Drifting East of Eden

Our family often goes on a vacation with a number of our friends to a cottage up north.  One of the activities our families enjoy is taking the ridiculous number of kids we have and piling them onto a pontoon boat.

And then we hang out on the water.

A couple of times this ended up with our families beaching the boat at a sand bar so we could let the kids out and play.  And inevitably, because the boat was beached and not anchored, one of us would look over at the boat and see the boat was beginning to drift away.

We always caught the boat thankfully.  But what is fascinating is that the people on the boat never realized it.  They were eating, hanging out, and relaxing and drifting away from shore without every noticing.

This is how drifting works though.  It’s subtle.  It happens slowly and it’s not until somebody points it out that you even realize it is happening.  This happens on beaches all the time; you are hanging out in the water and swimming when all of the sudden you look up and realize you’ve drifted down shore without even noticing it.

The Drift Away from the Garden

In Genesis 3:24, there’s an interest observation that has significant implications for us as Christians.

“After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden a cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

East of the Garden.

After Adam and Eve sin, they are moved eastward.  Out of the Garden and away from God.

And then in Genesis 4, we read about a story of two brothers.  A story of a brutal murder.  And then at the end of this story, the writer makes a simple note about the murderer-brother.

“Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

There’s a drift that is taking place.  And Cain not only drifts eastward, but he settles there.  He puts down roots and builds a city; he makes his home in the east.  There’s this feeling in the first four chapters of Genesis and throughout the entire history of the Israelites that they are going the wrong way.

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We are all east of Eden.  We all drift eastward.

“So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?” - Hebrews 2:1-3 (NLT)

This is the tendency of the human heart, there is a slow drift away from the truth we have heard.

We see it in Adam and Eve, we see it in Cain, we see it in the Judges, and in a man like David.  All of us are blown about by the wind and the waves of this world and are pulled by the currents of our own hearts.

And Hebrews makes clear what it is that we drift away from when he says, “We ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself.”  We drift away from the promise that Jesus proclaims to us.  We move eastward and begin building cities for ourselves instead of building our lives on the finished work of Jesus.

And our eastward drift is only stopped by the promise of the cross.

The cross jumps into the middle of this mess with a message that brings us back home.  The Good News comes to us as we’ve gone eastward and re-orients us.  It curves our me-centered hearts outward.  It declares to us our sins are forgiven and jolts us out of the drift and makes sure we cannot “ignore this great salvation.”  Jesus jumps into the storm and despite the currents of our own hearts, he changes the course and brings us back home.

The Power of Words

While most of us have grown up with the rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt me,” we know that words have far more power than that simple childhood rhyme led us to believe.

Words have the power to create and destroy; to kill and give life.  God works through words.  In the beginning, the Word created the world and everything in it.  In our daily life, our own words have the power to create and destroy the lives of our friends, family, and coworkers.  Our words have the potential to give life or kill the life of the people around us, just as God’s own words do this in our life.

God’s word “kills us in order to make us alive.”  He speaks his word of condemnation to shatter our self-made delusions about the kind of people we think we are.  He reveals us for what we are in his sight and once we have been shattered, he reminds us of who he is.

God’s Word is made up of two words: Law and Gospel.  The Law is the Word that kills.  It kills the self-righteous, breaks the arrogant, and destroys the legalist.  The Law reveals our sin and kills us so that we might be resurrected.  The Gospel is the Word that gives life.  It rescues the person who cries, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.”

As Christians, we are given the sacred calling to speak God’s words in the places he has placed us.  In our homes, in our families, in our neighborhoods, and in our workplaces God has called us to be people who speak his word in the unique places we have been placed.

In the words of Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

We have a responsibility to use our words wisely.  Our words have the power to correct those who live licentiously and falsely believe there is no law.  And they have the power to set free those who have been enslaved by sin.

The Law will inevitably drive people to guilt and shame.  These aren’t bad feelings when they drive us to repentance.  But without the Gospel, they leave a person destroyed.

Guilt says, “I’m sorry, I did something wrong.”  Shame says, “I’m sorry, there’s something wrong with me.”  The Gospel speaks words of hope to both of these experiences.

It speaks to our guilt when it declares, “Your sins are forgiven.”  The guilt has been removed.  And it speaks to our shame, when it says, “You are not who you were.”  Our identity is found in Christ, not in our shame.  We are not only sinners, but we are also saints. And these are the words that we have the privilege to speak in our conversations, in our preaching, and in our writing.

How Do We Understand What Laws We Follow in Leviticus?

Why do Christians pick and choose which laws to follow in Leviticus?  How can someone wholeheartedly affirm one passage that says declares one sin an abomination and then flat out ignore another that forbids eating shellfish.

One of the misconceptions in understanding how to read the Bible is that people often simply say, “I read the Bible literally.”  That’s not true, even by the people who claim it.   Most of the people who might say something like that actually don’t literally believe that the poetic language of Psalms should be taken literally.  Or when Jesus claims “I am the gate,” believes that Jesus is literally a fence that opens and closes.

