First published in 1927, and read aloud by Eliot during a BBC interview broadcast during World War II:
You can read the text here. A rare recording taken from a live interview T. S. Eliot did for the BBC, broadcast during World War II. The thing that comes through most clearly is that nobody reads Eliot like Eliot.
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Christmas is God’s answer to the slavery of self-salvation
I hope and pray that today is a day of restful reorientation for
those of you who are being crushed under the weight of trying to make it
on your own.
For those who feel the acute pressure of thinking you have to change your spouse if you’re going to be happy, you have to be on top of everything if you’re going to make it, you have to infallibly protect your kids if they’re going to turn out OK, you have to control what others think about you if you’re going to feel important, you have to be the best if your life is going to count, you have to be successful if you’re ever going to satisfy the deep desire for parental approval, and so on and so forth…Christmas is for you.
The Incarnation frees us from what Paul Zahl calls “the law of capability”—the law, he says, “that judges us wanting if we are not capable, if we cannot handle it all, if we are not competent to balance our diverse commitments without a slip.” Because of Christmas, we are now endowed with the strength to admit that we can’t make it on our own–that we’re weak and needy and restless. Since our identity is now anchored in Jesus’ strength, our weaknesses don’t threaten our sense of worth and significance–our security. We’re now free to admit our faults and failures without feeling like our flesh is being ripped off our bones.
The Incarnation of Christ serves as a glorious reminder that God’s willingness to clean things up is infinitely bigger than our willingness to mess things up. The arrival of God Himself in the flesh sets us free from the pressure we feel to save ourselves from loneliness and lostness, despair and dejection.
In short, Christmas is God’s answer to the slavery of self-salvation.
Whether it’s by trying harder or giving up, being good or bad, pursuing wisdom or foolishness, sacrificially giving or selfishly taking, we suffer under the weight of looking to ourselves for life’s answer.
Christmas celebrates the glorious truth that no matter how hard we try, we can’t do it. Apart from the Incarnation we are left to our own devices. But Jesus came to liberate us from the pressure of having to fix ourselves, find ourselves, and free ourselves. He came to rescue us from the slavish need to be right, rewarded, regarded, and respected. He came to relieve us of the burden we inherently feel to trust in ourselves in order “to get it done.” Because Jesus came to secure for us what we could never secure for ourselves, life ceases to be a tireless effort to establish ourselves, justify ourselves, validate ourselves.
Because of Christmas, we have nothing to prove or protect. We can stop pretending. We can take off our masks and be real. We hold the wining hand. We have nothing to lose.
The liberating power of Christmas frees us from trying to impress people, appease people, measure up for people, or prove ourselves to people. The Incarnation frees us from the burden of trying to control what other people think about us. It frees us from the miserable, unquenchable pursuit to make something of ourselves by using others.
The Incarnation is God’s shout: “You’re free!”
As Everything, he became nothing so that you–as nothing–could have everything.
Tullian Tchividjian
For those who feel the acute pressure of thinking you have to change your spouse if you’re going to be happy, you have to be on top of everything if you’re going to make it, you have to infallibly protect your kids if they’re going to turn out OK, you have to control what others think about you if you’re going to feel important, you have to be the best if your life is going to count, you have to be successful if you’re ever going to satisfy the deep desire for parental approval, and so on and so forth…Christmas is for you.
The Incarnation frees us from what Paul Zahl calls “the law of capability”—the law, he says, “that judges us wanting if we are not capable, if we cannot handle it all, if we are not competent to balance our diverse commitments without a slip.” Because of Christmas, we are now endowed with the strength to admit that we can’t make it on our own–that we’re weak and needy and restless. Since our identity is now anchored in Jesus’ strength, our weaknesses don’t threaten our sense of worth and significance–our security. We’re now free to admit our faults and failures without feeling like our flesh is being ripped off our bones.
The Incarnation of Christ serves as a glorious reminder that God’s willingness to clean things up is infinitely bigger than our willingness to mess things up. The arrival of God Himself in the flesh sets us free from the pressure we feel to save ourselves from loneliness and lostness, despair and dejection.
In short, Christmas is God’s answer to the slavery of self-salvation.
Whether it’s by trying harder or giving up, being good or bad, pursuing wisdom or foolishness, sacrificially giving or selfishly taking, we suffer under the weight of looking to ourselves for life’s answer.
Christmas celebrates the glorious truth that no matter how hard we try, we can’t do it. Apart from the Incarnation we are left to our own devices. But Jesus came to liberate us from the pressure of having to fix ourselves, find ourselves, and free ourselves. He came to rescue us from the slavish need to be right, rewarded, regarded, and respected. He came to relieve us of the burden we inherently feel to trust in ourselves in order “to get it done.” Because Jesus came to secure for us what we could never secure for ourselves, life ceases to be a tireless effort to establish ourselves, justify ourselves, validate ourselves.
Because of Christmas, we have nothing to prove or protect. We can stop pretending. We can take off our masks and be real. We hold the wining hand. We have nothing to lose.
The liberating power of Christmas frees us from trying to impress people, appease people, measure up for people, or prove ourselves to people. The Incarnation frees us from the burden of trying to control what other people think about us. It frees us from the miserable, unquenchable pursuit to make something of ourselves by using others.
