waging war against the sin in our own lives, we will then be able to help those around us. We will have the right humility, the right attitude, and the right dependence on God that we need in order to be beneficial in the lives of others and not a hindrance.

Ultimately, Jesus is giving us a warning here, not a rebuke. Though we carry a lot of negative connotations with the word “judge,” the Greek word Jesus used simply means to express an opinion or view on matters of right and wrong. It carried no connotation of pride, arrogance, or bitterness. The word was used of those who were wise and just leaders and rulers. Jesus isn’t telling us not to stand up for what is right and speak out against what is wrong. If he was, then he’d be quite the hypocrite, since he did his fair share of both. He’s telling us how we ought to judge, putting away pride and taking on humility, and with the attitude of Galatians 6:1 ensuring that we can be used for good in the lives of the people we care about.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 8/20/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our “You Asked For It” Q&A series with another question about the trustworthiness of the Christian message. After examining the truthfulness of the Bible last week, we now looked at the question “Can we trust that the resurrection is true?” Without a doubt, there is no more foundational belief for Christians than the belief that Christ has been bodily raised from the dead. Paul makes this very clear in 1 Corinthians 15, which we read as our call to worship to open last night’s Sola5 study. If Christ has not been raised, then we have no hope that our sins are forgiven or that we will live again also when this life is over. Plainly put, if Jesus is still dead, then we are a sorry bunch of fools. However, many have alleged that the four gospel accounts contain inconsistencies and cannot be trusted to be anything more than inspirational fiction. Do we see hopelessly contradictory accounts, or four individuals each giving their own take on the same events, highlighting different details that stuck out in their own minds? We tackled some of the biggest “problems” head on and examined why we should believe that Jesus of Nazareth returned to life after being dead and buried.

After reading the four accounts of the resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1-10), we looked at some of the most frequent criticisms of the text. First up, did the events described occur before or after sunrise? Mark indicates that that sun had risen while John says that it was still dark. The most obvious answer is that these two descriptions are not mutually exclusive. The sun does not flip on like a lightswitch, but anyone who is up for the sunrise (as, unfortunately, I often am) knows full well that the sun can be rising and it can also be quite dark outside, especially without the aid of electrical lights. That aside, the journey that the women take on foot from Jerusalem to the tomb would have likely taken half-an-hour at the very least – enough time for the lighting to change substantially, as reflected by Matthew’s description that it was toward dawn when the events took place. The next question – how many women and angels were at the tomb? The number of women named varies from 1 to 3, while the number of angels differs from one to two. However, the fact that certain women or angels were not mentioned doesn’t necessarily indicate that they weren’t there. For example, if you were to ask me what Heather and I did a week ago, I would tell you that we saw Brooks & Dunn and ZZ Top in concert. However, if you consulted the newspaper, you would find that we actually saw Brooks & Dunn, ZZ Top, and a guy named Rodney Atkins in concert. Was I lying when I left Atkins' name off my description? No, I was just leaving out a detail I didn’t find personally important to my telling of the story. We all do this all the time. The gospel writers aren’t seeking to give exhaustive details, but to tell the story as they remember it (or in the case of Mark and Luke, as it was told to them).

The last alleged contradiction we looked at was the one requiring the most thought – if Mary Magdalene had already seen the angels and the risen Jesus as described in Matthew 28, why does she seem worried and confused about the body being taken in John 20? The answer requires that we carefully examine what each writer is (and isn’t) saying. Matthew reports the women who went to the tomb, then simply refers to them as a group when they enter the tomb and see the angels and Jesus. However, John – who mentions only Mary Magdalene – points out that she fled the tomb immediately after seeing that the stone was gone, heading back to find Peter and John. This has a great effect on how we view the timeline of events. Matthew Perman and Justin Taylor have put together a detailed description here, but I’ll summarize: while the women see the angels and then Jesus, Mary tells Peter and John and the three of them set out for the tomb. While the rest of the women are looking for the rest of the disciples back in Jerusalem, Peter, John and Mary arrive at the tomb, and after Peter and John leave Mary has her famous encounter with Christ where she mistakes him for the gardener.

A careful look shows that the so-called contradictions in the gospel accounts actually have quite plausible explanations. When one considers the validity of the resurrection, one should also consider the wide scholarly acceptance of the empty tomb (Rome and the Jewish leaders wanted badly to extinguish Christianity – if the tomb wasn’t empty all they had to do was produce the body - game over) and the fact that 10 of the 11 disciples died violent deaths for their unwavering testimony to Christ’s resurrection and the 11th, John, didn’t get off for a lack of effort (he was tortured repeatedly and eventually banished to a remote island). People don’t often die for that which they know to be a lie, especially so many without exception. However, at the end of the day, no one will ever be intellectually argued into the Kingdom of Christ. Why? Because lack of information isn’t our problem – sin is. Christ himself said that we could not have faith in him apart from the work of the Spirit of God. Faith can only result from God’s free gift, and all the mental evidence and theory in the world means nothing until the heart of stone is exchanged for the heart of flesh. Thus, while it is important that we think carefully and critically about the Scriptures, we must always remember that our trust is in Christ because of the change he’s made in us. We can’t miss the forest for the trees. As my good friend Josh Nelson put it last night, thought many people alledge inconsistencies in the gospel accounts, the four accounts undoubtedly agree on one pretty important point – Jesus did rise from the dead.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 8/13/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, while we continued our summer Q&A series, "You Asked For It," we did things a little differently because of the nature of the question we examined. One of my students asked, "How can we trust the Bible to be completely true if it's been copied over thousands of years?" This is an incredibly important question for us, since the truth and trustworthiness of the Bible is a fundamental presupposition to everything we do at Sola5. So, rather than our usual expository lesson from the Scriptures, we examined the Bible itself, and why we can trust the process that takes truth from God's mouth to our ears.