A better description for the proper way to read the Bible is: read the Bible as it was literally intended to be read. This means that some books are intended to be read as history, others are intended to be read as poetry, others as apocalyptic and so on.  When we read the bible we have to consider, who wrote the book and what was the author’s intention behind what we read.

So how’s this translate to the book of Leviticus?

The book of Leviticus is a book full of laws.  And as we read the book of Leviticus it is important to understand how we should understand the book we are reading.  Because the book is full of so many laws we have to consider, should we be following these laws?  And if not, why don’t we follow them?

When you read the book of Leviticus you cannot automatically assume that every law you read still applies today.

But at the same time you cannot automatically ignore every law that is found in the book of Leiviticus.

You have to discern, is this a law that was for a particular time and place or was it timeless?

The 3 Types of Laws in Leviticus

1) Ceremonial

The ceremonial law was given to the nation of Israel for a particular purpose.  These are the laws that were given to the nation of Israel for the purpose of separating them from their Gentile neighbors.  These laws are for a specific nation, at a specific time, and for a specific purpose.

And so for the sake of separating Israelites from the Gentiles, you will read about laws like dietary regulations (don’t eat shell fish) and other regulations of cleanliness. These laws are not meant for all people or all times.

2) Civil

The civil law, like the ceremonial law, was given to the nation of Israel in their particular culture.  The civil law had a different purpose than the ceremonial, but like the ceremonial it was not meant for all people or all times.

The civil laws were the laws given to the nation of Israel for managing the civil affairs of the people. It gave laws that suggested how to run business, punishment for crimes, and even the treatment of slaves. These laws do not apply to us in our culture.

3) Moral

The moral law is unlike the other 2 types in that the moral law is not to a particular culture or for a particular time period.  The moral law can also be described as the natural law.  This isn’t because it is natural to obey the law, but because it is the way God created the natural world to function.

The moral law is timeless.  It exists before, during, and after the culture in which it was given.

For example, murder.  When did murder become a sin?  When Cain killed Abel, there was no commandment against murder.  But it was still wrong.

Why?  How can something be a law without having been given as a law?  Murder, I would suggest, is a part of the moral law.  It existed even before the giving of the ten commandments and is still important in our day and age.

This is why we often place such high importance on the Ten Commandments as Christians.  It’s not because the list of 10 is more important because it’s from the book of Exodus instead of Leivitucs.  It’s simply because it is the best summary of the moral law.  These are laws that are timeless and that we should hold dearly.

And so with laws in Leviticus, we must consider what kind of law is this?

Comforting Bible Verses for Times of Death

If you are anything like me, tragedy causes you to question everything you say to the people you care about.  You question whether or not to say anything at all.  In order to help myself in these situations, I’ve decided to think about it ahead of time and write down some bible verses that are helpful for a variety of difficult situations in which I want to be careful no to say something stupid.

Now, doing this, remember that even when you are nervous about what to say, your presence speaks loudly.  Be present for the people you love even when you don’t have the words to say.

But given that you are like me and you want to know what places to point people to in these moments, I thought it would be helpful to consider what we can say when someone dies.

Scriptures that are comforting when someone dies:

Psalm 23, which speaks to the God who walks with us and cares for us even in the darkest valleys and in the shadows of even death itself.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Isaiah 25:6-9, which speaks to the important reality that death doesn’t get the last laugh.  Death stings, but it doesn’t win.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples,a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.  On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.The Lord has spoken.9 In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

John 11:35, which is the shortest verse in the Bible and reminds us that in our moments of grief, Jesus grieves with us.

Jesus wept.

Romans 8:31-35, 37-39, which speaks to God being on our side.  While death and the devil are raging war against us, God is for us.  While we suffer and are in pain, we can be reminded that God is fighting for us and nothing is going to stop him.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death is always hard.  And often more important than being able to remember these scriptures is going to be you being present in the lives of the people you love.  As Christians, we can put our hope that death is not the end.  And because of that, while we might hurt, we also can hope.

A teacher of mine once suggested about death that, “Resurrection makes dying hard.”

This might be a bit odd at first glance, but consider it.  The fact that Jesus rises from the dead and the fact that we are promised a resurrection proves that death is not the way God intended things to work.  And so while we have the hope of eternal life that comes with dying, dying is still hard.  And it’s hard because it’s not the way God intended for this to work.  Death isn’t just an escape from the awful, worldly life.

Death is the enemy and it still stings, but it doesn’t win.

What's your worship style?

Imagine the disciples if they were encountered with a discussion of “worship styles.”  I can only imagine their reaction to somebody suggesting they prefer contemporary worship or traditional worship as being, “Huh?”  Or consider their confusion when worship is a genre of music and not what one does with all of their life.

There are only two styles of worship - true worship and false worship.

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:23-24

Despite our best efforts to categorize worship into hundreds of categories, there is really only two.  It’s either the worship of God or the worship of something else.  Contemporary, traditional, contemplative, experiential, post-modern, liturgical, confessional, attractional, missional, contemporvant…

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The same confusion continues when worship is an adjective to describe something.  Worship music, worship album, worship artist.  Is there a kind of album that is not worship?  After all the person creating the music, album, or art had to be worshipping something.