The Incarnation is God’s shout: “You’re free!”
As Everything, he became nothing so that you–as nothing–could have everything.
Tullian Tchividjian
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Scrooge, Overjoyed - Christmas Cannot Be Contained
We have short memories of poor, wretched Ebenezer Scrooge. Here was a
fallen man in desperate need of redemption, with absolutely no desire
to turn from his egregious ways. Then three spirits visited him, and all
changed overnight. But the Scrooge we remember is not the forgiven one.
It is not the redeemed curmudgeon whose joy on Christmas morning led
him to leap through the air like a drunken man, exclaiming "Glorious,
glorious!" We like to keep Scrooge locked in our hearts as the greedy,
depraved, unregenerate sinner of his pre-visitation, using him as a
cautionary tale about the damning effects of pursuing money and gain.
Ebenezer found joy, but we rarely let him have it. Yet when this joy was finally loosed in him, it knew no bounds.
Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's lowly employee, had a joy that transcended his earthly circumstances, which included a sick child, intolerable working conditions, and a salary that barely afforded him the essential provisions to feed his family. But it was Cratchit's joy that led him to hope for his son, feel charity toward his boss, and celebrate Christmas with an overflowing heart. Bob Cratchit had a joy that could not be contained.
Even though Christmas has been somewhat corrupted, there's almost no other time of the year when talking about the gospel is so acceptable. It is stunning to turn on CBS and hear Linus reading from the Gospel of Luke in A Charlie Brown Christmas, or watch Christmas at Rockefeller Center and hear a pop star sing Joy to the World. When else is the gospel so prominently proclaimed?
Yet we want to play the Christmas police and protect the "real meaning of the season." Why do we expect a world that lives in darkness to understand Christmas in a way that only believers can? Are we Pharisees who want people to say the right words with the wrong hearts? Do we replace love for disgust, joy for disdain, peace for confusion, patience with intolerance, kindness for selfishness, faithfulness for ignorance, gentleness for harshness, and self control for selfish ambition?
May it never be said of us. Instead, let us display the heart of Christ to a world that desperately needs changed hearts.
Dickens did not write a gospel story, but A Christmas Carol still gives us a glorious model of a sinner's transformation from darkness into light. From a contaminated heart to joy uncontained.
For Ebenezer Scrooge, there was no Christ in Christmas until after he was redeemed. Let us all remember Scrooge for what he became to remind ourselves of who we once were.
Gospel Coalition
Ebenezer found joy, but we rarely let him have it. Yet when this joy was finally loosed in him, it knew no bounds.
Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's lowly employee, had a joy that transcended his earthly circumstances, which included a sick child, intolerable working conditions, and a salary that barely afforded him the essential provisions to feed his family. But it was Cratchit's joy that led him to hope for his son, feel charity toward his boss, and celebrate Christmas with an overflowing heart. Bob Cratchit had a joy that could not be contained.
Joy Diminished
Christmas cannot be contained, because the gospel can never be silenced. The world cannot shut out the light of Christ shining in the hearts of his children. But sometimes we find the light has dimmed. Writing in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens tells us that Cratchit's wife initially refused to participate in a toast to Scrooge on Christmas. We're tempted to follow her example. We let bitterness, anger, and discontentment dim the light of Christ's birth from shining brighter in our lives. Though God has given us every good thing through the birth of his son, we have chosen instead to harbor doubt and distrust and condemn the very spirit of Christmas. Angry that Christmas has morphed into a commercial spectacle devoid of meaning we must defend, some of us have become angry little elves.Even though Christmas has been somewhat corrupted, there's almost no other time of the year when talking about the gospel is so acceptable. It is stunning to turn on CBS and hear Linus reading from the Gospel of Luke in A Charlie Brown Christmas, or watch Christmas at Rockefeller Center and hear a pop star sing Joy to the World. When else is the gospel so prominently proclaimed?
Yet we want to play the Christmas police and protect the "real meaning of the season." Why do we expect a world that lives in darkness to understand Christmas in a way that only believers can? Are we Pharisees who want people to say the right words with the wrong hearts? Do we replace love for disgust, joy for disdain, peace for confusion, patience with intolerance, kindness for selfishness, faithfulness for ignorance, gentleness for harshness, and self control for selfish ambition?
May it never be said of us. Instead, let us display the heart of Christ to a world that desperately needs changed hearts.
Dickens did not write a gospel story, but A Christmas Carol still gives us a glorious model of a sinner's transformation from darkness into light. From a contaminated heart to joy uncontained.
For Ebenezer Scrooge, there was no Christ in Christmas until after he was redeemed. Let us all remember Scrooge for what he became to remind ourselves of who we once were.
Gospel Coalition
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Bono on Christmas
I love this quote from Bono
:
:“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw a child I just thought: Wow! Just the poetry Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this."(HT: Jonathan Dodson)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Jesus "the Christ"
The angel told Joseph (and earlier Mary): "[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
The angel declared to the shepherds: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Jesus "the Christ" is the righteousness of God that God requires- -and amazingly provides for sinners to receive by faith.
Jesus simply means "YHWH is Salvation"; his name is JESUS because he will save his people from their sins.