We spent the first half of the lesson talking about the inspiration of Scripture by examining what the Bible claims about itself. The answer? The Scriptures claim God as their ultimate author, claim to be sufficient for us to know and worship God, and claim to be completely and totally true and trustworthy. We continued by looking at the process of transmission, and why we can trust that the inerrant original documents of the Bible have been faithfully preserved all the way down to us today. Obviously, the lesson was quite a bit more technical than a lot of our normal Wednesday night study. Rather than reproducing it in great detail, I'm going to direct you to a fantastic resource that I relied on heavily in preparing the lesson last night - a paper by Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll. The paper was written by Driscoll to his church explaining his decision to preach from the English Standard Version (ESV), but it also contains some great explanatory material on the process of inspiration and transmission as well. It's a much better summary of our study last night then I could ever hope to write, so I commend it to you.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 8/6/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our Q&A series “You Asked For It” by taking a look at the question, “How do I know my faith is real?” One of our students submitted a question wondering how we can tell if our love for Christ is genuine and real or if we’re just self-deceived. Surely, feelings of doubt and uncertainty in our faith is something that all Christians deal with at some point in their lives. The good news is that this isn’t a dilemma that’s foreign to Scripture. The apostle Paul encouraged believers to examine themselves to see if they were really in the faith, and in 1 John, John spends a great deal of time responding to a wave of false teaching by showing believers how to identify a real Christian from a fake one – an examination that needs to be performed on ourselves on a regular basis. In 1 John 4:13-21, John gives us three things to check so that we may have confidence and assurance that we are in Christ.

First, and perhaps strangely to many of us, John tells us in verses 13-15 to check our doctrine. In our modern culture, doctrine is often seen as an unimportant negative that only serves to divide. However, John saw it as absolutely foundational to our faith. He puts great importance on proclaiming Christ as the Son of God who came to be the savior of the world – a belief that was under attack in the churches he wrote to. Many were teaching that though Jesus was a great teacher and a special man, he wasn’t divine. John understands that Christ’s divinity is essential for understanding the salvation from sin he offers. So, before moving on to talk about the other important signs of a true faith, he wants us to make sure we’ve got a firm foundation. What exactly is the faith we claim to have, anyway? If it’s not informed by the Scripture, then no matter how passionately we may believe, our faith is the product of our own imagination and is useless.

Secondly, in verses 16-18, John says to check our trust. Since he’s dealt with the mental foundation of our faith, now he says that it must sink into our hearts. It’s not enough to know the promises of Christ, we have to believe them – which involves trust. John says that God’s love working in us should give us confidence rather than fear. If we believe that he has paid for our sins on his cross then we should approach God with boldness rather than with uncertainty, not relying on our spiritual performance for our confidence. Don’t be afraid when you fall, but seek forgiveness from God with the expectation that he will certainly give it, since truly he already has in Christ. Consider the advice of Martin Luther…

“If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter, are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.”

Luther isn’t here saying that we should seek to sin. He’s saying that we shouldn’t place our confidence in our own goodness but in God’s grace. Don’t struggle with the doubts that come when we feel we have to be good enough for God, but look honestly at your sin with the confidence that God’s grace truly is bigger.

The final command that John gives comes in verses 19-21 – check your love. John is very blunt with his words here. How we treat other people is a very objective test – it’s not internal like the first two. Our actions are out there for those around us to see, and John says that if we claim to have faith but don’t show love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are liars. Period. The Scriptures teach that love for others is a natural outworking of true faith to the extent that James even wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” John uses a very powerful argument, asking how we can ever hope to love a God we’ve never seen when we can’t love the people right in front of our faces. This test doesn’t demand perfection (as John made clear earlier in the letter), but it does demand that if we claim to have faith we must show it by the way we live. Can you point to areas where God is growing you to look more like the image of Christ? Can you see the evidences of God’s grace showing up in your interactions with those around you? If the answer is no, then the question about the reality of your faith is one you probably need to be asking. Pray that God would give you a faith that is real – rooted in the truth of Scripture, anchored in a strong trust, and evidenced by a radical love. If you pass the test, then rejoice at God’s grace in your life and remember the promise of Philippians 1:6.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 7/30/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our summer Q&A series “You Asked For It” by taking a look at an issue that hits very close to home for many people. The question asked was “What Does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?” Certainly, there are none of us who are completely untouched by the pain of a divorce. This makes the issue a difficult one to discuss, as emotions can often run very deep. However, my interest last night wasn’t in commenting on divorce as it pertains to the parents or family members of my students, but in ensuring that they understand what God intends marriage to be so that they may have strong, God-glorifying marriages themselves one day.

