The Way God Works

Theology must speak holistically. The most essential truth about who God is must hold the universe together in a common thread without detached caveats, tangents, or exceptions. This is theology proper; it is the Truth and Word that God is a loving Father, the Truth and Word born in the person of Christ, the Beloved Son, the man who died on a cross assured of the Father's love for him by the Holy Spirit.

There is either infinite joy experienced by human beings who are in that man Jesus and experience love of the Father and Son, or infinite hell for those in the first Adam who live in resistance to the Spirit's assurance of the Father's love in Christ. Both heaven and hell relate either positively or negatively to the message of God the loving Father; this message defines them, for Christ is a fragrance of life to life and death to death. There is no human being who escapes the Word, for there is no world that is not created by the Word and Spirit.

Christian theology must explain everything as relating to the Father and Son who love each other by the Spirit. This is theology proper, namely, theology about who God is; and God is a Triune God of love. Life is beautiful because it was created by this Word. Life is ugly because of the denial of this Word by humanity. But the ugliness is only ugliness because it is not in conformity with the Father who loves his Son by the Spirit. A father who abuses his child is only ugly because the Father who loves his Son is beautiful. Furthermore, there will be a time when all things are summed up in Christ, who is this Word. At this time the wheat will be separated from the tares. And those who continually reject the Word will live away from the brilliance and beauty and love of the Word forever, while the redeemed will know fellowship of the Father and Son by the full assurance of the Spirit.

God is a God who loves and works and moves. Before the creation of the world, when there was only God in existence, he was neither alone nor stagnant and unmoved. Before the creation of the world, the Father and the Son loved each other in the Spirit. The love of God is agape. The Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. The Father loves the Son just because he loves the Son. This love is not selfish desire; it is not eros. God is agape love. This is the essential and fundamental truth of who he is.

There is no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friend. Therefore, the cross - the Gospel - is not just an arbitrary nice act that an unmoved holy God decided to do, but rather, the Gospel proceeds from the most essential truth of who God is.

The phrase "the way God works" is not so much a way of explaining or articulating by formula who God is and how he must work; the sense of the phrase "the way God works" is doxology. As we observe that God has worked and has defined himself as agape love, and has glorified the holiness of his love by the grace and mercy of the Son, we must respond in doxology, "the way that God works!" Or proclaim with Paul, ^"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

Introduction to Genesis and the Pentateuch

Introduction to the Pentateuch

The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible.

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

These have always been read as one book. We refer to it as the Pentateuch, but the Scriptures refer to it as the “Torah.” Torah means instruction or teaching and is probably derived from a verb that means “to point [in the right direction].”

Torah is the first section of the Hebrew Bible (see table below). The next sections (Nebiim and Kethubim) refer back to the Torah, starting in Joshua 1 when Joshua is commanded to Meditate on the Torah day and night. Similarly, Psalm 1 - which begins the third section of the Hebrew Bible - describes the righteous one of God who meditates on the Torah day and night.

Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

Torah (Teaching) --- Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy

Nebiim (Prophets) - - - Joshua Judges Samuel Kings Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Book of the Twelve

Kethubim (Writings) - - - Psalms Job Proverbs Ruth Song of Songs Ecclesiastes Lamentations Esther Daniel Ezra-Nehemiah Chronicles

I. Finding the big idea in the Torah.

What does it mean to follow Torah? Does it mean to keep the Mosaic law? Was Joshua supposed to follow all the rules of the Mosaic law in order to keep Torah? Did the man in Psalm 1 keep all the Mosaic law?

All of this is summed up in the question, “What is the teaching (Torah) teaching?”

In Genesis 6 there are instructions for building the ark. But clearly, Joshua and the righteous man of Psalm 1 did not follow these instructions. So what does it mean to follow the Torah?

It is helpful to notice a parallel between Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17. Psalm 1:1-2 is almost exactly the same as a Jeremiah 17:7-8. Psalm 1 describes the righteous man who meditates on Torah day and night. But Jeremiah 17:7 describes the man who “trusts in the LORD” in contrast to the cursed man “who trusts in man (v. 5)”

The Psalmist, drawing from Jeremiah 17, seems to believe that meditating on Torah is equivalent to trusting in Yahweh. This gives us a significant pointer as to the meaning and teaching of Torah. The Torah is ultimately teaching the importance of trusting in Yahweh.

Therefore, the big idea of the Pentateuch is very much similar to that of Romans or Galatians.