"Christ" is not Jesus' last name (it would have likely been "Ben Joseph"). "Christ" is Greek for the Hebrew "Messiah". "Christ" means "Anointed One"; which means that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sins and our Anointed One.
The name and title “JESUS THE CHRIST” teaches us what we need to know about God this Christmas!
In the name JESUS we find salvation hope from our self and sin.
In the title CHRIST we find sanctification and empowerment over our enslavement to self and sin.
“JESUS” - the Name
In the Name JESUS we find One who would obey God perfectly, loving God and neighbor as Himself, perfectly on our behalf.
Jesus is not merely a helper, an assistant, or a life-coach; Jesus is a Savior from sin.
In our flesh as "Immanuel" (God with us), Jesus would earn perfect righteousness for us by keeping God's commandments perfectly. Jesus would die in our flesh for our transgressions on the cross; Jesus would be raised from the dead and seated at God's right hand in our flesh for us.
This is all that the name "JESUS" should mean for us: Perfect righteousness that is revealed in the Law of God, but perfect righteousness under the Law in our flesh imputed to all who believe.
Double imputation is (still!) something to rejoice about!
What does that loaded theological term mean?
Our sins are imputed to the man Jesus; His righteousness is imputed to us by faith. “Double Imputation” is term worth memorizing.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (a glorious verse!) teaches us about Double Imputation:
"For our sake he made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Note: 1) For our sake. For whom? All who believe; all who are new creations by faith (see 2 Cor. 5 larger context); 2) Jesus knew no sin, he was perfectly righteous, but we was "made sin" for us. Our sins were placed upon Him and He bore the penalty of death and the wrath of God for us; and 3) In Jesus, in our union with Jesus by faith, we might become the righteousness of God; we might stand before God clothed in a righteousness not our own.
JESUS- -the name above all names- -that causes rejoicing because we find in him a righteousness that God requires and provides for us- -outside of us- -without our help.
“THE CHRIST’ - the Title
Jesus is "THE CHRIST". Jesus' name brings us hope, but also his title: "The Christ"
As "Anointed One" or "Christ" Jesus can make us holy.
As "Anointed One" or "The Christ" Jesus can not only provide the righteousness before God that will justify us, or declare us "not guilty" nor condemned (Rom. 8:31), but the righteousness and power by the Spirit that will sanctify us or make us holy.
In Jesus, by faith in Jesus "the Christ" our "Anointed One" we can have union with Him, become like Him, and become empowered no longer to live for self but to live for Jesus who lived and died for us.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15: "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." - ESV
In other words, in Jesus the Christ, in the Gospel of Jesus' birth, we have all we need for life and godliness in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
What the angels declared to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds was the Gospel of JESUS THE CHRIST.
When Simeon, an Old Covenant saint who had been awaiting the comfort-consolation-salvation of Israel for many years, sees Jesus the Christ, he says that his eyes have seen God's salvation (Luke 2:25-35).
Simeon does not merely see help to attain God's salvation; Simeon beholds his substitute Lamb who takes away his sins and the sins of the world!
Simeon does not merely see one who came to tell us about salvation; Simeon SEES the Lord's salvation 'IN FLESH'--the embodiment of God's salvation.
This means that the salvation of God is a PERSON! If you’re looking for salvation, he is found in Jesus the Christ.
God's hope, God's salvation, God's redemption, God's comfort-consolation to all who believe is a Person- -the Person Jesus Christ.
Our hope, our salvation, our redemption, our comfort-consolation is a Person, the Person Jesus Christ.
Why is he JESUS? Because He will save His people from their sins and provide the righteousness God requires of all mankind.
Why is he CHRIST or ANOINTED ONE? Because He will save His people from their slavery to sin, and empower them to live godly lives in this present age, as he continues to sanctify his people from their sins and make them like him!
In the Name JESUS the CHRIST you have the Gospel. Receive the Gospel good news through him- -if not the for the first time- -then again (because we so easily forget it!).
In the Person and Work of Jesus we have the Gospel good news revealed- -but even in His name we get the Gospel!
Amazing grace- -found even in Jesus' Name and Title!
Yet the default mode of the human heart is works righteousness; all mankind is seeking to achieve a righteousness NOT by faith, but through their own works, sacrifices, gifts, and pleas before God.
We avoid realizing the great Gospel truth revealed in the Name (and especially the Person and Work) of JESUS THE CHRIST.
Our default mode is not to believe the Gospel; not to rest in the finished work of Christ for us. The Apostle Paul writes of the default mode in his description of unbelieving folks in Israel in Romans 10:
ESV Romans 10:2-3: I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
Notice a few things from Romans 10: Lots of people are religious; they have a zeal for God. You ask them "Are you religious?" They respond with a resounding "YES!"
But whether religious or irreligious, both kinds of folks are seeking to avoid the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. A religious "Legalist" wants rules and "dos and don'ts" to tell them how to be righteous while avoiding the Person of Jesus; the irreligious "Liberal" wants just to be vaguely loving while avoiding the Person of Jesus.
Both the religious and the irreligious have one thing in common (Romans 10:3): "Being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness."
There is an ignorance in both religious folks who are using the Bible to be righteous, and those avoiding the Bible altogether.