To understand the Bible’s teaching on divorce, we looked at Matthew 19:1-12, where Jesus tackles the topic head-on. The Pharisees approach him with a question, once again intending to trap him into a no-win situation so that he loses stock in the eyes of the massive crowds that followed him around. They bring up the question, “Is it okay for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” Since the Old Testament law made provisions for divorce (though not for “any cause” and certainly not commending it), if Jesus says no then it appears he is rejecting the Law of Moses. If he says yes, then his moral authority takes a big hit. However, Jesus approaches their question from a different angle, pointing out that they’re beginning in the wrong place entirely. Jesus points out that to ask questions about the permissibility of divorce is to miss the point of marriage entirely. In essence, he tells us not to plan for failure. Jesus takes them farther back, to Genesis 2:24, to discover God’s plan and purpose in marriage, which is for a man and a woman to become one in an inseparable union, forsaking all others. In marriage, God joins two people together on a level that we can’t fully understand, and so Jesus says that we have no business undoing what God has done. If we go into marriage looking for an exit strategy in case things go south, then we show that we don’t fully understand what marriage is to begin with. Marriage is an incredibly difficult commitment, and if you’re planning in any small way to fail, you probably will.

At this point, the Pharisees think they have Jesus cornered. Since he’s saying that divorce is not an option, they seize on the moment and point out the fact that Moses permits divorce in Deuteronomy 24. They fire this comment at Jesus with a bit of a “what then?!?” flair. However, Jesus here points out that we shouldn’t confuse “could” with “should.” Christ says that because of human sinfulness, divorce was accommodated. However, it is never commanded and it is never a positive. Christ says that divorce is a betrayal of what God intends marriage to be. He comes down strongly, saying that divorce and remarriage is adultery, allowing only one provision for cases of “sexual immorality.” Now, the common interpretation is that Jesus is allowing an out in cases of adultery. While this interpretation is common, I’m not entirely convinced by it. You see, there’s a perfectly good word in the Greek language for adultery, and Jesus doesn’t use it here – he uses a more vague term. Some believe (and I think a rather good case can be made) that he is here referring to immorality during the betrothal period - a time like modern-day engagements but much more substantial, to the point that a divorce was required to dissolve the betrothal. This is what I believe the text is saying here, but I’ll admit that I’m not 100% certain. At any rate, even if divorce is permissible in cases of adultery, that doesn’t mean it’s commendable. After all, we – as the bride of Christ – are unfaithful to him time and time again, and he never “divorces” us spiritually speaking. He always forgives and promises to never leave us or forsake us. My question is, as Christians, why would we think we are called to anything less in our marriages or any other part of our lives? If I’m truly committed to my wife, I shouldn’t be looking for unfaithfulness great or small as an opportunity to abandon my commitment.

Realizing the high calling he’s just issued, Jesus further pleads with us not to take marriage lightly. The disciples’ reaction to his teaching is to say that a person is better off not getting married at all! Notice that Jesus doesn’t attempt to take the edge off their sentiment in any way, but he affirms that this is a calling that not all will be able to handle. Marriage is not something we should ever enter into on a whim, but knowing that it is a matter of the greatest joy – and also the greatest responsibility. I hope and pray that God would make me a better husband to my wife and strengthen my love for and commitment to her, and I pray the same for you if you are married. If you’re divorced, know that God is a God of grace, and no sin is too great to be covered by the cross of Christ. And if you’re unmarried, may you take with great gravity the teaching of Christ about the seriousness of marriage vows – for only when we see the gravity and significance of marriage will we truly be ready to experience its deep joys and the profound mystery that points us to Christ.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 07/23/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our summer Q&A series “You Asked For It” by answering a few questions about our existence in eternity. Will we have bodies in the afterlife, or simply be disembodied spirits? Are heaven and hell physical realities, or spiritual symbolism? Admittedly, there aren’t as many answers to these questions as we would like. The Scriptures give us only brief glimpses into eternity, certainly not enough to satisfy our rampant curiosity. However, we looked at 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 for a description of the coming resurrection, some hints about what that existence will be like, and why all of it matters here and now.

