The Bible Is Not *Just* Our Foundation

If the Bible is merely foundational in our lives, then we will read it as a guide to a better, healthier, safer, and more moral life.  On the other hand, if the Bible is the one thing that saturates our lives, then we will read it as the primary way to know and love our great God and Savior and it will fuel our desires to pray, worship, evangelize, and disciple. 

In 1 Peter 2:2, Peter writes, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.” He isn’t saying that these Christians are like “newborn infants.” Instead, the focus is on the longing they should have to know God’s word. How important is it to long for the truth of God’s word? He says “by it” we will grow up to salvation. This doesn’t mean we get saved by reading the Bible, but it means that we grow in our relationship with Jesus after we are saved when we know what he teaches us in the Bible.  It means that when we are saturated with the pure and basic and deep truths of the Bible, we will begin to see God more for who he is in all his glory. 

Don’t make the Bible foundational. Blanket yourself with it. Filter every thought, action, and attitude through it.  Don’t stand on the Bible as your foundation.  Let the Bible richly saturate every facet of your life. 

Oriented to the Kingdom

This morning at Grace Chapel, Pastor Mike Hsu gave a sermon called Oriented to the Kingdom, (it should be upload for listening in a few days) from Genesis 1:26-28. The central theme of the message was that we, as sons and daughters of God, have been entrusted with the responsibility of seeing the will of heaven enforced here on earth. In the Garden of Eden, work, worship, and holiness were an integrated and continuous whole. Because of sin, that is no longer the case. Mike gave three applications for how to make this happen - by God’s grace - that I’d like to reflect on.

• See our work as calling. So often people think that if they aren’t a pastor, missionary, campus ministry worker, or even a God-blogger, that they are, for some reason or another, not as significant in the Kingdom. We know from 1 Corinthians 12 that the whole body is essential to properly function! How glorious that God has designed his church to work together for the ultimate goal of his glory. This happens by everyone doing whatever they do for the glory of God. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera.” Christians have somehow developed this idea of leaving the material world - whether in the occupational sense or otherwise. We should redeem that which can be redeemed in the material world. Let me say, lest someone call me materialistic, hedonistic (in the worldly sense), wicked, or blasphemous, that there are some things are impossible to redeem. For example, we cannot have Christian porn or Christian strip clubs.
• See our worship as integrated. Worship is more than just singing a hymn or going to church on Sunday. It’s more than simply reading the Bible and praying. Mike pointed out that so many Christians struggle with deep, abiding joy because we don’t seek the Lord daily, even hourly! So many Christians do not read the Bible and pray to God. Our worship culminates on Sunday morning as we fellowship with Christ’s body in church. Yet, during the other six days of the week, we should trust the Lord to feed our own souls through Bible reading and prayer. And when we do this, by the Spirit’s power, we will see that everything is worship. We can worship Jesus at work, class, on the sports field, and in our homes with family. Worship is whatever glorifies God and as we saw from Colossians 3:23, that can be whatever we are doing.
• See our holiness as a chief goal. When sin creeps in our lives, we are distracted from these first two applications. The Westminster Confession’s first question is, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” John Piper has adapted this to say, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever.” When we do these things, it is the fruit of striving for holiness and trusting God to kill our sins. John Owen said, “Be killing sin, lest sin be killing you.” Notice that Mike did not say holiness is the chief goal. It is one of the many goals that will bring about the ultimate goal: God’s glory. When we are living life like it is a war, we are constantly prepared to use the Bible as our sword to put to death our own wickedness, the devil’s schemes, and the world’s fads. When we live life with a peace-time mindset, however, we get caught off-guard and grow complacent. This will cause us to neglect personal holiness and therefore forget that any work we perform is the Lord’s calling and that worship is an integrated, all-inclusive, life-long adoration toward God in all we do.

 

He’s Not Talking About the Bible

“If this book doesn’t change the world — we’re all screwed.”

- Penn, of Penn & Teller

Penn is referring to Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion.  I wonder if Penn knows that the best selling book of all time is the Bible.  The second?  Not Dawkins’ book.  Not Darwin’s book.

It’s John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress – which is practically like the Bible.

Go figure.

Jesus Died for My Obedience

Jesus didn’t just purchase salvation for the elect on the cross.  He also bought all of the benefits of the gospel kingdom, one of the greatest being obedience.  Without obedience to the gospel, we would only have wrath waiting for us (2 Thess. 1:8).

Ezekiel 36:26-27,

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Hebrews 5:9,

And being made perfect, [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. 

Without God giving us a new heart of flesh, we would have no ability to obey him.  Praise God that he has purchased obedience for us through Jesus’ death so we can experience eternal salvation with him forever.

 

 

 

ESV Study Bible

When Jerry Bridges says, “The ESV Study Bible is the finest study tool I have seen in fifty years of Bible teaching,” you know it’s got to be good.  Mark Driscoll says it’s the best, “Period.”  Ah, Driscoll, he’s so refreshing.  Read his full review (where he’ll give us insight that it has nearly 1.1 million words of resources in addition to the 757,000 words in the Bible text itself–the equivalent to a 20 volume work!). 

If you pre-order it (it comes out October 15, 2008), then you’ll get 35% off.  As for me, I’m pumped about this.  I bought a Reformation Study Bible from R.C. and the guys at Ligonier last October, and I’m told that is the Lexus of study Bibles.  The ESV Study Bible, I guess, would be considered the Ferrari.  A little sleeker, a bit sexier, and much more fun to work with.

 

We Keep Sinning, Jesus Keeps Saving

As I have been preparing for a message I’m giving to the Campus Crusade men at Wayne State College tomorrow, I have been repenting of many sins and trusting the Lord to use me even though I am a sinner.  At times, I have been overwhelmed with my sinfulness, but I have taken solace in the words of 1 John 2:1-2, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ he righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

One of the reasons the Bible was written was so that we will know what sin is and stay away from it.  However, we do sin, because we are not perfect beings and we have a great Savior named Jesus to save us from ourselves, sin, death, Satan, and hell.

Still, some people profess to be Christian and claim that they are completely sanctified.  Unfortunately, these people are simply blind to their sin.  I wrestle at times with whether or not some of them are true believers.  When I them against verses like 1 John 1:8, I can’t help but say they are not true followers of Jesus.  The verse says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  I have written on this subject in a essay that I’d encourage you to check out.  Whether you are on the pro or con side of this argument, I hope you’ll be challenged to wrestle with your own sinfulness and prompted to look to Jesus.

Hearing, Praying, and Speaking the Word

Justin Taylor writes on the discipline of reading the Bible and praying aloud.  Great insight and encouragement.  A must read.