They are both, whether religious or irreligious, seeking to establish their own righteousness before God and man.
And they are failing; they are continuing to fall short of the glory of God and His righteous requirements found in the law (Rom. 3:23ff).
Our default mode is to believe we can work real hard seeking to please God and in the end he will save us, but we have yet to realize the depth of our sins, the great holiness of God, and that God requires perfection that no man can offer to him.
Only Jesus has been and is perfect; only Jesus could live perfectly loving God and His neighbor as himself; let us not nullify the grace of God found in what He has done; let us rather believe, and rest in this hope found in him, and quit striving after perfection that will never be attained.
When we believe, we are united to Jesus Christ by His Spirit.
In our union with Jesus, we have both the righteousness that God requires and the sanctifying grace that makes us more like him daily as we live a life of constant repentance and reception of his grace!
We find the Gospel hope that we so desperately need in JESUS who sheds his blood for us and gives us his righteousness, AND in THE CHRIST who empowers us in our union with Christ so that we can become like him in His holiness and love.
He is JESUS THE CHRIST.
Our only hope.
Do you need salvation? Let your eyes behold by faith the salvation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Do you need to know you're righteous before God? Let your eyes behold by faith the righteousness that God provides for us in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Do you need to grow in righteousness before God, becoming more like Jesus? Let your eyes behold by faith the sanctifying power and grace for us found in the Person of Jesus the Christ.
Jesus: Savior of sinners.
The Christ: Sanctifying of sinners.
All that we need.
1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. - ESV
Love in Christ,
Pastor Biggs
www.aplacefortruth.org www.ketoctin.org
Reformation Theology
The angel declared to the shepherds: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Jesus "the Christ" is the righteousness of God that God requires- -and amazingly provides for sinners to receive by faith.
Jesus simply means "YHWH is Salvation"; his name is JESUS because he will save his people from their sins.
"Christ" is not Jesus' last name (it would have likely been "Ben Joseph"). "Christ" is Greek for the Hebrew "Messiah". "Christ" means "Anointed One"; which means that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sins and our Anointed One.
The name and title “JESUS THE CHRIST” teaches us what we need to know about God this Christmas!
In the name JESUS we find salvation hope from our self and sin.
In the title CHRIST we find sanctification and empowerment over our enslavement to self and sin.
“JESUS” - the Name
In the Name JESUS we find One who would obey God perfectly, loving God and neighbor as Himself, perfectly on our behalf.
Jesus is not merely a helper, an assistant, or a life-coach; Jesus is a Savior from sin.
In our flesh as "Immanuel" (God with us), Jesus would earn perfect righteousness for us by keeping God's commandments perfectly. Jesus would die in our flesh for our transgressions on the cross; Jesus would be raised from the dead and seated at God's right hand in our flesh for us.
This is all that the name "JESUS" should mean for us: Perfect righteousness that is revealed in the Law of God, but perfect righteousness under the Law in our flesh imputed to all who believe.
Double imputation is (still!) something to rejoice about!
What does that loaded theological term mean?
Our sins are imputed to the man Jesus; His righteousness is imputed to us by faith. “Double Imputation” is term worth memorizing.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (a glorious verse!) teaches us about Double Imputation:
"For our sake he made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Note: 1) For our sake. For whom? All who believe; all who are new creations by faith (see 2 Cor. 5 larger context); 2) Jesus knew no sin, he was perfectly righteous, but we was "made sin" for us. Our sins were placed upon Him and He bore the penalty of death and the wrath of God for us; and 3) In Jesus, in our union with Jesus by faith, we might become the righteousness of God; we might stand before God clothed in a righteousness not our own.
JESUS- -the name above all names- -that causes rejoicing because we find in him a righteousness that God requires and provides for us- -outside of us- -without our help.
“THE CHRIST’ - the Title
Jesus is "THE CHRIST". Jesus' name brings us hope, but also his title: "The Christ"
As "Anointed One" or "Christ" Jesus can make us holy.
As "Anointed One" or "The Christ" Jesus can not only provide the righteousness before God that will justify us, or declare us "not guilty" nor condemned (Rom. 8:31), but the righteousness and power by the Spirit that will sanctify us or make us holy.
In Jesus, by faith in Jesus "the Christ" our "Anointed One" we can have union with Him, become like Him, and become empowered no longer to live for self but to live for Jesus who lived and died for us.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15: "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." - ESV
In other words, in Jesus the Christ, in the Gospel of Jesus' birth, we have all we need for life and godliness in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
What the angels declared to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds was the Gospel of JESUS THE CHRIST.
When Simeon, an Old Covenant saint who had been awaiting the comfort-consolation-salvation of Israel for many years, sees Jesus the Christ, he says that his eyes have seen God's salvation (Luke 2:25-35).
Simeon does not merely see help to attain God's salvation; Simeon beholds his substitute Lamb who takes away his sins and the sins of the world!
Simeon does not merely see one who came to tell us about salvation; Simeon SEES the Lord's salvation 'IN FLESH'--the embodiment of God's salvation.
This means that the salvation of God is a PERSON! If you’re looking for salvation, he is found in Jesus the Christ.
