Did He Die for This?

In my last blog post I mentioned the delight of time away on a retreat for some rest and restoration. The place in which I took the retreat is actually the home for a community of people whom I got to meet whilst on the trip. I shared meals with some precious old men and women who were in the latter years of a life committed to serving the Lord in various capacities. Before I share some reflective concerns from being within this community for a time I want to reiterate what precious individuals these people were - their kindness and openness to me was richly warming. But there were two things that concerned me, upon reflection, with their ideology and general ethos.

Firstly, there was a total embracing of inter-faith relations that seemed in its outworking to form a Christian faith that had lost its fundamental identity. There is absolutely nothing wrong with relating to people of other faiths - in fact in postmodern Europe there is almost not the possibility of a working life without it. The idea of 'being missional' in its very essence demands that it is people of all race, religion etc. with whom we are to form authentic relationship. This inter-faith relation that received such significance in this community appeared something else all together. The upshot of it all, as it appeared to me at least, was a conclusion that Christ's sole purpose was to bring peace, any element of vicarious sacrifice in order to turn away the righteous wrath of God seemed necessarily absent or at the very least inconsequential. This concerns me. The bible does not merely intimate but portrays overtly that we are enemies of God at a 'DNA' level. The peace we need is - yes with each other - but primarily and essentially with the God of heaven. If your faith is one that denies that God the Father of Jesus Christ, his eternally begotten, co-divine, exact radiant image, is God then the peace that ultimately must be sought is with Him; and that is ONLY through FAITH in the gospel of Jesus Christ and submission to His lordship.

My second concern, which may simply be symptomatic of the first, but not necessarily so, was that the result of the transformative work of the Holy Spirit was niceness. The conversation that surrounded me at meal times and at other moments smacked of those who perhaps had settled for an understanding that "Jesus died to make us nice;" not radical, not zealous, certainly not 'non-pc' or offensive, but "nice." May I place it on record now that Christ did not endure all that he endured to make us nice - we can make ourselves nice! Christ died to transform our very nature and to make us loving but loving and nice are not synonymous, be absolutely certain you understand that. I am exceedingly offensive to a secular-humanist who believes he is God and the centre of the universe when I tell Him he is not and that He desperately needs to encounter the real God and become nothing in order to become something. Just concerns really but things that simply do not match up to biblically-rooted gospel truth.

Simon

Isaiah 53: 10

In Isaiah 53: 10 we are confronted with these somewhat alarming words

"

But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief..."

The reference is obviously to Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross (although all the 'clever' people seek to disagree in our age of superior intelligence). Today in my reading I saw a wonderful 5 point summary of why God the Father was 'pleased' in this work of 'agreement/consensus/willful participation' in the crucifixion of Christ:

1) That He might execute His pleasant decrees
2) That He might fulfill His pleasant promises
3) That He might redeem the chosen objects of His love
4) That He might promote His Son to the highest honours
5) That He might exalt His own glory to the uttermost.

Hmmm, breathe that in.

Simon

The Cross of Christ in daily life

Been drawn back into reading 'True Spirituality' by Schaeffer as it is so very rich. He has spoken to me once again this afternoon.

So many of us as modern Christians are drawn into an understanding of our journey of following Jesus as STARTING with a 'death to self' and being made new in Christ. We tend to leave it there though. In one sense we think that may be the last time we have to face that horrific Cross of Jesus Christ, that is so far from the truth, and here is a brief thought from Mr. Schaeffer to remind us of that

"I am to face the cross of Christ in every part of life and with my whole man. The cross of Christ is to be a reality to me not only once for all at my conversion, but all through my life as a Christian."

Pick it up daily, die to self and live the Christ life!

Simon

Love & Justice

As I had mentioned in an earlier Blog, this is the pivotal weekend in the history of the Christian faith, and this week I am preaching on the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Here is another quote from some materials I am reading to prepare. (Please note I would not have as high a view of the free will of man as this author)

"Love does not override either the Holiness of God or the freewill of men. people sometimes ask how a loving God can send even Adolf Hitler to hell. The love of God does not send anyone to hell. The love of God, with arms extended a cross, bars the way to hell. But if that love is ignored, rejected and finally refused, there comes a time when love can only weep while man pushes past into the self-chosen alienation which Christ went to the cross to avert. God sends nobody to hell. But it takes two to make a friendship. If man firmly and repeatedly refuses the proffered hand of God, God will honour and ratify that man's decision to live to himself and die by himself. God respects our free will even in the hell of our own choosing."