In verses 35-41, Paul describes that though our resurrected bodies will be in some ways like our existence now, they will also be quite different. He uses the metaphor of seeds being planted and growing into plants. Though all the building blocks needed to grow the plant are present in the seed, the adult plant is much different than the seed – a much fuller and more vibrant organism. Paul also uses the light of the sun, moon, and stars as an illustration – all give off radiant glory, but in very different ways. Our eternal existence will be a physical existence like we enjoy now, but it will also be vastly different. Perhaps the best example we can look to is the one human being to walk the earth with a glorified body – Jesus Christ. After his resurrection, Christ still possessed physical form (which he deliberately demonstrated to his disciples), though he was also able to do things unlike any other human, like enter a locked room. At times, the disciples didn’t recognize him, and at times they recognized him instantly. His form was certainly physical, but it was also unlike anything this world has seen.

The text elaborates on this idea in verses 42-49, discussion how our existence will be the same, but better. While our earthly existence is marred by weakness and dishonor because of our sin, our glorified existence will be stripped of these hindrances, allowing us to enjoy perfect fellowship with God and with each other. Perhaps the most stunning and comforting thought comes at the end of the paragraph, when we are told that just as we bear the image of our forefather Adam, with all it’s frailties and imperfections, so we will bear the image of the “second Adam,” Christ. We will be raised and glorified with the Son of God, not because of any goodness in us, but because of his free grace showered upon us through the blood of Christ. What an encouragement it is to know that we will one day shed this mortal shell and experience life as we were created to experience it!

Verses 50-57 tell us that this grand experience will not be a temporal one, as our resurrected experience will be the same, but immortal. Paul, acknowledging himself the inherent mystery (there’s a strange comfort in knowing that even Paul didn’t have all this worked out in his head), says that in an instant at the final hour we shall all be changed, an immortal body standing where mortal flesh once stood. Death will be crushed, and we will be able to look forward to an eternity basking in the glory of God. Even those who are without Christ will be raised imperishable, but the resurrection they experience will not be cause for celebration, but the horror of judgment at the hands of a holy God. Yet for us who have been covered by Christ’s righteousness, we will realize the joyful triumph prophesied of in Hosea 13:14.

This brings us to the final question, why does any of this matter? We live in a world where doctrine is seen as unimportant, unable to meaningfully affect our lives here and now. However, Paul certainly doesn’t seem to think so in verse 58. He encourages us to be steadfast and immovable in our service to Christ because of the knowledge that our work will not be in vain. We are called to an unbreakable hope that we look to with eager expectation – and I know I don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about it. God encourages us to fix our eyes on the prize, to know that our efforts in this life will produce an eternity of joy. Earlier in the chapter, Paul concedes that if our hope in Christ is confined to this life only, then we are a sorry lot. We must be upward-focused Christians if we are to weather the trials life can and will bring. So, how much time have you spend thinking about the hope to which you’ve been called? This week, I pray that you’ll see that hope as reason to press on through whatever life has currently brought your way – and though I may never have met you, I look forward to the day when we’ll rejoice together around the throne of our perfect Father.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 7/16/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our “You Asked for It” summer series by examining a couple of very complex questions about the nature of sin. One of my students submitted two questions that we rolled into one study – Was sin already in the world before Adam and Eve’s actions at the fall (since they were already tempted and had thought about sinning), and did God create sin? To answer the questions, we spent the bulk of our time in James 1:12-15, but also moved around a bit to see the surprisingly complex answers to these questions.

In James’s passage, he makes some very plain statements (as he does so well!) about the nature of sin and temptation. In verse 12, we’re told that temptation is not purposeless. James says that there is blessing in remaining true under trial, and his follow up comments in verse 13 indicate that when he says “trial,” he at least partially has temptation in view (and of course, what are trials but opportunities for temptation? – temptation to doubt, to reject God, etc.). Yet James says that temptations are part of the process that builds us into the image of Christ, preparing to receive the crown of life. Many times when I’m facing temptations of various kinds, I wonder to God why he can’t just remove the desires altogether and make life easier. However, his words to Paul keep ringing in my ears – “my grace is sufficient for you.” God does things in and through us during times of trial and temptation that simply wouldn’t be the same in ease and comfort.

After establishing that God uses temptation to build and strengthen us, he makes certain to clarify explicitly that temptation doesn’t come from God, but from us. Did God create sin? The short answer is an emphatic and conclusive no. When we feel tempted to turn away into sin, we’ve got no one to throw the blame at but ourselves. James says we are tempted when we are dragged away by our own desires. We already have everything we need to be the worst sinner imaginable inside of us. As one of my favorite college professors, Dr. Charles Draper, said, “There is nothing that you are not capable of given the right circumstances.” My students agreed with me that James really couldn’t have been clearer in verses 13 and 14. God is in no way tainted by or responsible for sin and temptation. Thus the short answer to “did God create sin?” The long answer was more complex, and we’ll return to it shortly.

In verse 15, James gives us a look at the process of sin’s generation, allowing us to see that temptation itself is not sin. Basically, temptation is when we come to the fork in the road and see multiple paths before us, one of which we know to be wrong. Seeing that path isn’t sin. Seeing its temporal appeal isn’t even necessarily sin. Sin happens when we make the decision to walk down that path and reject God’s truth. I say “make the decision” because Scripture is very clear that it’s entirely possible to sin with no outward actions whatsoever (see Matthew 5:21-30). I don’t have to actually act on sinful desires to sin, I just have to dwell on them. This helps us to understand the first question asked, “Where does sin begin?” Sin begins in between temptation and action when we seek that which is wrong.