So what is true worship?

Jesus suggests true worshippers worship the Father "in spirit and in truth."

What does this mean?

Worship is always about receiving and responding.  This is true of our gatherings when we worship corporately.  This is true of our lives as we worship in our vocations.  A worshipper is a worshipper because of what they’ve received.

This is why it is so important that we worship “in spirit.”

This isn’t suggesting that our worship must be emotional (although that is not necessarily bad), it is suggesting that we approach God in worship by faith which is given to us from the Holy Spirit.

We can call God Father because of the work of the Spirit which puts faith in the person and work of the Son.  In other words, the Spirit clings to the truth.  The Spirit teaches us the truth about ourselves and the truth about our God.

We are faced with the harsh reality that we have nothing to offer when we come in worship as we are exposed to our sin. And the Spirit also reveals to us the truth about our Savior.  This is the very truth we hear and we sing and we read as worshippers.

So what style of worship do I prefer?

I prefer true worship.  The one that receives all that God gives to me.  The one that receives what God promises to deliver in his Word. And the one that responds in faith to that truth with all of life.  Worship that is not just about the singing, but certainly embraces it.  Worship that is not just about a gathering on a weekend, but certainly sees the importance of it.  Worship, instead, is about the totality of life as it flows out of an understanding of who we are and who God is.

Worship is about receiving and responding.  It receive from God the gifts that only he can give to us in the ways that he promises to give them to us.  It receives these gifts by faith in the promise of God.  And it responds to this with all of life.  Our work life, our home life, our neighborhood, and our church life… all lived in response to what we have received from God.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” - Romans 12:1

Reclaiming the Word Evangelical

The word “evangelical" gets a bad rap.  It’s used to describe political agendas, a style of worship, or perhaps even a backhanded way to call someone a fundamentalist, a legalist, or out-of-touch with our current world.  It’s ironic that a word which is derived from “Gospel” or “Good News” can so easily send people running.  If an “evangelical” is really one who clings to the message of Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, then evangelicals should be a group of people you'd like to be around.

But there's a reason why Rob Bell when pressed about his identification with the word evangelical once  responded, “If An evangelical is somebody who, when they leave the room, you feel better because you heard the good news [from them], then yes.”  Because this is not what people typically think of when they think of the word evangelical.  And while I certainly don’t agree with Rob on a lot of issues, he accurately perceives that most people don’t think Good News and Evangelicals belong in the same sentence.

There was a time when the word evangelical was used to describe the distinction from the catholic church.

“[Evangelicals] were also the first to emphasize the Gospel to such an extent that it became central to every level of their doctrine and practice.  This evangelical focus, made over against medieval Catholicism, opened the door to every other Protestant expression that came later.”  - Gene Veith

What Kind of Evangelicals Do We Need?

We need to evangelicals who are about emphasizing God’s words - we are sinners in need of a savior and Christ declares that “It is finished."  It’s not about political agendas or styles, but the centrality of the Gospel to every doctrine and practice of the church.

It’s interesting to note that even Luther himself didn’t want to call himself Lutheran but instead evangelical.

Christians have always been people who are about the message of the Gospel.  In the New Testament, in the early church, in the middle ages, and in the days of the reformation - it has always been about the Gospel.

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. - 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

There was a group of people who witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus.  They saw him alive after he had died.  And then they pass on that message as it is “of first importance.”

We have that same message.  A promise that sins are forgiven.  A promise that death has been defeated. A promise that you are made new.  A promise that Christ was victorious.  A promise that is good news for all people.  A message that is the most important message around.

This message is what makes an evangelical.

Evangelicals are those who seek to see the Gospel reach a dying, dark world.

"There is no saving doctrine except the Gospel; everything else is night and darkness." -Luther

This message is Good News.  It is not news that you need to earn.  It’s not news that gets you votes.  It’s not news that gives to you exactly what it promises, the forgiveness of sins by faith in the finished work of Jesus.

I am an evangelical.

And It’s not because of a political stance.  It’s not because of a style of music or the preachers or books I read.  It’s because what we have received I want to pass on as the most important message of all.

The Day I Became a Grunewald

In third grade I wrote a paper entitled, “Officially a Grunewald.”  And in the way that only a third grader could write, it recorded the events of a very important day in my life:

Last year on October 17, 1995, I missed a half day of school because I went to court.  When we were at home, my mom gave me a chain with a cross on it.  My brother, Corey, got a chain with a cross in the middle of a heart, and my sister, Molly, got a necklace that had a G in the middle of the heart because we became Grunewalds.

The judge asked my mom and dad a lot of questions.  While we were getting our picture taken, I banged the hammer the judge uses.  I got my picture taken with Corey, Molly and the judge.  Second, we got a picture taken with my mom, my dad, Corey, Molly, the judge and I.  The judge got to hold Molly every single time.

I officially became a Grunewald.  When we left we ate at the Clock. I had scrambled eggs.  Corey had Mickey Mouse pancakes, and Molly had French toast.