God's hope, God's salvation, God's redemption, God's comfort-consolation to all who believe is a Person- -the Person Jesus Christ.
Our hope, our salvation, our redemption, our comfort-consolation is a Person, the Person Jesus Christ.
Why is he JESUS? Because He will save His people from their sins and provide the righteousness God requires of all mankind.
Why is he CHRIST or ANOINTED ONE? Because He will save His people from their slavery to sin, and empower them to live godly lives in this present age, as he continues to sanctify his people from their sins and make them like him!
In the Name JESUS the CHRIST you have the Gospel. Receive the Gospel good news through him- -if not the for the first time- -then again (because we so easily forget it!).
In the Person and Work of Jesus we have the Gospel good news revealed- -but even in His name we get the Gospel!
Amazing grace- -found even in Jesus' Name and Title!
Yet the default mode of the human heart is works righteousness; all mankind is seeking to achieve a righteousness NOT by faith, but through their own works, sacrifices, gifts, and pleas before God.
We avoid realizing the great Gospel truth revealed in the Name (and especially the Person and Work) of JESUS THE CHRIST.
Our default mode is not to believe the Gospel; not to rest in the finished work of Christ for us. The Apostle Paul writes of the default mode in his description of unbelieving folks in Israel in Romans 10:
ESV Romans 10:2-3: I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
Notice a few things from Romans 10: Lots of people are religious; they have a zeal for God. You ask them "Are you religious?" They respond with a resounding "YES!"
But whether religious or irreligious, both kinds of folks are seeking to avoid the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. A religious "Legalist" wants rules and "dos and don'ts" to tell them how to be righteous while avoiding the Person of Jesus; the irreligious "Liberal" wants just to be vaguely loving while avoiding the Person of Jesus.
Both the religious and the irreligious have one thing in common (Romans 10:3): "Being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness."
There is an ignorance in both religious folks who are using the Bible to be righteous, and those avoiding the Bible altogether.
They are both, whether religious or irreligious, seeking to establish their own righteousness before God and man.
And they are failing; they are continuing to fall short of the glory of God and His righteous requirements found in the law (Rom. 3:23ff).
Our default mode is to believe we can work real hard seeking to please God and in the end he will save us, but we have yet to realize the depth of our sins, the great holiness of God, and that God requires perfection that no man can offer to him.
Only Jesus has been and is perfect; only Jesus could live perfectly loving God and His neighbor as himself; let us not nullify the grace of God found in what He has done; let us rather believe, and rest in this hope found in him, and quit striving after perfection that will never be attained.
When we believe, we are united to Jesus Christ by His Spirit.
In our union with Jesus, we have both the righteousness that God requires and the sanctifying grace that makes us more like him daily as we live a life of constant repentance and reception of his grace!
We find the Gospel hope that we so desperately need in JESUS who sheds his blood for us and gives us his righteousness, AND in THE CHRIST who empowers us in our union with Christ so that we can become like him in His holiness and love.
He is JESUS THE CHRIST.
Our only hope.
Do you need salvation? Let your eyes behold by faith the salvation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Do you need to know you're righteous before God? Let your eyes behold by faith the righteousness that God provides for us in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Do you need to grow in righteousness before God, becoming more like Jesus? Let your eyes behold by faith the sanctifying power and grace for us found in the Person of Jesus the Christ.
Jesus: Savior of sinners.
The Christ: Sanctifying of sinners.
All that we need.
1 Corinthians 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. - ESV
Love in Christ,
Pastor Biggs
www.aplacefortruth.org www.ketoctin.org
Reformation Theology
Wexford Carol - Yo Yo Ma & Allison Krauss
The 12th century Wexford Carol:
Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray,
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born
The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town
But mark right well what came to pass
From every door repelled, alas
As was foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble ox’s stall
Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God’s angel did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
Arise and go, the angels said
To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you’ll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus, born
With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went the babe to find
And as God’s angel had foretold
They did our Saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side a virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of Life
Who came on earth to end all strife
There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where Jesus lay
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah lay
They humbly cast them at his feet
With gifts of gold and incense sweet.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Schulz Wanted Bible in Charlie Brown Christmas
That's part of the story behind the TV special in a recent Washington Post article. When asked if he was sure he wanted to include biblical text in the special, Schulz responded, "If we don't do it, who will?"
Coca-Cola, which had signed on as corporate sponsor, never balked at the idea of including New Testament passages, which Linus reads aloud (from the book of Luke) in what Mendelson calls "the most magical two minutes in all of TV animation." Read the whole fascinating story here, and check out Linus's famous soliloquy below.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Santa as Christian Boogeyman
Driving around yesterday listening to Christmas music I actually listened closely to the lyrics of a song I've heard for years: "Here Comes Santa Claus." This little ditty includes lines like:
"Get in bed and cover your head, for Santa Claus is coming tonight."
"Say your prayers because Santa Claus comes tonight."
Does this strike anyone else as more than a little creepy? Is this jolly Saint Nick we're talking about here, or an axe murderer?