II. The eschatological mission of the Pentateuch

1) The seed

In Genesis 3, humanity embraces pride and destroys the image of God. The consequence is death. But Eve is promised a seed who will “bruise the head of the serpent (3:15).” In other words, the work of the serpent has brought about sin and death, but there will be a descendant from the woman who will put an end to the work of the serpent.

The Pentateuch is constantly searching for this seed. Story after story, genealogy after genealogy, is looking for this descendant. In the very next story, in Geneis 4, Eve has a child and exclaims, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD (4:1)." She seems to think that by her effort she has brought about the coming seed who will fix things. Similarly, when Lamech fathers Noah he says, “"Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands (5:28)." Clearly the text is looking for the coming seed. But while the descendants - one after another - show us a picture of salvation, each story ends somewhat disappointingly. Abel is killed by Cain, Noah gets drunk, Joseph is buried in a coffin in Egypt, etc.

This theme runs throughout the whole Pentateuch, and throughout the Hebrew Bible, which ends pointing us forward to the one who will rebuild the temple (2 Chronicles 36).

2) The coming prophet

Every section of the Hebrew Bible ends pointing us forward. The Pentateuch is no exception. In Deuteronomy 18 there is a prophet promised to come who is like Moses. Deuteronomy ends mentioning that “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face (Deut 34:10)”

Not only does the Pentateuch tell us that there is a prophet coming who is greater than Moses, but it shows us what prophecy is and what a prophet does. A prophet is one who speaks the words of Yahweh.

Perhaps most crucially, the creation account shows us that God, with his words, speaks creation into existence.

Next, the people are given the law through the reoccurring phrase, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the people of Israel, saying...” This is all for the sanctification of the people. They are made holy through the prophetic work of Moses.

God speaking through Moses is sanctifying his people, but the Pentateuch says there is another prophet coming greater than Moses who will bring this work of sanctification to completion.

3) Pointing to the Messiah

In Genesis 49, there is promised a coming king in the line of Judah, to whom the obedience of all the people will be.

All the pictures of priests, prophets, rulers, seed, is all pointing forward to the Messiah in the Pentateuch.

The Torah, is therefore teaching us to have faith in God, but it is specifically showing us to have faith in the Messiah.

Jesus, in Luke 24:44 shows his disciples “everything written about him in the law (Torah), the prophets (Neviim), and the Psalms (kethuvim)”

He is saying, “I am the guy that this is all written about.”

This makes the Torah very precisely a book about faith in Jesus Messiah, just like Galatians or Romans. All the imagery of the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priests, is all pointing us toward Christ. This is the faith that the Torah is teaching.

What is the teaching teaching?

It is teaching us faith in Christ.

Six Helpful Bible Study Bullet Points

Here are six points that are helpful to keep in mind when studying Scripture. We looked at these last Saturday in small group.

1) Pursue understanding Scripture for the sake of applying it to your life. According to James 1, if we do not seek to live out Scripture when we study it, we are like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and does nothing to straighten up his appearance. In other words, it is pointless to seek understanding in Scriptures without seeking to live them out.

Kierkegaard says we can seek understanding in Scriptures precisely to avoid applying them; it is like concentrating on a mirror to avoid seeing yourself; look yourself in the eye when you read the Bible. We can argue about the meaning of Scriptures and theology precisely to avoid applying them to our lives. We must constantly study for the sake of immediate application.

2) The Bible is like a mosaic which makes up a picture of Christ. The Scripture is clear that the message it contains is Christ (John 5:39, Luke 24:44). Irenaeus, a fourth century church father, accused gnostic heretics of treating the Bible like a mosaic but rearranging the pieces to make a picture of a fox rather than a king. We must always seek the message and face of Christ in Scriptures. Every genealogy, poem, law, psalm, prophecy, or vision all comes together to point to Christ. How is each part making up the whole picture of Christ?

3) Look for the big idea of the book or section that you are studying. We are prone to take verses out of context to fit our own ideologies, lifestyles, opinions, etc. It is easy to do this when we treat individual verses apart from their context. But the Bible is not an arbitrary collection of pithy sayings. The biblical authors put together whole books with one big idea in mind. For instance, the book of James has several themes that run through it such as partiality, speech, riches, judgment, law, etc. But all these themes center around the concept of faith, security, and identity in God. When we read any given passage of a book or section of Scripture we must ask, "What is the author's big idea?" This saves us from our tendency to "use" the Biblical text for our own opinions rather than to speak into our lives.

