If he's real but not reigning, he can't help me. If he's risen but not real, he's just a good story. If he's not risen, he can't return. But if he returns, then he proves that he is Real, he is Risen, and he Reigns. By faith we trust that he is real, risen, and reigning, and we look for his final return as the end of the age.
I used to work with an amazingly sweet lady who believed that Jesus saved her from herself and from messes, but that any further salvation was unnecessary. She did not live in the fear of the Lord, but brought great shame to the name she claimed to bear. Jesus is not a fake-savior or wishful thinking or an inspiring story. He is not merely a threat to make bad people live in fear or a sweet story to make good people not fear. He is the Creator of the universe. He is the author of our salvation.
Hebrews 2 says, "we do not yet see everything in subjection to him." But we DO see that the other things spoken about him all came to pass, guaranteeing the completion of his work. He has not lied to us--every past deed is proof of his future deeds. When the time was right, he came as a man. When the next time is right, he will come again to judge the living and the dead. His word is good and cannot fail, and so we trust in our blessed hope.
How often we live like he is not real, or not risen, or not reigning, or not returning. We talk a lot about him, about his resurrection and reign. But how many of our conversations dwell on his return? How does his glorious, triumphant return define and change our lives?
Thursday, September 02, 2010
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4 comments:
Jenn,
Your post got me thinking about human forgetfulness and failure to live according to the truths we know. I'm wondering what the source of this problem is. Would such inadequacy or disregard only be a result of our fallen natures? I suppose this has a lot to do with it, since we spend so much time with our eyes on other things - moments when we value our own pursuits above God's agenda.
Or is it the fact that we are "sojourners" away from out true home - made for a fuller experience of God but graciously given time to experience only foretastes and growing desire for the true revelation of this King? Has God's very design of us opened the door to temporary distraction? That sounds like imperfect design, but it could be comparable to His giving us "free will" in order that we may love him fervently rather than slavishly.
Okay, hope that makes sense. In the end, it's probably some combination of both but I'll see what you have to say. Thank you for your post and reminder. I have spent the week (my first week back at school) physically giving myself headaches from worry and anxiety about all that seems to have mounded up on my plate already. Yet if I would honestly center on this truth, all my worries, doubts, fears and schedules would seem so unnecessary. How DO I forget so often?...
~Courtney
This week’s blog and Courtney’s comment have reminded me of things said by greater thinkers than me. In Living the Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney, C.J. makes it so clear: we are sinners in need of a Savior. But sometimes it feels like we use terms so often that they lose meaning: Sinner, Savior, Subject, King. Like Pastor Tim Bowditch said Sunday, we Americans don't really have a concept for a king who answers to no one else
.
So let's define our terms a bit. A sinner is someone who sins. Yeah, that's a bit obvious, but what is sin?
I'm going to borrow a few sentences from What Is The Gospel? by Greg Gilbert, published by 9Marks. "But according to the Bible, sin is a lot more than just the violation of some impersonal, arbitrary, heavenly traffic regulation. It's the breaking of a relationship, and even more, it is a rejection of God himself—a repudiation of God's rule, God's care, God's authority, and God's right to command those to whom he gave life. In short, it is the rebellion of the creature against his Creator"(48).
Two things really stand out for me:
First, that sin is the "breaking of a relationship." Remembering back to the Kingdom Mission: Go and Gather sermon by Jim Donahue in January, I think about how, when I'm in love with someone, they are never far from my thoughts. We think about, we talk about, we act on what we love. I know people who obsess over their kids, jobs, schooling, clothes, pets or, in my case, fiancés.
Back in 2007, the complaint I heard the most after the breakup was that my fiancé was the only thing I talked about while we were together:
"How are you enjoying the Christmas season, Leah?"
"Mike has been so busy..."
“How was dinner?”
“Mike had the best burger…” etc
Talk to someone long enough, and you'll know what they love most. Our speech reflects our hearts, and when our first love isn’t God, our speech brands us as sinners.
Second, that sin is “a repudiation of God’s rule...God’s authority, and God’s right to command.” A sinner refuses to acknowledge that God is their King by rejecting His right to dictate how they live. Another quote from Mr Gilbert is helpful to elaborate. “The Bible’s teaching is that sin is indeed a breaking of relationship with God, but that broken relationship consists in a rejection of his kingly majesty. It’s not just adultery (though it is that); it is also rebellion. Not just betrayal, but also treason. If we reduce sin to a mere breaking of relationship, rather than understanding it as the traitorous rebellion of a beloved subject against his good and righteous King, we will never understand why the death of God’s Son was required to address it”(52).
Our lack of love leads to lack to obedience, which is a lot more serious than most of us think about. We forget because we do not love God as our first love. We fail to obey because we do not remember that The King is coming back to deal with the rebels personally. As Pastor Bowditch reminded us in Luke 19:27, when The King returns from receiving the kingdom, He’ll say, “But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’”
In light of that, it doesn’t make much sense to respond as John does in Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things [Jesus] says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
“But here is where the good news of Christianity gets really, really good. You see, King Jesus came not only to inaugurate the kingdom of God, but also to bring sinners into it by dying in their place and for their sin, taking their punishment on himself and securing forgiveness for them, making them righteous in God’s sight, and qualifying them to share in the inheritance of the kingdom (Col. 1:12)”(Gilbert 64).
Sinner, Savior, Subject, King. Who knew definitions could make my heart sing out in love for God?
If He is not risen, we lose everything.
He is our Treasure, our Reward. We long to depart and be with the Lord, not just go to a 'paradise' to be rewarded with things that we have already experienced in this world, just exponentially (like most other religions believe).
He truly is our blessed hope!!!
Maranatha!
Courtney, I'm finally getting time to respond to your comment! This could be long....
Sometimes it's ok and appropriate to be "distracted." In life, to fulfill our God-given roles, we need to pay attention to some things at the expense of other things. We have finite minds that are only capable of so many thoughts at a time.
What's harder for me is keeping my worldview consistent. If I'm doing all things to the glory of God, then I can focus on my spreadsheet with all my mind and energy. But if my worldview shifts from a "God-entranced vision of all things" to a self-centered, self-focused vision, then my thoughts and then usually my actions degenerate into sin.
It's like when you do any of the things that you do--you don't always think through every step, but that doesn't mean that you don't use knowledge you already possess. There are definitely times that need to be devoted to God alone, but if we wanted to do that all the time, we would have to become monks and maybe find a pole to sit on. Most of the time, we need to operate within a worldview wherein we love the sovereign God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Once that worldview is in place, we can go to work and interact with life as servants who want to please their King.
This is a helpful summary from Doug Wilson:
"When we think about the gifts in exclusion of the Giver, it is because we are being prideful, or selfish in some way. If we think about the Giver only, we are trying hard to be disembodied spirits -- which is not how the Giver made us, and if we were paying all that much attention to the Giver, we ought to have noticed that He didn't want to make us that way."
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