Finishing here, we’ve gotten at least basic answers to both of the questions. However, to say emphatically that God didn’t create sin requires some more careful thought. After all, if we say (as we often do at Sola5) that God is in total sovereign control of all things (even human actions), and sin is a part of the world, isn’t he somehow responsible? To understand why we can say no, we looked at three different relevant Biblical examples – Genesis 50:15-21, Isaiah 10:5-19, and Acts 2:22-23. In each of these examples, we’re told that God has ordained the ultimately evil actions of people (selling of Joseph into slavery, Assyria’s destruction of Israel, the crucifixion of Christ), but that the responsibility for these evil actions is fully and totally upon the ones who willingly committed them (Joseph’s brothers, the Assyrian king, the “lawless men”). It was God’s plan from before the world began that Christ would be killed to save his people from their sins. This is not plan B, and God’s not thinking on the fly. However, the people who mocked, beat, and executed Christ were acting wickedly, and they alone are responsible for their actions.

Now, do I understand how these two realities (God’s sovereign plan and true human responsibility) can both be true simultaneously? Nope. I don’t understand the fullness of who God is or how he operates, and I never fully will. Think of it this way. Do you have a dog? Guess what – your dog will never fully understand what it’s like to be you. Doesn’t matter how carefully you explain it to him, he’ll never fully understand. Why? Because you’re an exponentially more complex being than he is. Now, of course he can understand some things about you – that you care for him, enjoy his company, and will provide for his needs. How does he know these things? Because you’ve revealed them to him in a way he can understand (you feed him, play with him, etc.) Now, if you’re an exponentially more complex being than your dog, God is an infinitely more complex being than you. There are some things about him that you will never fully understand – but what he does reveal to us we should believe and celebrate. Thus, my willingness to accept as true realities I can’t necessarily reconcile in my mind.

Perhaps after such a deep doctrinal exploration, you’re wondering why this stuff even matters at all. You’ll never fully figure out God, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. If we love him like we say, we should want to know all that we can about him and celebrate that deepening relationship. Why dwell on sin? Because the cross of Christ is about sin, and if we have a cheap and shallow view of our own sin than we’ll have a cheap and shallow view of the cross. If your sin is small, your savior will be small. Don’t be afraid this week to look your own sin in the face and rejoice in the grace that God has given to finite, fallen creatures such as us by his great love.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 7/2/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our summer Q&A series “You Asked For It” with a very important question. The question submitted was, “What do you do when you feel like everyone is against you – even in the church?” Obviously, feelings of rejection and disconnection can be difficult to deal with, but these feelings are all the more tragic when even the body of Christ is failing to function properly. Rather than dealing with the surface problem and talking about how to cope with those feelings, we spent the majority of our time last night trying to get to the root by asking the question, “How do we foster a deeper sense of unity among our church and our youth group? To answer that question, we turned to Philippians 2:1-11. In this passage, Paul appeals for unity among the Christians at Philippi, and then proceeds to show them how this is practically worked out.

Paul begins in verse 1 by emphasizing the reason for unity. Plainly put, why does it matter? Is unity among believers just the “icing on the cake” of the Christian experience? After rejoicing extensively in chapter 1 over the Philippians fervent newfound faith and their partnership in the gospel, Paul tells them of the urgency of that faith producing unity. In fact, Paul says that if the Philippians’ faith does anything for them, then it should produce unity. Paul sees this as a foundational truth for any group of Christians to grasp. Unity is not superficial, and it’s not an option.

In verse two, Paul shows us the appearance of unity. What does it look like? We see that the first thing that characterizes Christian unity is having the same goals. Paul admonishes the Philippians to be of the same mind with one another. What do we mean when we say that two people are “of the same mind?” We mean that they think alike, that they’re going in the same direction mentally. Thus Paul is telling the people to get on the same page in their thought process and strive toward the same thing – the glory of God. One we’re united in mind, Paul says to have the same love. We should all be seeking to imitate the love of Christ – a love that is selfless, forgiving, and redemptive. The love Scripture calls us to all share isn’t a love that we can switch off when it’s convenient. People in the church, myself included, will wrong one another – it’s the sad reality of the sinful nature that is within each of us. However, a case can be made that our Christian love can be most clearly be seen in how we respond in exactly those situations. We need to have the love of Christ for one another, no matter what someone might have done to us.

