Category: Galatians

Our journey has come to an end.

In conclusion:

Does a wheel work if the hub is moved from the center to the side?
What if it is removed?

How much fun would a teeter-totter be if the fulcrum was moved from the center closer to one of the edges?
What if the fulcrum was removed altogether?

What would happen to our solar system if the sun was moved so that it is no longer in the center while everything else hypothetically remained in the same orbit?
What if our sun was removed completely?

The cross is central.

It is crucial.

It is the crux (crux and crucial are both derivatives from the Latin crux for cross).

If it is not the center our steering is out of alignment and we run into dangerous heresy. If we remove the cross from our theology the wheel does not turn at all, we cease to be Christian. We become lopsided, unbalanced, and no fun when the cross is not central. Our entire worldview as Christians hinges on the cross. If it is moved from its central position things are so radically changed that the solar system of our faith suffers violently and fatally.

I hope you have grasped this vision of the cross as we have journeyed through Galatians. I have enjoyed our trek. I thank God that He has been faithful to give us a glimpse of Christ crucified, risen, and reigning. I pray He continues to open our eyes to behold the wonder of the cross.

First time: the closet smelled. The carpet was soaked. The bathroom ceiling was bubbling up. Mold had grown. Driers, flans, dehumidifiers were moved in for weeks. The house was intensely loud. Then came the day for them all to move out, but…

Second time: I flushed the toilet. Water erupted from said toilet as if I had struck oil. I grabbed the wet dry vac immediate, but alas immediately was too late. The toilet evidently was ingeniously placed right above the kitchen light fixture by an assassin plumber. The ceiling was wet and the driers, dehumidifiers, and fans came to reside in our home again. Then all was quiet. Repairs were being done. The house was quite. The ceiling was due to be painted the next day then…

Third time: I skipped church because all the plumbing in my head decided to mutiny against me. Water was shooting out my eyes in a manner to similar toilet incident mentioned above. I prepared for some much needed sleep. But a potty break was necessitated before such rest could commence. I left the restroom only to immediately turn around at the sound of running water. The toilet strikes again. I immediately grab towels, five of them, they are soon soaked. I run for the wet/dry vac only to see the kitchen light fixture dripping with water.

Despair struck my heart.

I will not glory in my house. It will fail me. Plumbing will need replacing. Paint will chip. Carpet will wear. Wood will rot. Foundations will crack.

To boast in such temporalities is to open yourself to heartache. They will all fail you.

There is only one boast worth having. Only one real foundation upon which to build you joy. Only one joy eternal. Only one glory unfading. This boast is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I grew up on a peanut farm. I hate peanuts.

People seem flabbergasted by this?

It begins by sowing them. I would drive a truck, with a trailer. Upon this trailer were sacks. The sacks contained peanuts. You wouldn’t want to eat these peanuts because they were coated with poison. The poison limited the number of peanuts that rodents and such might consume. Dad would drive a tractor. There would be a device that put the poison peanuts in the ground attached to said tractor. I would drive the truck to the tractor, open sacks, and fill bins on the poison peanut injector. It would be hot, lonely, dry, and boring…I hate peanuts.

Then you would water them. Peanuts are like thirsty little camels that live under the ground. Think about it, they have two humps, soak up the water, and love sandy soil. They are the camel of the plant kingdom. You would water them twice a day. There would be a big pipe out in the middle of the peanut field with wheels on it. You would move the pipes, hook up hoses, and start a pump to push water out the mighty sprinkler system. I would get up early to help my dad do this…I hate peanuts. The only reward is when a rodent would be in pipes and get shot through a sprinkler. Sometimes you would have to fish out part of him with a piece of wire.

Peanuts take approximately five months to reach maturity. This means you water and cultivate them during this long period…I hate peanuts.

Then you would harvest them. If you were unfortunate you may have to put them into potato sacks. Dirty little peanuts would be eaten by a machine that deposited them into a bin where you would manually put them into sacks. You would soon have enough dirt in your ears to pot a plant…I hate peanuts.

Most of the time I either put big blankets on top of trailers that the peanut eating machine would drop the nuts into or drove the tractor pulling the peanut eating machine. my friend Ty and I would climb on top of the mountain of peanuts, have a war throwing them at each other, and then spread the blanket over them to keep them dry and bid them adieu…I hate peanuts.

You reap what you sow

I hate peanuts. But I did love growing up on a farm. I love everything that it taught me, hard work, patience, and imagination. I would not trade it for anything. I didn’t like it when I was awakened at six in the morning. I didn’t like it when I got in late at night. But I thank GOD that I did the things I didn’t like, because I love what they birthed in me.

You may remember a few stories (such as the ultimate poo story) about my friends from seminary Matt and Mark. These twin brothers are the extravagant rock star type personality. This means lots or personality, lots of drama. So one day we are outside the church after services with a mixed crowd. We are all making fun of one another and I think someone made a rude comment toward me that Matt found hysterical. So to add some drama he fell on his back laughing. His pants ripped approximately four inches in the act. Now a good friend would politely hint to avoid, or cushion further embarrassment. I am not a good friend. I blurted it out loudly so that all laughs would turn from me, to Matt.