My mom brought me back to school after everyone finished eating.  Everyone asked me where I was.  I said, "At court." The kids in my class asked, "Do you have to go to jail?"  I was proud the day my stepdad adopted me and I officially became a Grunewald.

On October 17, 1995, in a courthouse, not because of anything I had done and not because of anything my brother or sister had done, but solely because of the love of my dad, I was declared a Grunewald.  It had nothing to do with my decisions or behavior, but simply because my dad said before the judge, “I will love these children as my very own children,” everything changed.

It would not be about stepson or stepdaughter, stepbrother or stepsister.  It was instead, “These are my kids.  This is my family.”  And so, on October 17, 1995, I was given a new name and a new identity; this was my family.  My dad said, “I love you, and you are my child.”

I was adopted and called son.

And all throughout the Scriptures this is the very same way that our relationship with our Heavenly Father is described.  We are described as sons and daughters who have been adopted into the family.  We are a family who has been made family.

And just as a judge banged a hammer and declared, “This is who you are,” so also on the cross of Christ it was declared, “This is who you are.”  You are given a new name, a new identity.  You are called a child, a son, a daughter.  This is why throughout the Scriptures we see this adoption language coming up over and over again.

In 2 Corinthians it says, “‘I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me,’ says the Lord Almighty.”  How does this happen?  Because we have been adopted as sons and daughters.

In Galatians 4, when the Apostle Paul is teaching us what it means to be children of God, he says:

“But, when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons, that we might be adopted as sons.  Because you are sons, because you are daughters, because you’ve been adopted into the family, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts in the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’  So, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

And in Ephesians 1 (NLT) it says, "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."  By the death and resurrection of Jesus, you and I have been declared children of God.

On October 17, 1995, I was given a new identity.  You and I, almost 2,000 years ago on a cross, we were made new.  In the waters of our baptism we were given a new name.  We were called family as we have heard and trusted the promise of the Gospel.  We have been adopted into the family of God.  We are a family who has been made family.  No matter how far we’ve run, we’ve been called sons and daughters.

How Not to Say Something Stupid

“Doesn’t she look great?”

Every now and then I hear something like this at a funeral and I can’t help but think to myself, “Umm…not really, she’s dead.”  And then immediately I scold myself for being so mean in my head and remind myself that the person was well-meaning.

Whenever somebody I care about is in a season of suffering, I find myself worried about what I am going to say.  I find myself second-guessing every statement in order to avoid saying something stupid in this moment of pain.  When I go into these situations, there are a couple of things that I need to constantly remind myself of, so I don’t overthink how I care for my friends and family in these moments.

Your presence matters.

You’re not going to say something stupid.  And if you do, they most likely won’t remember it.  Because your presence is going to say far more.  This doesn’t mean that words don’t matter in these moments, but don’t underestimate the significance of simply being present and sitting with the people who are suffering.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. - John 11:33-35

Listen, cry, talk about anything, look at pictures, pray.

All of these things matter.

Stick to what you know, not what you don’t.

In the need to say something in these difficult moments, the place we often find ourselves getting into trouble is when we start to find things to say that we perceive as comforting that we really don’t have answers to.

When you go to a funeral and somebody is comforting another because their loved is "getting their wings"; this is somebody who is trying to be comforting but is speaking about things they really don’t know about.

When I am in these moments, the thing I must always remind myself is that when I need words of comfort, the best place I can run to is the place that I know speaks truth to the hurting.  Instead of coming up with comforting statements in my own mind, I can find things that have already been said in the scriptures.

For example, a book like the Psalms can speak to the greatest moments of joy and the most agonizing moments of suffering.

"Psalms give voice to the praise of God in the depths of affliction and in the heights of human joy. We have confidence in praying the psalms for in the Psalter we are praying God’s own words.” - Lutheran Service Book: Pastoral Care Companion

When we use the words of God, we know they are true.  Rely on what you know is true.  Rely on the prayers, songs, and words of the Scriptures to provide comfort when you don’t have the words to say.

Prodigals, Pharisees, and Sons

Most of us don’t need to be convinced that we should pray.  Even the people who don’t believe in God, when faced with the worst of situations, often finds themselves in prayer to a god they don’t believe in.  The way we approach God matters  There are postures that we can take when we approach God that are appropriate in our relationship with Him.  And there are other postures that seek to make God more like a divine Genie or pair of designer jeans than a loving father.

When you pray, do you pray as a prodigal, a pharisee, or do you pray as a son or daughter? 

Prodigals.

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. - Luke 15:11-13

The prodigal son wants the benefits of sonship without any of the relationship.  He wants to receive the inheritance, but he doesn’t want to be family.  This is the story of being a prodigal.  As prodigals, we look to do whatever it takes to get what we want, but we ultimately have no desire for any sort of relationship with our heavenly Father.  We might want the reward, but we don’t want to live out our faith.  We might want the benefits, but we don’t want any of the responsibility that comes with it.

When we pray like prodigals, we only pray when we want something.  We might pray as though there is some being up there that occasionally grants our wishes, but we don’t pray to a Father.  And we certainly don’t pray as though we have any kind of relationship with this God.