Love & Justice, one does not overwhelm the other in some giant wrestling bout so there is a 'you win' tap out. They must, and always will, work in unison in the workings of our Holy King.

SImon

Meaningless without Personal Response

Any idea of what was achieved at the cross, how it was done or why it was done is meaningless without a personal response. This is a point made by Michael Green in his book The Empty Cross of Jesus.

Here was William Barclay's response

"One thing I know-- that because of Jesus Christ and because of what He is and did and does, my whole relationship with God is changed. Because of Jesus Christ I know that God is my father and friend. Daily and hourly I experience the fact that I can enter into His presence with confidence and with boldness. He is no longer my enemy; He is no longer even my judge. There is no longer an unbridgeable gulf between Him and me. I am more at home with Him than with any human being in the world. And all this is because of Jesus Christ, and it could not possibly have happened without Him."

(Crucified and Crowned).

What's your response?

Simon

New testament Unity on the Cross

This week in the Christian Calendar celebrates the central event of our faith. Basically, if you do not get the Cross you do not get Christianity. With that in mind, our church is doing a series called '72' The Three Days that Changed the World. We will focus on the crucifixion of Christ this week. O the glorious death of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.

Here are some thoughts from an author I am reading both for help in preparation but also for my own soul (Thanks to Lorraine, you know who you are, for buying this one for me). It is called The Empty Cross of Jesus by Michael Green. These insights are regarding the unified testimony of the New testament Authors on the cross of Jesus.

"[It is plain from a] survey of what the New testament writers have to say about the significance of Calvary, that it is a many-splendoured thing. There is a remarkable harmony in the central thesis, and remarkable diversity in the ways that the different writers look at the cross. Here we see supremely the love of God for sinful men and women who are lost, alienated from Him by sin, and are in a plight from which they could never extricate themselves. Salvation depends on what God has done for us in the Christ who is both human and divine. He silenced sin's accusing voice. He removed sin's guilt. He broke sin's power. He made satisfaction where we could not. He reversed Adam's fall. He defeated Satan. He rose as conqueror over the Last Enemy. He makes us partners of His life. He calls us to a share in this cross as well as in His triumph. And He teaches us that all eternity will be too short to understand the profundity of the salvation wrought by the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Saviour of the world."

Take that in, ruminate upon it and gaze in wonder at the mysterious truth of God dying for man!

Simon

Atonement Thoughts III

My ongoing reading through Paul Wells' Cross Words continues to enthuse and encourage me about the marvelous work of Christ on behalf of all creation but of course most particularly for those bought by His blood shed at calvary.

Today I share thoughts from a man called Peter Lewis from a book entitled The Glory of Christ. They relate to the role of Christ as a King in his work of mediation

"The kingship of Christ is of a kind that could never be rightly claimed or really exercised except by one who was both God and man, divine and human. It stretches through the entire cosmos and it reaches into the hearts and minds of men. Where God alone rules there Christ the Lord is king. In perfect knowledge of the thoughts and hearts, the feelings and fears of millions of souls, Christ presides over his church, knowing every one of his subjects as only God could do, but knowing them too as only a fellow human could do; that is, knowing them not only from within the divine omniscience [all knowing], but also from within the human condition."

May these words be an encouragement to you.
SLJ

Atonement Thoughts II

The orthodox, reformed view of the Atonement (Vicarious Penal Substitutionary Atonement) has faced much criticism in recent years (in fact for far longer than that). One accusation is that it puts across a God who is shockingly angry with His own Son which seems impossible as it pits God the Father against God the Son... this is Anti-trinitarian. Well Paul Wells puts sword to such an accusation with these words I read today.

"The mediator removes liability to penal judgment and guilt in the sense of condemnation leading to death. That Christ 'bore our sins' means He took on Himself their fatal consequences and died the death we ought to have died...

Surely God could never be angry with His own Son? That is wholly the case. God was never for an instant angry against the beloved Son. God was not at odds with Christ, He was at odds with sin. His anger was not pointed at the person of Christ like the anger of one person can be directed at another or at an object. In the particular function of mediator He accepted for others, Christ acted together with and for God and too the anger of God on Himself. Forgiveness is not wrung from a violent and a grudging God. Christ is the subject and the object of His own acts. By taking the anger of God against sin to Himself, and dying for it, He obtained forgiveness."

Such love Divine, O Saviour Mine

Simon