The "hermeneutical spiral" is helpful to remember when considering the big idea of a a book. When we read the Bible we have presuppositions and ideas about who God is and therefore we have assumptions about what the Bible says. We take these presuppositions into the text. This will effect the way we read and understand the text. But at the same time, the more we engage with the text the more these presuppositions about God and the Bible are challenged and shaped. Therefore, the next time we approach the text we will have a better understanding of who God is and what the text says, and this allows us to engage the text more accurately the next time we read, which will give us an even MORE accurate understanding of the text, and so on and so forth. This is the process of spiraling in to the true meaning and big idea of the text.

4) The Bible is a book. Yes, it is 66 books with over 40 authors spanning centuries, languages, literary genres, etc. But it all comes together in one coherent theme and one message that is Christ. Furthermore, there is a sequence to the story. The biblical authors build off of one another.

The Pentateuch (Torah) was written with significant themes of land, seed, water, etc. Then the prophets, the guys who wrote the next section of the Bible, were emerged in the Pentateuch. When they wrote their books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joshua, etc) they wrote according to the themes of the literature they were emerged in, namely, the Pentateuch. Then the authors of the next section, the "writings" or the wisdom literature and poetry (Psalms, Proverbs, Ruth, etc), were emerged in the Pentateuch and the Prophets. Thus, they take up these themes once again and write according to the context of the Bible. And of course, the New Testament apostles were emerged in the whole Hebrew Bible, and they wrote precisely to show how Christ was fulfilling these promises and themes and how the Spirit was continuing the work in the church.

Therefore, the biblical writers are not so much referring to historical context but rather biblical themes. So when the author of Hebrews 4 talks about the Word as a “two-edged” sword, you do not need to do a research paper on Roman weaponry to understand him; all you need to do is be familiar with Judges 3 (or look up the word “sword” in a biblical concordance!).

If you read Romans without reading the preceding sections of Scripture, it is not surprising that you may be confused. The Bible is a book. It would be hard to understand any book if you jumped in at chapter 7! The Bible is written with consistency to itself. Scripture interprets Scripture. Seek to understand the passages that are confusing by finding parallel passages that are more clear.

5) Read and study in community. As we have said, we are prideful people who “use” the text to suit our own ideologies and ideas about how we think God should be. We have blind spots. God is precise in giving us limited knowledge and finite opinions. It is because he is a God who loves community. Therefore, we must pursue biblical knowledge in community and have patience with our brother or sister's opinion. It is very healthy to keep your pride and arrogance in check by pursuing biblical understanding in community.

6) Pray before reading. What causes us to read our opinions, theological systems, and lifestyle into the biblical text? It is our pride. Who frees us from our pride and self-righteousness? The Spirit who testifies about Christ. Pray before you seek understanding that the Spirit frees you from pride and allows you to pursue the meaning in humility.

Hope these help! Remember, nothing matters except knowing and loving Christ more, and we meet him in Scripture.

On Synergistic Sanctification

The first reason I don't think sanctification is "synergistic" (or at least as I understand the term) is that I have nothing to say for myself in regards to any progress in freedom from sin. Yes, when I am freed from sin I "worked out my salvation with fear and trembling," I "put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit," I "made every effort" etc. But looking back, there is nothing that I have to say for myself. Only God's grace.

Secondly, if I have made more progress in growing in a love for Christ than my brother has, I cannot pat myself in the back for having made "every effort" better or for having responded to Christ's grace in more humility: I owe any discipline, effort, or humility on my part precisely to his grace.

Thirdly, synergistic sanctification does not take into account the paradox of man's freedom and God's sovereignty. True human liberty and true sovereign decree must always be maintained. God's grace being somehow dependent on the Christian "making every effort" is not the paradox of Philippians 2.

"12Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

This verse is not A (working out salvation) + B (God's grace working in us) = C (sanctification)

This verse is A(God's grace working in us) = B(working out our salvation)

The first equation is the synergistic model, and is no paradox at all. The second is the paradox of salvation that does not depend on the man who wills or runs but on the God who has mercy (Romans 9:16).

The fourth, and maybe strongest reason, is that I find no hope in the synergistic model. One, because I know my own pride and determination to resist God's grace. I am every bit as stubborn as Israel. I want to go back to Egypt. I need Christ who has come up out of Egypt to fulfill Hosea 11:1. Two, because I have seen men with stronger will-power than me resist God's grace and commit adultery. What hope do I have to be any better than them? Only God's grace

Sola gratia.