That got me thinking about the real Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra in the 300's. Aside from his reputed generosity, history tells us he was a staunch defender of Christian orthodoxy, especially the article of the Trinity. Arius was the heretic du jour then, arguing that the Son was not equal to the Father. Legend has it that Nicholas was quite agitated by this. So agitated was he, that one tale has it that Nicholas went to the ecumenical Council of Nicea and was so incensed by Arius' assault on the trinitarian nature of God he crossed the room and slapped him in the face. (This is apocryphal, of course. There are pretty decent records of the Nicean Council and none of them indicate this happening.)
But this gets me thinking. If we're going to make Santa Claus into some kind of boogeyman, instead of telling kids they should be good or Santa won't bring them presents, why don't we tell them they should watch their doctrine closely or Santa will punch them in the face?
I'm going to run this by Driscoll and see if this duding up of Santa qualifies as redeeming him. ;-)
Jared Wilson
"Get in bed and cover your head, for Santa Claus is coming tonight."
"Say your prayers because Santa Claus comes tonight."
Does this strike anyone else as more than a little creepy? Is this jolly Saint Nick we're talking about here, or an axe murderer?
That got me thinking about the real Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra in the 300's. Aside from his reputed generosity, history tells us he was a staunch defender of Christian orthodoxy, especially the article of the Trinity. Arius was the heretic du jour then, arguing that the Son was not equal to the Father. Legend has it that Nicholas was quite agitated by this. So agitated was he, that one tale has it that Nicholas went to the ecumenical Council of Nicea and was so incensed by Arius' assault on the trinitarian nature of God he crossed the room and slapped him in the face. (This is apocryphal, of course. There are pretty decent records of the Nicean Council and none of them indicate this happening.)
But this gets me thinking. If we're going to make Santa Claus into some kind of boogeyman, instead of telling kids they should be good or Santa won't bring them presents, why don't we tell them they should watch their doctrine closely or Santa will punch them in the face?
I'm going to run this by Driscoll and see if this duding up of Santa qualifies as redeeming him. ;-)
Jared Wilson
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Don't Thingamatize Christmas
The danger in the seasonal celebration is that we cave to sentimentality and rote nostalgia and thus forget that the meek and mild baby in a manger was nothing short of the opening salvo in the kingdom of heaven revolution consisting in God personally invading earth.
We will toss around words this month like "spirit," "grace," "peace," and "hope." The Bible will not let us have these ideas merely as ideas, as things. They are personal. Thus: "He himself is our peace" (Micah 5:5; Eph. 2:14) and "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Let's not mess with ethereal virtues, no matter how Christianly gauzed. Leave ethereal virtues to vague saviors. Our Savior is incarnate!
Sinclair Ferguson brings it home:
HT:Jared Wilson
We will toss around words this month like "spirit," "grace," "peace," and "hope." The Bible will not let us have these ideas merely as ideas, as things. They are personal. Thus: "He himself is our peace" (Micah 5:5; Eph. 2:14) and "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Let's not mess with ethereal virtues, no matter how Christianly gauzed. Leave ethereal virtues to vague saviors. Our Savior is incarnate!
Sinclair Ferguson brings it home:
[R]emember that there isn’t a thing, a substance, or a “quasi-substance” called “grace.” All there is is the person of the Lord Jesus — “Christ clothed in the gospel,” as Calvin loved to put it. Grace is the grace of Jesus. If I can highlight the thought here: there is no “thing” that Jesus takes from Himself and then, as it were, hands over to me. There is only Jesus Himself.Don't thingamatize Christmas. Take it personally.
HT:Jared Wilson
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas as the End of History
John Piper (1981):
Creation out of nothing was an awesome event. Imagine what the angelic spirits must have felt when the universe, material reality of which they had never imagined, was brought forth out of nothing by the command of God.Justin Taylor
The fall was an awful event, shaking the entire creation.
The exodus was an amazing display of God’s power and love.
The giving of the law, the wilderness provisions, the conquering of Canaan, the prosperity of the monarchy—all these acts of God in redemptive history were very great and wonderful. Each one was a very significant bend in the river of redemptive history, bringing it ever and ever closer to the ocean of God’s final kingdom.
But we trivialize Christmas, the incarnation, if we treat it as just another bend on the way to the end. It is the end of redemptive history.
And I think the analogy of the river helps us see how.
Picture the river as redemptive history flowing toward the ocean which is the final kingdom of God, full of glory and righteousness and peace. At the end of the river the ocean presses up into the river with its salt water. Therefore, at the mouth of the river there is a mingling of fresh water and salt water. One might say that the kingdom of God has pressed its way back up into the river of time a short way. It has surprised the travelers and taken them off guard. They can smell the salt water. They can taste the salt water. The sea gulls circle the deck. The end has come upon them.
Christmas is not another bend in the river. It is the arrival of the salt water of the kingdom of God which has backed up into the river of history. With the coming of Christmas, the ocean of the age to come has reached backward up the stream of history to welcome us, to wake us up to what is coming, to lure us on into the deep.
Christmas is not another bend in the river of history. It is the end of the river. Let down your dipper and taste of Jesus Christ, his birth and life and death and resurrection. Taste and see if the age to come has not arrived, if the kingdom has not come upon us. Does it not make your eyes sparkle?
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Who Is Christmas For?
Jesus came for those who look in the mirror and see ugliness.You can read the whole thing here.
