Tuesday, August 5, 2008

No Heavenly Good!

This is a journal entry of mine from reading Philippians 3:19. The commentary is on Phil. 3:19d. Philippians 3:19-20 says, “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. . .”

“we are so earthly minded we are no heavenly good! Notice: Scripture never warns of being ‘too’ heavenly minded, for it is not the tendency of man to do so, but rather it is the tendency of man to set his mind (heart) on earthly things.

But, it is those who are most heavenly minded who are the most good for the world. Think of Abraham who lived in the land of promise, as though he were in a foreign land, because he was looking for a heavenly city, and was it not John, the apostle of love, who was given visions of things to come from heavens point of view, or the Apostle Paul, who set his mind on the heavenly mysteries and sought to reveal those things to the saints, was it not also Paul who was caught up to the third heaven, and finally look at our LORD Jesus Christ whose mind was only heavenly, and did only the will of His Father.

Did not the LORD Jesus accomplish all good things for all in His life, which was set only on the heavenly. I would submit to you that the saying, ‘he is so heavenly minded, that he is no heavenly good’ is what the Devil has whispered in our ears when we are walking in the flesh, and so, we accept it.

However, in a sense this statement is true. The earthly minded have never accepted the heavenly things. Look at: Cain, or Esau, or stiff-necked Israel to the heavenly oracles of God from the prophets, or finally the Pharisees. For it would seem that the most heavenly minded man (Jesus) was no earthly good to them. Perhaps the problem is not the heavenly minded, but rather, the earthly good.

And humbly I must accept, this is only a problem the Holy Spirit can solve and no man! This is what the Apostle Paul meant in I Corinthians 2:6-16″

which says,
“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (italics added for emphasis)

Monday, August 4, 2008

"Legalism or Liberalism that is the question. . ." (Part 3)

Due to the “Introduction” blog for this third part we will just dive right in. So first let us examine the question asked from part 1,

“(H)ow would you counsel the person who says, ‘I am not burdened by the law…but by the battle that my sin nature fights against the law. I love the love, but I hate the sin which is in me…essentially, breaking the law.’ I think about this sometimes and [my spouse] and I have discussed it at length as well. Being that we are new creatures with a new heart…why does it seem so difficult at times to keep the law. And I don’t mean burdensome, but truly difficult b/c as you’ve pointed out even when we ‘keep the law’ outwardly, sometimes our heart’s motives are wicked (as Jesus showed in the Pharisees). This is the burden for me at least…my own wicked heart. It’s the constant examination of motives, having sorrow over sin, and of course (first and foremost) REFLECTING on what Christ has done for us which brings peace.”

I believe the question here is, “Why do we still have this struggle? How are Christians to properly deal with the internal and external struggle to do what is right? How may I find victory and counsel others in this venue?”

Part 1 of the question

Let’s first examine “Why do we still have this struggle?” The question is a good one. “If I am in the New Covenant and therefore have a “new heart” that loves and knows God, why do I still struggle with sin and often fail?” Biblically speaking, if the heart is the center of man and from his heart flow all things, how can sin still come from a man whose heart is good? Shouldn’t only good flow from a man that possesses a good heart?

Yes and No. I will deal with the “yes” first and then with the “no”.

Jesus spoke that good trees only produce good fruit. And that bad trees can only produce bad fruit. When scripture speaks concerning categories of man, more often than not it speaks of only two types. For example: Those who hear and those who don’t hear, those who see and those who don’t see, those who believe and those who don’t believe, those who love and those who hate, those who produce good fruit and those who produce bad fruit, those who are in the light and those who are in the darkness, those who are alive and those who are dead, etc. (you get the point). What I mean to say is that the Bible does not leave a third category very often. So you are either saved or you are not. In this sense, yes, only good flows from a good heart!

Throughout Paul’s epistles he is having to rebuke genuine believers for sinning though they are regenerate and have new hearts! Why is this? Paul states that the reason a Christian does sin is not because he wants to, but rather, because while Christians remain here on the earth they are still in bodies that are corrupt and are being more and more corrupt as time goes on (II Cor. 5:2; Eph. 4:22). This is commonly called “indwelling sin.”

In other words, the reason for the struggle is due to your flesh waging war against you (or your new heart). However, scripture speaks of the flesh that fights against the believer so distinctly that it is almost seen as no longer part of the believer’s personhood.( I Peter 2:11; Romans 7:20). Think of this indwelling sin as an active evil that labors to keep the eyes of your heart off of the solution to your problem, and therefore brings forth death.

The closest example I can think of for this “indwelling sin” might be cancer. The person’s desire is to live a full life, but there is an active evil disease that is seeking and laboring without rest to produce death continually in the cancer patient, to the point of ultimate death!

Part 2 of the question

“How are Christians to properly deal with the internal and external struggle to do what is right?”

Christians are to deal with this time of struggle with unexplainable hope and joy. This is what is commanded of us! Because death has been destroyed and our victory is sure, we are to live in such a way with such hope and joy that the world will be attracted to us (I Peter 1:13, 3:15) . Do not confuse this with the world being attracted to our source of hope and joy. Rather they will be attracted to the simple and clear display of the Christians’ hope and joy in the midst of this suffering life. For when told that our source of joy and hope is in “a hated, despised, crucified Messiah, who has risen and is now King over all things including them” the world’s only response can be HATRED apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:1-2; John 3; I Cor. 2:6-16).

But nevertheless this is what we are to do in the midst of this waiting period. Take note as well that this is the only period in the Christian’s life where he/she can hope. For we are told in Romans 8:24-25 that when our Hope is met it is no longer hope for it will have come!