In verses 3-4, Paul talks about the attitude of unity. What attitudes do we need to cultivate in ourselves to bring this unity about? The first is humility, seen clearly in Paul’s command to “consider others more significant than yourselves.” This is a hard thing to do. Think about it – think about all the people in your church, especially those who rub you the wrong way from time to time. Can you honestly say about them in the depths of your heart, “I am more concerned with your happiness than I am with my own.” This is our calling. This humility is put into action through the second part of an attitude of unity – service. Service takes the idea, “I am more concerned with your happiness than I am with my own,” and it adds, “And I’m willing to work to make it happen.” Service seeks to build others up (and by implication, to avoid at all costs tearing others down) even when it’s difficult and there’s no conceivable reward awaiting us at the end. These two attitudes are inseparable, and they must be present in order to produce the unity God calls us to.

Finally, in verses 5-11, Paul shows us the attitude of unity demonstrated in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ was humbled by definition. The eternal second person of the Godhead, the creator of heaven and earth, enshrined in glory from eternity past, took on humanity, became a human fetus and was born a man. By laying aside his exalted existence and entering into his own creation, Christ humbled himself in a deeper sense that we can even begin to imagine. And having been humbled in his humanity, Christ humbled himself in practice. If God was going to become a man, surely he’d at least make the most of it and arrive as an exalted king, worshipped and adored by millions, right? Not hardly. Jesus lived for 30 years as a carpenter’s apprentice for his stepdad, spent 3 and a half years as a homeless traveling preacher, and spent his final days being beaten to a pulp, mocked incessantly, and nailed to a post to die. Though he had no obligation to anyone, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” After all this, Christ was exalted by God, enjoying the reward to which he had been called. Are we willing to follow? Are we willing to humble ourselves by definition – claiming nothing as our own and letting go of our own glory? Are we willing to humble ourselves in practice, becoming servants even to those who at best are indifferent and at worst react violently to us? And are we willing to find our exaltation and reward as joint heirs of Christ rather than in temporal glory on earth? Only when we’re living in this way can we enjoy the unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ that God intended.

This Sunday, our group leaves for M-Fuge mission camp in Philadelphia. Pray for us, that we might all strive for this spirit of unity as a youth group both while we’re gone and when we return. Pray that we’ll extend that effort not just to our youth group, but to all of our church. And pray for God’s grace as you strive for unity with your brothers and sisters in your own little corner of Christendom. And as you undertake this difficult, gritty task, keep 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 in mind.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 6/18/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night was a different night, a challenging night, and a very rewarding night at Sola5. During our first hour (which is normally our game and fellowship hour) we packed up the van and headed a couple blocks down the road to Iroquois Homes, a large government housing project in our neighborhood. Our students spent an hour hanging out with the 30 or so kids who came out to see what was going on - painting their faces, blowing bubbles, and playing a spirited game of kickball. At the end of the hour, we gave out snacks and one of our students, Jeff, taught the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead to whatever kids would sit and listen. Many of the kids we interacted with were Somali immigrants, so some of them didn’t speak any English and many more were disallowed by their Muslim parents from listening to any Bible stories. Nonetheless, a few kids listened, with one boy asking many questions of Jeff about Jesus and why we believe in him. All-in-all, the night was a great chance for our teens to get out into our community and experience the missions opportunities available to them. In our neighborhood, the world is quite literally at our doorstep. Pray for the kids we interacted with, and pray for those who heard about Christ for the first time last night. May God take our feeble efforts and draw people to himself.

When we arrived back at Hazelwood, we continued our summer Q&A series “You Asked For It” by taking a brief look at the question, “What do we do when our faith upsets those in legitimate authority over us?” We know we’ve been called by Christ to take the gospel to all the world, but how do we respond when our families or government tell us to stop? To answer the question, we looked at Acts 4:1-22, an instance in Scripture where Peter and John faced exactly this dilemma.

In the passage, Peter and John will reject the authority that the governing counsel tries to exert over them. So, after talking about the biblically mandated authorities (parents, government, elders in the church), in the first four verses we sought to answer the question, “Why?” What was at stake that caused these men to rebel against the authorities? The answer is the gospel. They were preaching the good news about Jesus, and the people were believing and following in large numbers. This greatly angered the Jewish religious and political authorities, sparking a standoff. It’s important to establish right from the start why this happened and what was worth rejecting earthly authority for – the gospel of Jesus.

We then began to examine the response that Peter and John gave to the questions of the counsel, who essentially ask them in verse 7, “By whose authority do you challenge ours?” It is here that the disciples give voice to their rejection of the council’s authority, but perhaps the most important thing for us to take note of here is not that they rebelled, but how they did so. The first thing we see is them giving respect to the authorities. They address them formally, acknowledging the rightful positions of authority that they held. They don’t respond angrily or hurl insults, but they respond with reasonable discourse. We took a side trek to Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Timothy 2:1-2 to see the high calling that we have as Christians to respect and pray for our governing authorities, even those we don’t like (as the Roman Empire was hardly friendly to the early church). Yet notice that while the disciples address the authorities with respect, they also do so with boldness. They pull no punches. At every opportunity they have to soften their message to their hearers’ sensibilities, they take the other road – reminding the council of their condemnation of Jesus, of the prophecy of the psalmist of the cornerstone being rejected by the builders, and stating the exclusivity of the gospel while closing every foreseeable loophole. They realize that they do their hearers no favors by altering their message, since, in the words of James Montgomery Boice, “what you win them with is what you win them to.” A soft, palatable gospel is useless to us – the hope of Christ must first show us the ugly reality of our sin before it can display the hope of the cross. The disciples knew that, and they gave us a strong example of how to proclaim the truth in love.