Paul’s advice in this text is really hard for me to live out. How does it work?

I watched Superman Returns last night. I was let down. Superman committed fornication. How do I confront him about this? Do I just ignore the issue, this is my default mode? Privately I will tell myself how much better I am than him. I may ignore or talk to him less. This fails in two ways: 1) it makes sin to be a small ignorable matter; 2) it cranks up the pride dial on my sinful heart. Hey, this is Superman, if he could fall to temptation, so could I. I should gently seek to restore him. I think that the more I ignore this sin in others while culturing sin in my own heart, the more susceptible I will be to the very same sin, or at least sin in general. Ironically I fail to see the granddaddy of all sin, the thread that runs through all acts of iniquity, pride, is consuming my life.

“Hey ‘Supe’…I look up to you, I consider you so much better than myself in so many ways. You genuinely love and sacrifice for others. But you have really messed up. But Christ is greater that all your sin. And He is at work to make all things work out for good. You need to marry this woman. Buck up and be a dad. Tell Lois the truth. This would be true superhero conduct.”

The gospel is why these actions must be taken. We make light of the gospel when we fail to seek our brother’s restoration.

Things you want to do, but don’t want to do:

1. Eat a donut or five
2. Go to the dentist when you have a toothache
3. Restroom stop when driving the church van to camp
4. Read your Bible
5. Homework
6. Apologize
7. Do laundry
8. You add to the list…

All Homo sapiens have conflicting desires at times. We battle with what will make us happier at times; to finish the homework, or put it off? Often in seeking happiness we only prolong our misery. We are foolish creatures. For Christians this does not cease, rather it intensifies. We do not simply deal with a moral conscience, but we have two natures. One wars against the other. Both are promising happiness.

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. – Blaise Pascal

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. – John Piper

So there is this splendid couple that was kind enough to give me a car! Outside of making fun of my son they truly are splendid people (really, he is not even out of the womb to defend himself yet; I would teach him to spit up on you, but that would only serve your rude prediction concerning his character). So the car is great, except that having to walk around to the passenger side to unlock the driver’s side door, then walking back to the driver’s side to get into my car can get a bit old. So Saturday I commenced ripping off the door panel to locate the problem. There is a little white plastic thing-a-ma-jig about the size of my pinkie, on which a little hook-like piece smaller than a fly is the only part broken. The thing-a-ma-jig would perform perfectly fine if not for this small part which only makes up 1/100 of its wholeness. I tell myself I will look at a junk yard or something…we shall see.

So you have two doors.

1 = law (passenger side)

2 = Jesus (drivers side)

Like my car door number one only serves to make you realize your need of door number 2. Door number 1 cannot get you into the driver’s seat to enjoy driving freedom. Door number one only allows you to be a passenger, a slave to various drivers known as:

The curse of the law.

The lust of the flesh.

Sin.

And

Satan.

All are reckless drivers and will destroy your soul – intense wreckage!

So after a few thousand ‘accidents’ you realize these guys can’t drive. Only faith in CHRIST can open the door with the broke thing-a-ma-jig. You experience driving freedom.

But sometimes you get lazy, you just want to sit and let someone else take the wheel; someone like self righteousness, the law, or pride. When you use door number one, door number two is no advantage to you. To ‘fall away from grace’ (v. 4) is not to lose your salvation, but your driving freedom. You can live by the law, or under the stream of grace, but you cannot do both at the same time.

I go to door number one daily, both spiritually and with my car. With my car one continually makes me realize and sends me to door number two. Spiritually this is not always so, but how I wish it was.

One is utterly insufficient.

Two is a flowing fountain of cruising freedom. A road of grace.

The morning was crisp and cool. I leashed up Fro and Sam. They were insanely excited at the prospect of a walk in cool weather. I placed the iconic white ear buds in my ears and commenced listening to James Harleman talk about Christianity and culture. He talked about how he loved watching movies after his conversion and seeing the gospel in them. He spoke to another pastor about the matrix and all the gospel implications involved and the other pastor said “What? I just watched it as entertainment, for a distraction?”

So we go to movies, and entertainment for our Sabbath?

Harleman then attacks the idea of entertainment ever being “safe”. Culture is never safe. We are never safe in this world. He then clarifies that he does not condemn Christians watching a movie just for entertainment, but we should pray and hope that all of life, including entertainment becomes a godly engagement.

For example I watched Gladiator again this weekend. Now I often approach movies looking for illustrations, conversations starters, etc. but I had grown lax. Also I often looked at snippets rather than the whole picture. For example I have used Maximus’ line “what we do in life echoes in eternity” numerous times. But notice the contrast between the rightful heir Maximus, and the rejected heir Commodus. Maximus is humble, brave, sacrificial, serving, and seeks to honor Marcus and the people of Rome by returning rule to the senate. Commodus is selfish, prideful, and makes much of the people only so that the people will make much or him. Maximus overcomes the tyranny of Commodus and opens the eyes of Rome not as a conquering general, but as a lowly gladiator. In his weakness he overthrows the highest ruler in the world. Sound familiar?