Pharisees.

When the Pharisees pray, they want to be seen.  They want people to know how holy they are.  They are in essence standing on the street corners shouting, “Everybody come see how good I look.”   The Pharisee follows the rules, but not because of their relationship with the father, but because of who might be watching them.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  - Matthew 6:5

The pharisee prays to be seen and believes all their blessings are rightfully theirs.

When we pray like pharisees we falsely believe that we have done something to earn our blessings.  We pray, “Thank you God that I’m not like those sinners.”  Or even, “Thank you God that I’m not like those Christians.”  We find ourselves concerned and asking, “God I’ve done A, B, and C, why haven’t you blessed me yet?”

A Third Way

Instead, we should find ourselves responding like the prodigal son ends up responding.  The son has a speech all planned out:

Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. - Luke 15:18-19

He isn’t disowning his father this time.  Instead he realizes he screwed it up.  Unlike previously, this time he wants to come home, but knows he shouldn’t step foot in that house again.  Unlike the pharisee, he shows up knowing fully what he deserves.  His speech to his father is the equivalent to, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”

Instead of praying without a relationship and a false view of ourselves, we pray with the words that Jesus taught us, “Our Father.”

We pray not as prodigals or pharisees, but as sons and daughters.  Sons and daughters who have been adopted into the family the work of the Son.

For All & For You: An Overview of Objective & Subjective Justification

For All.  For you.

There are two senses in which we can talk about the work of Christ.  First, what Jesus did on the cross he did for all people.  Second, Jesus’ work has saved you by grace through faith.  Both of these are important when we discuss the love of Christ because it reminds us that the love of Jesus is both universal and personal.  The fancy, theological language that describes this is called objective and subjective justification.

For All.

Who did Jesus die for?

When Jesus died on the cross, he did not only die for believers.  He suffered and died for the sins of all people.  When John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world,”  the word “world" includes everybody.  When we talk about the work of Christ, in the widest sense we always refer to that which Christ did for all people.

It’s what Luke records when he writes, “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:10)

And the Apostle Paul,

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” - 2 Corinthians 5:14

All people.

In widest sense, we could say that the work of Christ is universal.  In more technical terms, this is sometimes referred to as objective justification.  The atoning work of Christ is for all people.  Jesus didn’t just die for some people, he died for all sinners.  And this truth is objective; it’s not dependent on the person that Jesus died for.

For You.

But while this work is for all people, not all people are saved?

This is why it is important that we understand the work of Christ in both the wide and narrow sense.

Why aren’t all people saved if the work of Christ was for all people?

Ephesians 2:8 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.”  Grace which was for all people is received personally through faith.  All people aren’t saved because not all people have faith.  In the narrowest sense, we can say what Christ did for all people he did for you.

This is what faith trusts.  Faith trusts that what Jesus did on the cross for all people, he did for you.  Faith makes the objective truth of the Gospel personal.  In more technical language, we like to call this subjective justification.  We receive the benefits of God’s gift personally through faith.  And it is only through faith that we receive the benefits of what Christ did for all people.

Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gospel

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  In the proclamation it was stated:

“All persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free."

In that moment, slaves all over the United States are free.  Men, women, and children leaving plantations for the first time as free families.  As the good news is declared to the country, slaves become free and leave their chains behind.

But imagine for a second, another slave.  This slave hears the good news and thinks, “It’s too good to be true; I can’t trust it.”

And then he continues to work on the plantation as a slave.

Does his failure to believe the message negate the general freedom that has been declared for all slaves?  Of course not! But his failure to believe does make this message of freedom ineffective for him personally.

*note: this illustration came from a classic book on Christian Doctrine

The Gospel, which has won freedom for all people, declares us free. It is by faith in that freedom that has been won universally that applies it personally.  Faith, which comes from the Spirit and trusts in the work of the Son, makes the universal love of the Father personal.

Failure to see the universal love of God falsely believes that Jesus only died for the elect.  It believes that God loves some but not others.  And failure to see personal justification falsely believes that all are saved regardless of their faith and/or by their own works.  It emasculates the Gospel as it eliminates the need for Christ in believing that grace works apart from faith.

It’s for all.  And it’s for you.

It’s universal.  But it’s also personal.

God Wears a Mask

In the daily living of life, sometimes it is difficult to see God at work.  We go about our morning routine, drive into work, go about our business, have dinner with the family, and put the kids to bed.  And sometimes in the ordinary living, God’s work seems absent.

But the problem is not whether or not God is actually present.  The problem is our failure to realize it.

Like Jacob once we notice God’s activity, we will respond, “Surely the Lord was in this place and I was not aware of it.”

When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, he taught them several petitions that many of us pray to this very day.  We’ll pray things like “Give us this day our daily bread” or “Deliver us from evil.”  And God answers those prayers for us daily.  But the way he does that is by doing his work while hidden in the work of ordinary people doing their ordinary jobs.  God gives daily bread, and he does it through farmers and grocers and pizza makers.  God protects us from evil through police officers and other public services.

We regularly pray for God’s healing, but often fail to notice that God is at work quietly healing when he is hidden in the work of doctors and surgeons and pharmacists.