Finally, we looked at why we should rebel. What reasoning do the disciples give for their rejection of the council’s commands? They respond that they answer to a higher authority, that they must obey God rather than men. They also point out that they are deeply compelled to talk about Christ – they can do nothing else. These were men who had been so completely changed and captivated by Christ that silence was not an option. That is the only type of faith that will have the courage and conviction to stand in the face of fierce opposition. The question to ask is whether we’re displaying that type of faith now. If we don’t have that love for God when times are easy, we won’t be able to conjure it out of thin air when persecution comes. Dig into God’s Word this week with ferocity and pray fervently for a deeper love for him and passion for his glory. If we are leading lives like that, then when opposition comes to our faith we’ll have the courage to reject all authority save the one who is with us always, even to the end of the age.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 6/11/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we continued our summer Q&A series by answering the question, “What does it mean to fear God?” We began by looking at two extreme views that we’re often tempted to take of the fear of God. The first is what we called “Angry Grandpa God.” This is the view that often tends to caricature God as an angry old man who is out to get sinners. As one of our students pointed out, this is the picture of God as a kid sitting on an anthill with a magnifying glass glibly roasting the creatures below. People with this view love to talk about the fear of God as it relates to his anger over sin. The prime extreme example of this view in today’s society is “Pastor” Fred Phelps’ “church” in Kansas that pickets the funerals of homosexuals with signs declaring “God hates fags.” This view is an affront and an insult to the gospel of Christ. All in all, the “Angry Grandpa God” is the result of seeing God’s holiness but not his love. On the other extreme is the view we called “Buddy Christ.” This is the view that is summed up by the “Jesus is My Homeboy” t-shirts. This view sees God as a kind and loving friend but not as one who should be approached with reverence and awe. By focusing too much on God’s love at the expense of his holiness, the “Buddy Christ” view results in a small God who often receives admiration but not respect. Both of these extremes can be easy to slip into (especially the “Buddy Christ” extreme in the relaxed culture of generation Y) and both are destructive to our spiritual life, since they neuter one attribute of God in an attempt to emphasize another. The better picture that brings us a more balanced view is C.S. Lewis’ depiction of Aslan the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia. The following interchange, between Lucy and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, highlights Lewis’ depiction of Aslan as a loving friend, but also a great and mighty king whom it was appropriate to fear…

"Is Aslan quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver. "If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or just plain silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

To understand this nuanced view of the fear of God, we turned to Exodus 20:18-21. The Israelites have just received the Ten Commandments. They’ve seen God’s presence descend on Mt. Sinai as a cloud, with streaking lightning and a roaring voice. They are terrified, and they plead with Moses to act as a go-between for them and God so that they will not have to be in his presence again. Moses responds with these curious words, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” He tells the people not to be afraid, but that these things have happened so that they would fear God. At first, it seems Moses is contradicting himself – should they fear God or not? However, this points to the reality – illustrated elsewhere in Scripture – that there are two types of “fear of God.” One is appropriate for Christians, the other is not.

The type of fear that we don’t need is characterized by terror and despair. These were the feelings expressed by the Israelites that prompted Moses to respond, “Do not be afraid.” Realizing their sinfulness in the presence of God’s holiness, the Israelites feared for their lives. Moses said that this wasn’t necessary, since God by his mercy had received them as his covenant people. This kind of fear certainly is appropriate because of our sin, but because of the forgiveness we have received in Christ, we need fear God in this way no longer. As Romans 8:1 says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Thus, we can see that the terror and despair of judgment (also seen expressed in James 2:19, Revelation 6:12-17, and Hebrews 10:26-27) is the kind of fear that Moses is telling God’s people not to have.

So, what is the fear of him that Moses says should be before us? This is a fear marked by reverence and trust. This is the amazing realization that though we should rightly be terrified under God’s judgment, he has instead accepted and loved us as his own for no good reason to be found in us. This should cause us to be amazed at our God’s love. His love is not the casual admiration of a buddy, but the deep and abiding love that is fixed on us in spite of ourselves. We need to recapture this wonder at our salvation. We need to allow our jaws to hit the floor as we contemplate our God. This fear, this reverence that forgiveness brings is mentioned in Psalm 130:1-4. We need that wonder in our Christian lives. Yet this reverence also must be joined with trust. Look at God’s admonition to Isaiah in Isaiah 8:11-15. He tells the prophet that when we quit worrying about what the world worries about and put our focus on our amazing God, we find that the fear and reverence that this provokes is a sanctuary for us. The very stone that many will be broken upon as they fight against it is the stone of refuge for us. An appropriate fear of God must be coupled with trust for a Christian, as we look at his greatness, our sinfulness, and realize with joy, “I’m glad he’s on our side.”