Jesus came for daughters whose fathers never told them they were beautiful.
Christmas is for those who go to “wing night” alone.
Christmas is for those whose lives have been wrecked by cancer, and the thought of another Christmas seems like an impossible dream.
Christmas is for those who would be nothing but lonely if not for social media.
Christmas is for those whose marriages have careened against the retaining wall and are threatening to flip over the edge.
Christmas is for the son whose father keeps giving him hunting gear when he wants art materials.
Christmas is for smokers who cannot quit even in the face of a death sentence.
Christmas is for prostitutes, adulterers, and porn stars who long for love in every wrong place.
Christmas is for college students who are sitting in the midst of the family and already cannot wait to get out for another drink.
Christmas is for those who traffic in failed dreams.
Christmas is for those who have squandered the family name and fortune—they want “home” but cannot imagine a gracious reception.
Christmas is for parents watching their children’s marriage fall into disarray.
Justin Taylor
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Great Reversal
In C.S. Lewis’s masterful children’s story The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he tells of a country, Narnia, which is under the curse of the White Witch. This evil queen places a spell on the land so that it’s “always winter and never Christmas.” Under her control, the future of Narnia looks bleak until word gets out that “Aslan is on the move.” In the story, Aslan is a noble lion who represents Christ. He’s coming to set things straight. He’s coming to destroy the White Witch and thus reverse the curse on Narnia. The first sign of Aslan’s movement toward this cursed land is that the snow begins to melt–“spring is in the air.” The cold begins to fade as the sun rays peer through the dark clouds, promising the dawn of a new day. Everything in Narnia begins to change.
You’ll have to read the book to see how the story ends, but when I’m asked to describe the true meaning of Christmas, I like to say that the birth of Christ is the sure and certain sign that “God is on the move.” The arrival of Jesus two-thousand years ago ensured that God had begun the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things. In Jesus, God was moving in a new way and, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “winter began stirring backwards.”
All of Jesus’ ministry—the words he spoke, the miracles he performed—showed that there was a new order in town: God’s order. When Jesus healed the diseased, raised the dead, and forgave the desperate, he did so to show that with the arrival of God in the flesh came the restoration of the way God intended things to be. New life was given, health was restored; God was reversing the curse of death, disease, and discomfort. The incarnation of Christ began the “great reversal.”
Tim Keller observes that Christ’s miracles were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the Fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again—a world of peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict.
To be sure, when Christ comes again, the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things will be complete (1 Cor. 15:51-58). The peace on earth that the angels announced the night Christ was born will become a universal actuality. God’s cosmic rescue mission will be complete. The fraying fabric of our fallen world will be fully and perfectly rewoven. Everything and everyone “in Christ” will live in perfect harmony. Shalom will rule.
Isaiah pictures it this way:
Christmas is the celebration of this process begun and the promise that it will one day be completed.
Tullian Tchividjian
You’ll have to read the book to see how the story ends, but when I’m asked to describe the true meaning of Christmas, I like to say that the birth of Christ is the sure and certain sign that “God is on the move.” The arrival of Jesus two-thousand years ago ensured that God had begun the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things. In Jesus, God was moving in a new way and, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “winter began stirring backwards.”
All of Jesus’ ministry—the words he spoke, the miracles he performed—showed that there was a new order in town: God’s order. When Jesus healed the diseased, raised the dead, and forgave the desperate, he did so to show that with the arrival of God in the flesh came the restoration of the way God intended things to be. New life was given, health was restored; God was reversing the curse of death, disease, and discomfort. The incarnation of Christ began the “great reversal.”
Tim Keller observes that Christ’s miracles were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the Fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again—a world of peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict.
To be sure, when Christ comes again, the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things will be complete (1 Cor. 15:51-58). The peace on earth that the angels announced the night Christ was born will become a universal actuality. God’s cosmic rescue mission will be complete. The fraying fabric of our fallen world will be fully and perfectly rewoven. Everything and everyone “in Christ” will live in perfect harmony. Shalom will rule.
Isaiah pictures it this way:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,For those who have found forgiveness of sins in Christ, there will one day be no more sickness, no more death, no more tears, no more division, no more tension. The pardoned children of God will work and worship in a perfectly renewed earth without the interference of sin. We who believe the gospel will enjoy sinless hearts and minds along with disease-free bodies. All that causes us pain and discomfort will be destroyed, and we will live forever. We’ll finally be able “to enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbounded energy and passion forever.”
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
Christmas is the celebration of this process begun and the promise that it will one day be completed.
Tullian Tchividjian
Christmas Is for Those Who Hate It Most
We are by now accustomed to hearing about how Christmas is difficult for many people. The story of Scrooge and his—ehem—problems with this season is no longer anecdotal. It is now par for the course. Maybe it always has been. Maybe the joy of the season has always been a thorn in the side of those who can scarcely imagine joy.
Not too long ago, I heard from someone about how difficult Christmas would be because of some heartbreak in their family. There was utter hopelessness and devastation. Christmas would be impossible to enjoy because of the freshness of this pain. It’s been a story very hard to forget.