Martin Luther described this way of working as the “mask of God.”

All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government-to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things. - Martin Luther

Like an actor in a play, the actual person doing the work is hidden behind the mask at all times.  The actor is doing the work, but what the audience sees and experiences is the character playing their role.  To think of God as wearing a mask simply means that God is hidden in the work he does in the world.  And the mask that he wears when doing his work is His people.  God wears the mask of the police officer when protecting, the artist when entertaining, the parent when changing diapers, the blue jean designer when sewing a pair of jeans, and the barista when providing the morning shot of expresso.

Our work is a place where God does his work.  As we serve and love our neighbors, God is hidden doing his work and loving the people around us.

18 Quotes on Vocation

The doctrine of vocation is one of my favorite doctrines and one that I would suggest is often overlooked when it comes to significant theological concepts.  While justification was certainly the central rallying point of the reformation, the doctrine of vocation was one that came with it.  While justification referred to the vertical relationship between man and God, vocation referred to man’s relationship with the world around him.

Because I love the doctrine of vocation, I am often reading and writing about it and have over time acquired a list of quotes that I think are significant to consider when talking about God’s calling.

18 Quotes on Vocation

1. “The maid who sweeps here kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays – not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors.  The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” - attributed to Martin Luther

2. "To pour beer for the glory of God is pretty simple: offer a smile and be friendly to whoever saunters up to the bar, give suggestions for a good draught, and when you pour tilt the glass at 45°, make sure the beer isn’t pouring too deep in the glass, bring the pint upright for the final pour and make sure the head isn’t more than an inch-deep. If you overflow, wipe the sides down and flash a smile as you slide the drink across to the customer. Say, “Cheers.” Take a swig of your own brew. Repeat." - Ken Chitwood

3.“The church’s approach to intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours and to come to church on Sundays.  What the church should be telling him is this:  That the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.” - Dorothy L Sayers

4. "What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels…God with all his angels and creatures is smiling - not because the father (or mother) is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.” - Martin Luther

5. “A woman told me about getting involved in a Bible study that demanded strict commitment to the study of God’s Word.  ‘You should make the Bible your number one priority,’ she was told.  That meant getting up early and the very first thing in the morning doing Bible reading and having a quiet time with the Lord.  She did this, but to her consternation every morning as she would start to read her Bible, the baby would wake up.  She found herself resenting the interruption.  Here she was, trying to spend time with God, and the baby would start fussing, demanding to be fed and distracting her attention away from spiritual things.  After a while, though, she came to understand the doctrine of vocation.  Taking care of her baby was what God, at that moment, was calling her to do.  Being a mother and loving and serving her child was her vocation, her divine calling from the Lord.  She could read the Bible later.  She did not have to feel guilty that she was neglecting spiritual things; taking care of her baby is a spiritual thing!” - Gene Veith, God at Work

6. “God doesn’t need our good works, but our neighbor does.” - Gustaf Wingren

7. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” — Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC

8. “Everyone will be forgotten, nothing we do will make any difference, and all good endeavours, even the best, will come to naught.  Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavour, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God's calling, can matter forever.”  - Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor

9. "When we reduce the notion of “calling” to work inside the church, we fail to equip our people to apply their Christian faith to everything they do, everywhere they are." -Tullian Tchividjian

10. "If you find yourself in a work by which you accomplish something good for God, or the holy, or yourself, but not for your neighbor alone, then you should know that that work is not a good work. For each one ought to live, speak, act, hear, suffer, and die in love and service for another, even for one's enemies, a husband for his wife and children, a wife for her husband, children for their parents, servants for their masters, masters for their servants, rulers for their subjects and subjects for their rulers, so that one's hand, mouth, eye, foot, heart and desire is for others; these are Christian works, good in nature." - Martin Luther, Adventspostille 1522

11. "God himself will milk the cows through him whose vocation that is." - Martin Luther

12. "When I go into a restaurant, the waitress who brings me my meal, the cook in the back who prepared it, the delivery men, the wholesalers, the workers in the food-processing factories, the butchers, the farmers, the ranchers, and everyone else in the economic food chain are all being used by God to “give me this day my daily bread.”" - Gene Veith

13. "All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government-to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things." - Martin Luther

14. "In the long term I think being a preacher, missionary, or leading a Bible study group in many ways is easier. There is a certain spiritual glamour in doing it, and what we should be doing each day is easier to discern more black and white, not so gray. It is often hard to get Christians to see that God is willing not just to use men and women in ministry, but in law, in medicine, in business, in the arts. This is the great shortfall today.” - Dick Lucas

15. "You have worth apart from your work and that frees you to work for all that it is worth." - Matt Popovits

16. "Work is not primarily a thing one does to live but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God."—Dorothy Sayers

17. "The book of Genesis  leaves us with a striking truth-work was part of paradise." - Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor

18. "God is busy about his work in the midst of your work whether you realize it or not.  The laundry, the spreadsheets, the phone calls, and the cups of coffee are all deeply spiritual because God is at work in the world. He is serving your family, your coworkers, and your community through the work you do.  God is at work providing “daily bread” through the work that you do, no matter what that work is.” - my guest post at Liberate.org

Do you have any other favorites on the topic of vocation?  What are they?