Which caricature of God are you more prone to worship? Do you lose his love in the midst of his holy and righteous judgment, or do you see him as simply “the man upstairs” – a neutered, friendly deity who you approach in the same fashion as your next-door neighbor? I’ll admit the latter is usually my temptation. Yet, whichever side you struggle with, I pray that you will see a view of God’s holiness and his love that is balanced, and that causes you to fall into the awesome embrace of the one who is never safe, but always good.

Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 6/4/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

Last night, we began our “You Asked For It” summer series by tackling the question, “Do You Have to Be Baptized to Be Saved?” We began the evening by introducing the three views of baptism that are common in protestant circles…

Believer’s Baptism (or credobaptism) – The belief that baptism is an outward symbolic demonstration of faith in Christ. Thus, only those who have expressed faith in Christ should be baptized. View held by Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, and yours truly.

Infant Baptism (or paedobaptism) – The belief that baptism is a continuation of circumcision as a sign of God’s covenant blessings. Thus, just as children in the OT were circumcised and became part of the covenant community, so Christian parents today should have their infants baptized as a sign that they are part of the church, the NT covenant community. They do not, however, believe that this baptism is in any way a guarantee of salvation. This view is held mainly by Presbyterians, with variations in the Episcopal Church as well (Catholic infant baptism is something completely different, and outside the scope of our discussion)

Baptismal Regeneration – Much like believer’s baptism, except with the belief that baptism is necessary for salvation, that it actually plays a part in our justification. This view is held by the Church of Christ.

While a discussion of infant baptism could be good, we focused on our belief in believer’s baptism and how to answer one who would say that it is a necessary part of salvation. In fact, this issue cuts right to the core of our faith, since one of our foundational beliefs at Sola5 is that salvation comes sola fide – through faith alone. If baptism is a necessary part of receiving salvation, than sola fide, frankly, is a lie. This means that this issue demands our careful attention and consideration.

To discuss why we don’t believe that baptism saves a person, we actually went straight to one of the passages of Scripture often trumpeted to prove baptismal regeneration, 1 Peter 3:18-22. After all, verse 21 does say, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you.” Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, it does until you examine the verse in context, which is necessary when the passage as read seems to contradict some very plain assertions of Scripture, such as that of Romans 3:28. So, what is 1 Peter 3 really saying?

First off, Peter begins by reminding us of the grounds of our salvation. He says that our grounds are on Christ’s sufferings. Speaking of us passing from spiritual death to life, he reminds us that Christ suffered once for sins to bring us to God. Also notice that the emphasis here is not on our actions. In fact, every verb in verse 18 has God and Christ as active and us as passive – we have been brought to God just as a dead man cannot move himself but must be picked up and taken anywhere he goes. After reading verse 18, it’s very clear that Peter is going to great lengths to stress that our salvation is absolutely dependant on Christ and not at all on us. This seems to indicate that verse 21 may not actually mean what baptismal regeneration proponents say it means. So what does it mean?

I think the answer becomes clearer when we see verses 19-21 as pictures of salvation. Peter gives us two illustrations of our salvation – Noah’s flood and our baptism. Notice that he links them together in his explanation - “Baptism, which corresponds to this…” Peter is telling us that baptism is a picture of our salvation just like the flood was. Now, Noah wasn’t saved by the flood – he was saved (Hebrews 11 tells us explicitly) by his faith in God – a fact that was expressed both by his obedience and by God subsequently bringing him through the flood. Just as surely, we are not saved by baptism, but it is a sign of the faith that God has given us in our hearts – an outward expression of an inward reality. It’s almost as if Peter anticipated misunderstanding, because he immediately qualifies his statement – “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you – not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Peter says that the physical act of baptism isn’t what saves, it’s the inward reality that baptism reflects – the appeal to God for a good conscience, a pure heart, new life – which can only come from faith given by God. Just to make himself clear, Peter concludes in verse 22 by focusing our security in salvation not on baptism, but on Christ, who rules at the Father’s right hand having all authority in heaven and on earth.

So, is baptism necessary for salvation? I can answer an emphatic no – we find peace with God by grace through faith in Christ alone, and not due to any accomplishments on our part. However, does that mean that baptism is insignificant? Of course not! Are good works required for salvation? Are we justified in any way by our works? No! Does that mean that good works are insignificant? No – a life that follows Christ’s commands is the outward sign that we have true faith in him. As James said, “Faith without works is dead.” It is much the same with baptism – it is not the basis of our standing with God, but it is a public expression of our faith (and one that is commanded by Christ, no less). It doesn’t save us, but to treat it as mere option is a disservice as well. We ended with some good discussion last night, and actually went about 10 minutes over. If there are any Sola5 members dropping by (or anyone, for that matter) and you want to discuss this question more, feel free to drop me a comment. I’m excited about the weeks to come and pray that God would use these questions to give us a fuller understanding of his glory and grace.