An Example

In the time of Jesus it was a common event for a king, conquering new lands, to send out town-criers to proclaim the news to all the citizens and people. These town-criers were not predicting what was going to happen but rather proclaiming the facts, declarative statements to inform the people of what had happened. They would go about the land and herald the good news that there was a new king of the land. Now, though the King had won the war, it would take time to remove all the rebels and establish the fullness of the extension of that king’s kingdom. But the establishing and reality of this new kingdom was as good as a done deal. Imagine yourself a steward of that king (that had won), but who was currently imprisoned in the opposing armies camp. What hope and joy you will have even in the prison camp when you get word of the good news through the heralding of the town-crier. Those who are on the outside of the prison will be hopeless and joyless while appearing free while you will be full of joy and hope though you appear to be in prison! This is like the sure hope and joy we should have to the world.

Part 3 of the question

But you may be asking, “how can I find victory in this struggle, and how should I counsel others?” Do you remember how I stated that our “indwelling sin” is an “active evil that labors to keep the eyes of your heart off of the solution to your problem”? The victory we are to find is linked to the very thing our flesh strives to keep our eyes off of!

Examine II Corinthians 3:18. It states that we are sanctified as we are “beholding the glory of the LORD” In the context Paul is attempting to argue that he is a minster of a greater covenant than that even of Moses (I encourage you to read II Cor. 3-7:1 sometime after you finish this post)! So throughout the chapters Paul compares the two covenants and how the power and glory of the new surpasses that of the old so much that there is no longer any glory in the old.

The New Covenant brings in not just a new standard for people and God to relate, but rather, with the establishing of a New Covenant comes a whole new creation (i.e. new heavens and heaven, New Earth, new heart, new bodies, new temple, new law, new priesthood, new people, NEW EVERYTHING!). This was God’s intention from the very beginning and He sought the fulfillment of it, the moment Adam (the head of all creation) sinned and so all of creation fell with him. Thus, the need for a covenant that would restore all things!

But how was this covenant fulfilled? In JESUS! But when was this covenant fulfilled? At the cross! So the GOSPEL is the most clear revelation of the glory of God! By reflecting, studying, and savoring the gospel (which is the glory of Jesus Christ, who is God), we are sanctified (II Corinthians 3:18; 4:3-4)! In other words, when we strive to see Jesus in all His splendor (which is revealed in the gospel), and believe the truths revealed therein, we are victorious over our sin and will see a gradual growth into the image of God’s beloved Son! John Piper puts it this way, “God is the gospel!”

What I am saying is, the Bible declares that we become most like that which we set our eyes most upon! For examples of this look to Isaiah and the Psalms where God tells Israel that they are blind and deaf because they have worshiped (set their eyes on) false gods who cannot see nor hear! But when we set our eyes upon the “finished” work of Christ and “rest” in Him, it is there that we find our hope and our joy. It will be there that we find our strength and our peace. It is there that we discover our victory and our life. And it is there that we find our salvation!

John, the apostle of love put it like this, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (I John 3:2-3, bold italic was added for emphasis)

I remember my wife Ashley-Nicole relaying to me this account. “When I was a little girl I used to admire how my dad could walk so fast! So I would fix my eyes hard upon his steps and watch closely where his feet were stepping. As I intently looked at where my daddy had stepped I found that the natural inclination for me was to step where his feet had been stepping. And so, I learned to walk like my dad by fixing my eyes on him.”

This is what we are to do! Fix our eyes on Jesus! Treasure and admire the way Jesus walked! And as we behold the glory of Jesus, we will be transformed from one degree to the next. The end is sure for all those in Christ Jesus, for it depends solely on the accomplished work of Christ! And because He has fulfilled the law and lives, we know we have fulfilled the law and live in Him. He is the firstfruits and our victory is as sure as His resurrection. We may appear to be enslaved to the enemy but the true reality is we are free and the enemy is joyless and hopeless while we await sure victory!

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” -Paul in I Corinthians 15:58

An Introduction to "Legalism or Liberalism that is the question. . . " Part 3

I am now writing the third part to a blog that at its beginning was only intended to be solo. But as stated earlier, two very important questions were asked concerning the first blog. One of those questions was answered in part 2. It is now my objective in answering that second question. Before going any further I would caution the reader that if he/she has not read the first two entries this third will not be as helpful as it would, should the reader read the part 1 and 2 first.

At the on sight of working this blog I really wanted to title this “Living in realization of the reality of who we are in Christ for the victory accomplished by Him” However, there were two problems with this: first, this title is too reminiscent of the puritans (which really isn’t a bad thing) and second, most who have been following in this series would not recognize this title as being part 3 of the series at hand. That being said, I did want to title this blog that because it will be the main theme of the upcoming blog.

One of the objectives I set out in answering this question was reading through the N.T. and take notes on passages dealing with this question in mind. (For those of you in Bible school, I don’t think I was committing the sin of Isogesis, but rather seeing if the scriptures addressed this topic [a.k.a. Systematic Theology]) So I will not be dealing with one passage , but rather a plethora. This being the case I will not be putting the scripture passages in here but rather reference them in hope that you will have your Bible with you when reading this. Which I really encourage you to have one while reading this blog entry. However, when I do quote a passage I will be quoting from the [inspired ;-) ] ESV.

Before I begin I want the reader to know that my goal is to Glorify God by displaying the glory of the Son Jesus Christ. In doing this I hope to serve you (the reader). This being said, their are better articles and books written on this topic. So I would like to refer the readers to a book that I have found most helpful! You can find the book here. Now let us begin to answer this important question concerning the topic being discussed here.