And one final note.

Irony is when something functions the opposite of how it is expected to or is desired to function.

The whole force behind synergistic sanctification is to emphasize that Christians ought to "make every effort." But I believe the irony is that it will devastate Christians pastorally.

If a Christian is struggling with sin I will first and foremost tell them that God has his hand on their life and his grace overcomes our sin and pride in spite of our sin and pride. It seems to me that to stay true to synergistic sanctification, you must say, "try harder!" Or maybe more accurately "respond to God's powerful grace harder!"

Okay, synergistic sanctificationists, tell me where I went wrong here. This blog is mainly to try to understand the whole thing better. These are just my initial thoughts after viewing Kevin DeYoung's blog.

Community and Perspective

Ever notice how finite our opinions are? They change every day. Our favorite bands may change, our morals may change, our political persuasions may change, etc. Gaining knowledge and perspective is what causes these changes.

We are finite rather than all-knowing.

And yet at any given stage we are utterly adamant about our opinions. We get angry at people who don’t like our favorite bands or who have different political inclinations than our own.

Pride causes this.

Ever wonder why God created us with limited perspective?

It is because he loves community. He created us to depend on one another. He made us so that we have to listen to the opinions of our brothers and sisters. He loves community because it reflects his character; he is the the Triune God.

He hates all-knowing gurus who are God’s prophetic messenger on any given issue that comes up.

He has designed us to have blind-spots in our understanding of life.

He has put different people in the same groups who have different backgrounds and thus different feelings and opinions about different issues.

He created us this way on purpose.

Take alcohol, for instance. Who doesn’t have a strong opinion about alcohol in the church? This issue has come up time and time again within Christian communities, often tragically splitting churches, community groups, and relationships.

When a college kid who often pushes the line with alcohol in his “Christian freedom” finds himself in a community group with a girl whose dad abused her in his drunkenness, this is not something that has slipped through God’s hand. He is not in heaven thinking, “Oh man, how did THEY end up in a group together? They will never get along!”

Instead, God in his sovereignty is precise in putting people like that together so that we shape and sanctify each other, exposing our blind spots.

So we need to be gentle and patient with one another and listen to the opinions, experiences, and rebukes of others. When a community group begins functioning this way in peace and joy, the result is a much more healthy and developed understanding of Scripture and how it applies to life.

Galatians 6:1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you
who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep
watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if anyone thinks he is
something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4But let each one
test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself
alone and not in his neighbor. 5For each will have to bear his own
load.

2 Timothy 2:24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind
to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his
opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance
leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their
senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by
him to do his will.

1 Thessalonians 5:12We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor
among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to
esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace
among yourselves. 14And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,
encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
15See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do
good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray
without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do
not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good.
22Abstain from every form of evil.

James 3:13Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct
let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14But if you have
bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and
be false to the truth. 15This is not the wisdom that comes down from
above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where jealousy and
selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile
practice. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and
sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those
who make peace.

Drinking alcohol

Some of us are not drinking for a month. It is simply to reevaluate why and how we enjoy alcohol.

Remember Luther, "Do you suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused? Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?"

1) On one hand there is apathy, abuse, addiction, drunkenness, and insecurity that comes from alcohol.

When you drink, do you enjoy alcohol in integrity with Eph 6:18?

"Do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit"

Or do you turn a blind eye to that passage?

If this passage (and others...) are not authoritative in your life and are not evident in the way you use alcohol on the weekends, then you do not believe the Bible, and therefore you do not believe Christ, and will be judged when he returns.

Gal 5:21 says that those who do "such things" (drunkenness included) will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

If you are a Christian, the Bible is the authority in your life (not your common sense). If the Bible is not your authority, then you are not a Christian. Maybe we need to repent and submit to the authority of the Word. Think this through...

If we refuse to believe/follow the parts of the Bible we don't like then we refuse to believe the message of Christ's forgiveness, and we will be judged. You can't have your cake and eat it.

Ask yourself: do you use alcohol in integrity with Scripture? Do you drink because you are insecure in your Father's love for you?

2) On the other hand we can submit to a moral code and not to Christ.

When we see alcohol abused among brothers and sisters (or non-believers), it is tempting to simply say, "What's the point? How is alcohol helpful even in moderation? Why don't we just totally get rid of it forever?"

This is poison to your brothers and sisters.

Understand, please, that as Christians we believe that if Hitler stopped his genocide and did not embrace Christ in love he would be just as wicked as before.