Addiction: Leaving The Vomit Behind

Have you ever wondered what causes a dog to return to its own vomit?  It’s quite disturbing.  What in the world would make any creature return to the very thing that moments early made them sick to their stomach. In Proverbs 26:11 it says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.”

As humans, we often act just like the dogs, returning to the very things that make us sick.  And this isn’t just reserved for a few of us who deal with addiction.  We all deal with addiction.  If we are honest, we will all find sins that we habitually return to that over time seem to own us.

Today, I’m excited to announce the launch of a new eBook.  I’ve spent the past couple months editing, designing, and putting together: Addiction: Leave Your Vomit Behind so I could give it away on the blog for free.  This is the second eBook I’ve made, the first one has nearly hit the 1,000 download mark!

Update: This eBook is no longer available for free but can be found on Amazon for the low price of $2.99. 

Here’s what some readers have been saying about the book so far:

"Love this book on a topic that we don't know enough about in the Church today. The subject matter connects through Scripture and effectiveness. This would be a great help to any ministry."-Paul Spurlin, AdventuresInMinistry.com

"This concise, powerful book pounds home the fact that addicts of all kinds are imprisoned as slaves with our only hope being a Divine Rescuer. An incredible, practical treatise on how true freedom can be found!" - Nobel Macaden

"This book is a powerful example for the follower of Christ, that addiction does not have the last word. There is freedom and hope to be had at the foot of the Cross. Where there was addiction, guilt, and shame, there is now worship of God, love, and forgiveness. This is a must-read for every single follower of Christ." - Ben Marshall, Director of Youth and College at Calvary Baptist Church, Holland, MI

How to get your copy

Addiction: Leave Your Vomit Behind is available on Kindle version of the book available if you prefer that format for only $2.99.

Earning the Right to Be Heard

“Preach the Gospel; use words if necessary.”  - attributed to St. Francis of Assissi

This well-intentioned phrase gets used all the time. And it’s not exactly accurate.  Because how else do you preach the Gospel?  Words are always necessary.  You can speak the words.  You can write the words.  You can sign the words.  You can film the words. But words are always necessary in the preaching of the Gospel.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” - Romans 10:14-15

You have an incredible calling as a Christian - to bring the good news to all people.  Bring the Good News to your homes, your neighborhoods, your communities, your schools, and your workplaces.  As a Christian it is your job to bring the Gospel to those who need to hear the message of the Gospel. Your job is to be a missionary translating the Gospel into the language of the people in your worlds.

But what do you do when no one’s listening? 

Preach the Gospel.  Use words.  But you don’t want to be that lone guy on a  street corner shouting and hoping people “turn or burn.”  You don’t want to be a jerk that is seen as another “one of those Christians” who are hateful and don’t care about me.

We assume that if we can just get the idea across, then it will be up to the person to respond, whether we do it correctly or not. Maybe we also think that in order to get God’s approving glance, it’s our duty to share “truth,” even if our modus operandi is “Obnoxious for Jesus . . . and loving it.” - Hugh Halter, the Tangible Kingdom

We are called to preach the Gospel, and this always requires words.  But in order to preach the Gospel, we also have to earn the right to be heard.

How do we earn the right to be heard?

Earning the right to be heard might seem complicated, but it’s really not complicated.  Jesus sums up the entire Law in the commands to “Love God” and “Love others.”  In loving others, we are earning the right to be heard.  As we love our neighbors - whether that be in our own homes, our schools, or our neighborhoods - we are making relational connections that provide opportunities to share the Gospel.

Can the Gospel be shared and effective apart from relationship?  Absolutely!  But this isn’t the primary way we should be operating if we are trying to live as missionaries in our cities.  Missionaries get to know their city by being present in the city and loving those in the city, not by flying in and dropping off some tracts.

Be present.

Richard Ford said, “When people realize they’re being listened to, they tell you things.”  This is something that only happens in the context of relationships.  When we are present in people’s lives and listen to their stories, we also start to learn about them.  We learn their passions, their fears, their pains, their suffering, and their joy.

When Lazarus dies, we see this in Jesus.  He weeps.  He sits their with the family and cries.  His presence communicates something.  He actually cares.

“There is also a time to simply become part of the very fabric of a community and to engage in the humanity of it all. Furthermore, the idea of presence highlights the role of relationships in mission. If relationship is the key means in the transfer of the gospel, then it simply means we are going to have to be directly present to the people in our circle...one of the profound implications of our presence as representatives of Jesus is that Jesus actually likes to hang out with the people we hang out with. They get the implied message that God actually likes them.” - Alan Hirsch, Forgotten Ways

Do you like the people you want to reach?  Because if you want to reach them with the Gospel, you need to be present in their lives.

Love.

If you are being present in the lives of people you want to hear the Gospel, it’s also important that we love, period. This is often difficult because when we have in mind the goal of “preaching the Gospel,” this also becomes the focus of our relationships.  But in order to earn the right to be heard, we must love without an agenda.  We should absolutely have a desire to share the Gospel in this relationship; that’s important and will naturally flow out of our love for that person.

