Meditating on the Cross

The following quote is from Living the Cross Centered Life (C. J. Mahaney):

"What was your spiritual focus [this past week]? Was it on the spot where God most reveals His personal love for you--the cross? Or was it on your own circumstances, your own condition, your own concerns? Was your preoccupation with your personal pursuit of godliness? Growth in godliness must be pursued, but never apart from joyful gratitude for the cross. . . . Let there never be a length period of time where you aren't receiving inspiration and instruction related directly to the cross, since that is where we find a fresh, sustaining conviction of [God's] personal love" (106-07).

I feel the following Scripture reflects Mahaney's words above:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:1-3).

There is a temptation in the Christian life to move beyond the Gospel to "deeper" things (for a brief description of the Gospel see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This notion is ultimately flawed in that the entirety of the Christian life is a pursuit of understanding and application of the Gospel. It is the Gospel that the Holy Spirit uses to bring us to faith in Christ and repentance before God, and it is the Gospel that the Spirit uses to lead us through the Christian life. How should I react to my obnoxious co-worker? Answer: just as God has dealt with me, in mercy, grace, and forgiveness. What should determine the ways I spend my time, money, and energy? Answer: Since I have been redeemed by Christ, my life is not my own, I have been bought with a price (cf. 1 Cor 6:19-20; 2 Cor 5:15). Further, the Gospel tells me that Christ will come again to receive His own and to judge the world. My time is to be spent in light of the immanent return of Christ (also a facet of the Gospel). As believers our responses are grounded in the love God has demonstrated to us in Christ's death in our place, taking upon himself the wrath of God that we rightly deserved and the present hope of His immanent return.

I pray that I do not "move past" the Gospel, but rather center my gaze each day upon the work of Christ on the cross, His vindication by God in His resurrection, and the hope of His imminent return. As we seek to encourage one another, we should keep the Gospel (i.e., the person and work of Christ) at the center of that encouragement. I pray that all who read this post know and are submitted to Him. If you do not know Jesus in the manner described above, please let me know. I would love to talk through any questions you might have. Please do not delay in responding to God's call to repent and believe (Mark 1:15).

Jonathan

Karen + Jonathan + Baby = Family

Well, it has been some time since I last posted a blog. As you might have surmised from the title, we have a lot going on these days . . . Karen is 16 weeks pregnant!!

This is something for which we have prayed for about four years. However, God in His infinite wisdom did not see fit to answer our prayers until His timing was complete.

We could not be happier and are excited about the prospects and challenges of parenthood. What an overwhelming responsibility! We know that it will only be by God's grace that such a task can be faithfully undertaken.

We have shared this news with many, but there are many others with whom we have not had time or opportunity to tell. We wish we could talk to each of our friends and family directly and share this news in person, but there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Most likely we will begin a separate blog just for family updates. I will post a link here once that is up and running, so please keep checking in on us.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. . . . Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” (Psalms 127:3-5). God of heaven and earth, You are the giver of every good and perfect gift. There is no shadow or indication of unfaithfulness toward us. You are a God who can be trusted and to whom we must entrust ourselves. We give you praise, adoration, and honor for Your merciful and gracious gift of this pregnancy. Help us to believe when we are weak and forgive us when we follow our flesh and become anxious. Let us not presume upon tomorrow, but rest in You each day. Your mercy is more than we deserve. Our hearts, our lives, our family is Yours. Be the center of our home. Amen.

J

Eyes to See and Ears to Hear

Karen and I are reading (slowly) through the book of John. The slowness is more a result of our sporadic reading than of careful study. Nonetheless, we recently read chapter 5. In this chapter Jesus heals a paralytic on the Sabbath. Upon healing the man Jesus commands him to take up his bed and walk. The Pharisees observe the man carrying his bed on the Sabbath (i.e., "working") and question him about it. When they found out it was Jesus who had healed him and told him to carry his bed on the Sabbath it became an occasion for the Pharisees to oppose Jesus. To make matters worse in their eyes, Jesus refers to God as His Father, thus, as John notes, "making himself equal with God" (5:18). Though they saw that work (i.e., healing by Jesus and bed carrying by the ex-paralytic) was being done on the Sabbath, the Pharisees failed to recognize that Jesus was doing the works of the Father. The remainder of the chapter is Jesus' response/explanation of the works that He is doing and how He is doing them, namely, the Father is doing them through Jesus.

An important observation in Jesus' response is His emphasis upon hearing (i.e., listening to Him and believing). Jesus states, "Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. . . . An hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (Jn 5:24-25). NOTE: Jesus here has the spiritually dead in view. Those who receive eternal life by believing Jesus' testimony will also be raised when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead at the end of the age (1Th 4:13-17; 2 Tim 4:1).

A significant part of Jesus' reply deals with the witnesses that testify of who Jesus is (cf. Jn 5:30-47). Though the Pharisees were looking for the Messiah in the Scriptures (v.39) they were failing to see that Jesus was the fulfillment of those Scriptures. Jesus concludes, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" (Jn 5:46-47). It seems evident that Jesus here has the following prophecy in mind:

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [i.e., Moses] from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19 ESV).

Moses' message is simple: "God will raise up a prophet greater than me. Listen to Him." Jesus, as the only begotten Son of God, knows God like no other prophet (Jn 1:18) and has delivered to us the words of life (Jn 6:68). The Pharisees failed both to recognize the works of God and to hear the testimonies of Scripture. It is ironic that on the Sabbath, a day set aside for the remembrance of God's mighty acts of salvation (Deut 5:12-15), their focus on their own legalistic rules to preserve the Sabbath led them to overlook the work that God was doing before their very eyes. In these works God was showing Jesus to be the prophet who was greater than Moses. Nonetheless, they failed to heed Moses' command and did not listen.

I pray that God will give us eyes to see and recognize Christ for who He is and ears to hear His words of life and embrace them in faith. May we accept the demands of these words and joyfully live them out in eager anticipation of our great Savior's return!

Grace and Peace,

J