Again, sin is not breaking a moral code; it is not loving the Savior. That is precisely why getting drunk on the weekends is BAD, namely, because it is demonstrating a lack of trust in the Spirit who brings us into love for Christ and a denial of the things of the flesh.

Colossians 2:20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" 22( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

It is easy to think that the more conservative you are the more safe or righteous you are. But this is a lie. It is deceit.

Paul is specific to say that rules, regulations, asceticism have "an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion."

Truly, you will think you are being helpful by making a rule for your brothers and sisters. It will have "an appearance of wisdom."

Just being really conservative about drinking can appear to be safe and sound, but it is "of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh."

And you will destroy your brothers and sisters if you approach it this way.

The two extremes have the same root problem. Those in the first extreme may trust in their common sense (what's wrong with getting drunk?) over trusting in the Scriptures. This is taking things into your own hands and is the root of all sin.

The second extreme may trust in human ambition and pragmatism to change their brothers and sisters (let's just get rid of drinking altogether!). This is taking things into your own hands and is the root of all sin.

It is ironic because it is trying to stop indulgence of the flesh by fleshly means.

It is fighting fire with fire.

So... what do we do about it?

3) Submit to the Word in love for one another

First and foremost, we are identified as brothers and sisters in Christ because we are baptized and because we take communion together.These are a sign, a public declaration of who we are in Christ.

We cannot be looking around trying to figure out who is a Christian and who is not. Those who profess to be Christians in baptism and communion are Christians (from our perspective). This is what we hold each other accountable to.

In this community we ALL go through periods of hardness of heart when we refuse to repent of our sin. If we say our brother is not a Christian because he might be going through a period of hardness of heart we will condemn ourselves.

Instead, rest in God's grace. Submit to the Spirit in prayer. Don't take this situation into your own hands (no matter which side of the spectrum you are on!). God's grace in his Spirit is our only hope. Please be praying for each other. Please. Christ builds his church, not you.

Let's engage in conversation with one another in love and patience. Knowing that we all struggle with sin, that all our minds are tainted, let's be patient with one another even in hardness of heart so that we don't condemn ourselves.

Let's listen to and respond to those who rebuke us. Let's submit to the authority of Scripture. Let's make sure our lives have integrity with Scripture.

If we refuse to submit to Scripture we cannot call ourselves Christians.

I love you guys and I pray for everyone in group everyday. This universe is about Christ. There is only joy in him. Let's submit to him and love him. A slave of Christ is truly free. Freedom to abuse alcohol is no freedom at all; it is slavery. Submit to Christ.

Mark Driscoll has a well-written blog on the use of alcohol. Taking the time to read it would be helpful.

http://joshuathereformist.blogspot.com/2007/09/alcohol-mark-driscoll.html

Truth is a Person

Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Truth.

Of course... the Bible says so. (John 1:1, 14:6)

But what exactly does this mean?

There is a helpful clue in church history.

Athanasius, a church Father from the 3rd and 4th centuries, defended the Christian faith from the Arian heresy. The Arians believed that the Son of God was created by God at a certain point, and therefore was neither eternal nor God.

Athanasius responded to this by arguing that God is most fundamentally and essentially a loving Father. Therefore, there was never a time when God was not also a beloved Son, or else God would cease to be who he is most fundamentally and essentially, namely, a loving Father.

That is what it means that Christ is the Word and the Truth. Christ is the Word because he communicates that God is a Father who loves his Son. Christ is the Truth because he is a beloved Son; he is the truth that God is a Father who loves his Son.

There is no way to speak more truly of God than in this relationship.

Jesus says, "For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. (John 5:36)"

What were the works that Jesus was going to do? He would die on a cross for the sins of the world.

^{1 John 4:10}In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Here love is defined as Christ loving us precisely when we did not love him. In other words, the Father sent us his Son NOT in order to get anything in return, but rather simply because he LOVED us. If you do something nice for someone simply to get something nicer in return, it is NOT love. Love is when you do something nice for someone just because you love them.

Jesus says that the Father loved him "before the creation of the world (John 17:24)."

When Jesus died for the sins of the world he bore witness to the love of the Father. Why? Because he loved us like the Father loved him. He loved us unconditionally. God is love.

Therefore, the cross is not just some nice thing that God decided to do. Rather, it is an outpouring of who God is most fundamentally; it is a display of God the loving Father.

Jesus is the Word and the Truth that God is a loving Father because he is the beloved Son.