Let me wrap this up. Three options when dealing with culture:

1) Be a sectarian. Completely pull apart from culture and create a Christian bubble. Never let anyone in this bubble that might pollute it and never go outside the bubble where you might be infected. After all it is truly not safe outside of the bubble.

2) Be a syncretist. become a “mutual admiration society in which people pat each other on the back for having a social conscience and nod in agreement through sermons that sound like sappy greeting cards strung together to make us feel like we just got a divine back rub while doing some aromatherapy, drinking herbal tea, and listening to taped sounds of running water (Mark Driscoll in the Radical Reformission).”

3) Receive from culture what is good. Reject what is unbiblical. And redeem what has been marred. We are not anti-cultural. We are pro Jesus, and Jesus came to buy a people from every tribe tongue, and nation. Heaven will be multicultural.

With renewed eyes look at the culture all around you, and engage it with Christ. Use music, movies, television, and fads as a means to evangelize your peers.

08:59:58…boop

08:59:59…boop

09:00:00…boop

So TV season is starting back up. Survivor on the 20th, heroes on the 24th, house on the 25th, lost on the ???, and 24… next year! The suspense is dreadful. But that is what 24 is about, suspense, it’s the reason why you hate and love the show.

Commercial: I stole much of this from a lecture by Mark Driscoll on scripture. You can check the lecture either on iTunes (Mars Hill Church sermon podcast) or at the Mars Hill website. If I say something profound or cool, chances are I stole it. I am highly unoriginal.

Malachi does this (the last book of the bible, and the last book of the Old Testament written). It talks about the messenger coming to prepare a way for the Messiah. Then…

boop…

boop…

boop…

For four hundred years. And then the fullness of time came (Galatians 4:4). God the master story teller slowly revealed his plan over thousands of years, leaves his people with the ultimate cliffhanger for 400 years and then – the climax – Jesus in humble splendor, servant glory, and lowly power.

And now we live in suspense waiting for the finale. You must understand the climax to get the finale.

boop…

boop…

boop…

Last week I found this cool bit about Jason Bourne and the gospel.

This weekend Bethany and I watched The Guardian (the coast guards version of Top Gun). Good movie. Certainly better than I thought it would be. It begins and ends with these words:

There is a legend of a man who lives beneath the sea. He’s a fisher of men. A last hope of all those who have been left behind. He is known as the Guardian.

I knew early on that Costner was going to die. I did not tell Bethany this because she would instantly hate the movie. However she was the first one to connect the opening lines with his death. Costner is the legendary guardian that will not let go until help comes.

Galatians 3:24 says:

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

The guardian (Costner) did not save the drowning victims. Rather he was there until salvation came. The law never saves. Unlike Costner though it drowns us, shows us our sin, makes us to cry out to God for a righteousness not our own.

Some translations translate this word schoolmaster or tutor. The idea being that the law taught us our need for Christ. But the guardian was normally a slave who was to discipline the children and keep them from moral evils. They were entrusted to this guardian from about 6 to puberty. The guardian was to make sure they got to school and helped with their schoolwork and manners. The guardian is temporary. The guardian takes us to the teacher, it is not the teacher. The guardian is good, but it does not make us good, rather its goodness shows us our badness.

We must be wounded with the law before the gospel can heal. We must realize we are drowning before we cry out. The drowning and sorrow of the law is a blessed sorrow if it leads to repentance and faith.

What’s your curse?

I have this hex on me, that every time a waiter comes by the table to ask me something I have taken a massive bite of food that seems to take five minutes to chew while they impatiently stare at me. It is impossible to enjoy food while being the subject of someone’s gaze.

I also have this curse of forgetting everything. Like forgetting a pot of boiling water. I have recently twice forgotten about leaving the watering hose for about four hours. This has recently become more annoying since we have stairs. I ask myself “why did I come up here?” only to remember after having given up and journeyed back downstairs.

So what is your curse? Body odor? Stinky feet? Hairy toes? Public flatulence? Protruding nasal hair? The curse of the black pearl? Zits on picture days? Always forgetting to pack a toothbrush and secretly borrowing one?

What is the true nature of a curse? What does it mean that Christ became a curse? Why did He have to become a curse?

Isn’t it funny that we think we are accursed when we get a flat, a zit, a ‘d’, an insufficient funds notice, etc? Jesus shows us the true nature of a curse. What he suffered is the curse we all deserve. I’ve recently noticed how little the gospels speak of Christ’s physical sufferings. All of the gospels spend the majority of their time recording this event, but little detail is given regarding HIS physical suffering. There is much more that reveals the agony of His soul as He drank from the bitter cup of His Father’s wrath.

So bring on the waiters, the zits, and the flats I am blessed. My sins have been atoned for. The Father has been propitiated. Christ became my curse so that I may approach the throne in boldness.

Rejoice in this… but still I am absolutely curious,

What is your “curse”?