I get it. I mean, it makes sense on the level of Christmas being a time in which there is a lot of heavily concentrated family time. The holidays can be tense in even the best of circumstances. Maneuvering through the landmines of various personalities can be hard even if there is no cancer, divorce or empty seat at the table. What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.
But allow me to push back against this idea a little. Gently. I think we have it all backwards. We have it sunk deep into our collective cultural consciousness that Christmas is for the happy people. You know, those with idyllic family situations enjoyed around stocking-strewn hearth dreams. Christmas is for healthy people who laugh easily and at all the right times, right? The successful and the beautiful, who live in suburban bliss, can easily enjoy the holidays. They have not gotten lost on the way because of the GPS they got last year. They are beaming after watching a Christmas classic curled up on the couch as a family in front of their ginormous flat-screen. We live and act as if this is who should be enjoying Christmas.
But this is backwards. Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss. Jesus’ first recorded worshipers were not of the beautiful class. They were poor, ugly shepherds, beat down by life and labor. They had been looked down on over many a nose.
Jesus came for those who look in the mirror and see ugliness. Jesus came for daughters whose fathers never told them they were beautiful. Christmas is for those who go to “wing night” alone. Christmas is for those whose lives have been wrecked by cancer, and the thought of another Christmas seems like an impossible dream. Christmas is for those who would be nothing but lonely if not for social media. Christmas is for those whose marriages have careened against the retaining wall and are threatening to flip over the edge. Christmas is for the son whose father keeps giving him hunting gear when he wants art materials. Christmas is for smokers who cannot quit even in the face of a death sentence. Christmas is for prostitutes, adulterers, and porn stars who long for love in every wrong place. Christmas is for college students who are sitting in the midst of the family and already cannot wait to get out for another drink. Christmas is for those who traffic in failed dreams. Christmas is for those who have squandered the family name and fortune—they want “home” but cannot imagine a gracious reception. Christmas is for parents watching their children’s marriage fall into disarray.
Christmas is really about the gospel of grace for sinners. Because of all that Christ has done on the cross, the manger becomes the most hopeful place in a universe darkened with hopelessness. In the irony of all ironies, Christmas is for those who will find it the hardest to enjoy. It really is for those who hate it most.
Gospel Coalition
I get it. I mean, it makes sense on the level of Christmas being a time in which there is a lot of heavily concentrated family time. The holidays can be tense in even the best of circumstances. Maneuvering through the landmines of various personalities can be hard even if there is no cancer, divorce or empty seat at the table. What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.
But allow me to push back against this idea a little. Gently. I think we have it all backwards. We have it sunk deep into our collective cultural consciousness that Christmas is for the happy people. You know, those with idyllic family situations enjoyed around stocking-strewn hearth dreams. Christmas is for healthy people who laugh easily and at all the right times, right? The successful and the beautiful, who live in suburban bliss, can easily enjoy the holidays. They have not gotten lost on the way because of the GPS they got last year. They are beaming after watching a Christmas classic curled up on the couch as a family in front of their ginormous flat-screen. We live and act as if this is who should be enjoying Christmas.
But this is backwards. Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss. Jesus’ first recorded worshipers were not of the beautiful class. They were poor, ugly shepherds, beat down by life and labor. They had been looked down on over many a nose.
Jesus came for those who look in the mirror and see ugliness. Jesus came for daughters whose fathers never told them they were beautiful. Christmas is for those who go to “wing night” alone. Christmas is for those whose lives have been wrecked by cancer, and the thought of another Christmas seems like an impossible dream. Christmas is for those who would be nothing but lonely if not for social media. Christmas is for those whose marriages have careened against the retaining wall and are threatening to flip over the edge. Christmas is for the son whose father keeps giving him hunting gear when he wants art materials. Christmas is for smokers who cannot quit even in the face of a death sentence. Christmas is for prostitutes, adulterers, and porn stars who long for love in every wrong place. Christmas is for college students who are sitting in the midst of the family and already cannot wait to get out for another drink. Christmas is for those who traffic in failed dreams. Christmas is for those who have squandered the family name and fortune—they want “home” but cannot imagine a gracious reception. Christmas is for parents watching their children’s marriage fall into disarray.
Christmas is really about the gospel of grace for sinners. Because of all that Christ has done on the cross, the manger becomes the most hopeful place in a universe darkened with hopelessness. In the irony of all ironies, Christmas is for those who will find it the hardest to enjoy. It really is for those who hate it most.
Gospel Coalition
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Merry Christmas from Grolsch & the Swingtop Philharmonic Orchestra
3 cheers for beer and Christmas - Grolsch's classy holiday commercial
Led by conductor Thomas Blunt, seven percussionists, woodwind players and a timpanist create a beautiful rendition of ["Oh, Christmas Tree] using sounds dreamed up through each element of the legendary bottle — glass, air, beer and the uniquely ‘Grolsch’ Swingtop.
I say, if you’re gonna use Christmas to peddle your product, do it like this.
22 words
Led by conductor Thomas Blunt, seven percussionists, woodwind players and a timpanist create a beautiful rendition of ["Oh, Christmas Tree] using sounds dreamed up through each element of the legendary bottle — glass, air, beer and the uniquely ‘Grolsch’ Swingtop.
I say, if you’re gonna use Christmas to peddle your product, do it like this.
22 words
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