But it must also be considered, will I still be friends with this person if they don’t get "saved"?

John writes, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

When Christ loves, he loves with no strings attached.  It’s not I’ll love you if you come to this bible study.  It’s not I’ll love you if you agree with this statement.  It’s not I’ll love you if you agree with my political views.  It’s I love you, period.  And then that love is demonstrated in suffering and death.

And John calls us to love like Jesus loved.  This means we love even if they never come to church with us.  This means we love even if they continually bash the church and our beliefs.  This means we love even if everything in you thinks they don’t deserve it.

And what does this look like.  I believe someone once wrote, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”

Two Kinds of Righteousness

2KR.jpeg

Faith or good works?

In order to really answer the question, you have to consider what you are asking.  Are you asking which is necessary?  In that case, the answer is both.

Are you asking which is necessary in order to be considered right with God?  In that case, the answer is faith.  You are made righteous solely by faith in the finished work of Christ.

But what if you are considering what makes you right with your neighbor?

Are you righteous in the eyes of your neighbor based on your faith in Jesus?  Or does righteousness in your relationships with others depend on the work that you do?  In your relationships with friends, family, and coworkers, righteousness might be considered as something that depends on our work.

Throughout the scriptures we can see a distinction in two kinds of righteousness.  There is a righteousness that comes solely from the work of Christ.  It describes our standing before God.  And there is a righteousness that comes in our relationship with our neighbor.

The righteousness we have before God is completely passive.  It’s not our doing, it’s all God.  And the righteousness we have before our neighbor is active.  It relies on our own work.

"This is our theology, by which we teach a precise distinction between these two kinds of righteousness, the active and the passive.” - Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians

And teacher of mine said it this way:

"What is meant by two kinds of human righteousness?…One dimension involves our life with God, especially in the matters of death and salvation. The other dimension involves our life with God's creatures and our activity in this world.In the former we receive righteousness before God through faithon account of Christ. In the latter, we achieve righteousness in the eyes of the world by works when we carry out our God-given responsibilities.” - Charles Arand, Lutheran Quarterly

Passive Righteousness.

When it comes to the righteousness we have before God, it rests solely on the work of Christ.  Jesus declared, “It is finished.” Martin Luther described us as “beggars.”  We are completely passive in our relationship with God, powerless to do what only God can do.

Passive righteousness is the vertical relationship between God and man.  God does the work.  The only contribution that man brings into this equation is sin.  This is a righteousness that is alien; it is completely outside of ourselves.

This alien righteousness, instilled in us without our works by grace alone—while the Father, to be sure, inwardly draws us to Christ—is set opposite original sin, likewise alien, which we acquire without our works by birth alone.  Christ daily drives out the old Adam more and more in accordance with the extent to which faith and knowledge of Christ grow.  - Martin Luther

This is why Romans describes man by saying, “No one is righteous - not even one.”

Before God, no man by his own actions is made righteous.  This is why Wingren described Luther’s words when he said, “God doesn’t need our good works.”  Because our righteousness in the vertical realm does not come from anything we do, but only from God’s action toward man.

Active Righteousness.

When it was said that God doesn’t need our good works, he continued by saying, "but our neighbor does."

In our horizontal relationships, our righteousness is not passive, it is active.  We not only have relationship with our creator (passive), but we also have relationships with our neighbors.  In our relationships with the world around us, God calls us to be active serving the world around us.

Active righteousness is what we do in our communities, our neighborhoods, our families, and our jobs.  Active righteousness is where we fulfill our God-given vocations.

The passive righteousness we have freely through faith; active righteousness requires that we serve those around us in the places that God places us.

Why this distinction matters?

A proper understanding of these two kinds of righteousness is important because we must not confuse the two.

If we confuse the two and think that active righteousness establishes our relationship with God, we will trust in ourselves for salvation.  Instead of relying solely on God in the vertical relationship, we will find ourselves relying on our own ability to follow the commandments or serve our neighbors.

If we confuse the two and think that passive righteousness carries over from our vertical relationship into our horizontal relationships, we will end up ignoring the needs of our neighbors.  When we ignore active righteousness, we ignore our callings to our family, to our communities, and in our careers.

Instead we must see these two kind of righteousness clearly.  In our relationship with God, we are recipients.  We, like beggars, receive the gifts that only God can give.  And in relationship with the world, we actively seek to do good and serve our neighbors.  And these two kinds of righteousness, while distinct, are also deeply connected.

Our passive righteousness inspires our active righteousness.  Because we are free from having to earn our salvation, we are also free to do good for our neighbors.  This is why Martin Luther said, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”  Good works will follow.  The righteousness that comes passively through faith always flows out into an active righteousness that loves the neighbor.

Some other great resources on this topic:

• Lutheran Quarterly Article by Charles Arand
• Just and Sinner: What are the two kinds of righteousness? 
• Concordia Theology: FAQ on Luther’s Two Kinds of Righteousness