Luther on Real Theologians

There now, with that you have David’s rules. If you study hard in accord with his example, then you will also sing and boast with him in the Psalm, ‘The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces’ (Ps. 119:72). Also, ‘Thy commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep thy precepts’ (Ps. 119:98-100). And it will be your experience that the books of the fathers will taste stale and putrid to you in comparison. You will not only despise the books written by adversaries, but the longer you write and teach the less you will be pleased with yourself. When you have reached this point, then do not be afraid to hope that you have begun to become a real theologian, who can teach not only the young and imperfect Christians, but also the maturing and perfect ones. For indeed, Christ’s church has all kinds of Christians in it who are young, old, weak, healthy, strong, energetic, lazy, simple, wise, etc.

 

If, however, you feel and are inclined to think you have made it, flattering yourself with your own little books, teaching, or writing, because you have done it beautifully and preached excellently; if you are highly pleased when someone praises you in the presence of others; if you perhaps look for praise, and would sulk or quit what you are doing if you did not get it– if you are of that stripe, dear friend, then take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way you will find a beautiful pair of big, long, shaggy donkey ears. Then do not spare any expense! Decorate them with golden bells, so that people will be able to hear you wherever you go, point their fingers at you, and say, ‘See, see! There goes that clever beast, who can write such exquisite books and preach so remarkably well.’ That very moment you will be blessed and blessed beyond measure in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, in that heaven where hellfire is ready for the devil and his angels. To sum up: Let us be proud and seek honor in the places where we can. But in this Book the honor is God’s alone, as it is said, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble’ (1 Pet. 5:5); to whom be glory, world without end, Amen.

 

~Martin Luther, ‘Preface to the Wittenberg Edition of Luther’s German Writings’, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, Ed. Timothy Lull. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), pp. 67-68.

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Paying God Lip Service

I’m ever skeptical when people go on and on and off the cliff about how God is only after our obedience, and here’s why…

 

God’s after our hearts over everything else. 

 

Tim Chester writes in his book, Captured By A Better Vision, “The call to holiness in the New Testament is not a call to duty, drudgery, repression and boredom, but always a call to joy, meaning, satisfaction and fulfillment.” 

                

God’s not looking for obedience for obedience’s sake, duty based obligation isn’t what he is after. God’s looking for what pastor and blogger Brent Thomas calls “joyful obedience”. You can be as obedient as a well trained show dog but your heart can be a million and one miles away. On the other hand, joyful obedience is running through a mine field with half-a-smile on your face, if that’s where following Jesus takes you.

          

Rob Bell, who I’m not the biggest fan of but can still appreciate,  re-counts the following in Sunday, from his hit series, Nooma.  Bell tells of a husband who orders some flowers for his wife.  The wife, appreciating the gesture, phones her husband to say, “You didn’t have to do that”… to which Bell reasons that the husband can then reply… “I know, they were on sale”, or, “It was the right thing to do”, or even, “You are my wife”.

 

That’s not the idea. This guy obviously doesn’t love his wife, he’s just going through the motions. Any true blue woman will tell you she doesn’t want to be loved by a man because he has to, she wants a man who wants to love her.

         

So, what possesses us to think God is any different? 

   I want you to show love,
      not offer sacrifices.
   I want you to know me
      more than I want burnt offerings.  ~Hosea 6:6, NLT  

Like any caring father, we can be sure as the sun rose this morning that our heavenly Father desires our obedience, but when our obedience comes from anything other than a heart that says “Thank you for loving me and I love you too”… it’s nothing more than paying God lip service.   

        

God’s looking for more than just our obedience.

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Only the Guilty Go Free

Author and pastor Mark Buchanan re-counts the following in his book, Your God is Too Safe:

There is a story about Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. He was inspecting the Berlin prison. As he walked through the hordes of shackled men, they fell pleading at his feet, protesting their innocence. They claimed to be falsely accused, models of virtuous living, completely innocent of all crime. Only one man didn’t do this. Frederick called to him, ‘Prisoner, why are you here?’

‘I robbed a man, Your Majesty.’

‘And are you guilty?’

‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

Frederick called the guard over. Pointing to the man who confessed, he said, ‘Release this man immediately.  I will not have this scoundrel thief kept here where he might corrupt all these fine, virtuous, and innocent men.’

Buchanan continues, “That’s the lovely irony of confession: The one who actually confesses gets out of prison…” 

The issue isn’t whether we are guilty of high treason against the Creator, criminals by the masses swear their innocence when they are guilty as sin. One of two thieves who hung beside Jesus on a hill called Calvary confessed his guilt and recognized Jesus as the Son of God while the other was too busy giving Jesus guff and curing the day of his birth.  One thief saw his plight in light of the Savior while the other couldn’t see past the end of his own nose–surprisingly blinded by his own pride.  One thief was greeted by joy everlasting that day and the other met eternal gnashing of teeth.    

Have you confessed your transgressions and seen the Messiah’s innocence?  

God grants pardon only to those willing to admit their offenses, it’s only the guilty who confess and look to the cross who go free.

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The Atrocious Mathematics of the Gospel

Philip Yancey writes, From childhood we are taught how to succeed in the world of ‘ungrace’. ‘You get what you pay for.’ ‘The early bird gets the worm.’ ‘No pain, no gain.’ I know these rules well because I live by them. I work for what I earn; I like to win; I insist on my rights. I want people to get what they deserve. 

But Jesus’ parables about grace teach a radically different concept. In Matthew 18, no one could accumulate a debt as huge as the servant did (vv. 23-24). This underscores the point. The debt is unforgivable. Nevertheless, the master let the servant off scot-free.

The more I reflect on Jesus’ parables proclaiming grace, the more tempted I am to apply the word atrocious to describe the mathematics of the gospel. I believe Jesus gave us these stories to call us to step completely outside our tit-for-tat world of ungrace and enter into God’s realm of infinite grace.

If I care to listen, I hear a loud whisper from the gospel that I did not get what I deserved. I deserved punishment and got forgiveness. I deserved wrath and got love. I deserved debtor’s prison and got instead a clean credit history. I deserved stern lectures and crawl-on-your knees repentance. Instead, I got a banquet spread for me.

How’s your math looking these days?

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Why Religion Needs a Good Thief

Two criminals were crucified with Christ. One was saved; do not despair. One was not; do not presume. ~Augustine

 

You can find just about anything on the Internet you’re looking for anymore. Every day the information available with a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse only widens. And with the increase of information, every once in while you’re bound to stumble upon something you weren’t looking for.

  

Yesterday, I was looking up Augustine’s words quoted above and what I found caught me by surprise and puzzled me at the same time. A religious website, which has all of a sudden disappeared, states, “As St. Augustine put it: ‘Don’t despair, the good thief was saved. Don’t presume, the bad thief was not.'”

   

That is not offensive.  It’s gospel-less. And that’s not quite how Augustine put it. Actually, the website has it all backwards.

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Piper Issues a Heart Check

Is your discovery that God made you in his image and that he has undertaken great lengths at the price of his own Son to rescue you for himself, is that finally and fully satisfying?—or is God finally and fully satisfying? ~John Piper   

In other words, are you more pre-occupied with yourself and the good fortune God has freely given you than you are content with God himself?

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The Story of Zac Smith

Vodpod videos no longer available. 

A couple of you have mentioned having trouble getting this to play so here’s a link to Vimeo where it was originally posted.

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Our Whys

     

Gerhard E. Frost, in his splendid little book,” The Color of the Night: Reflections on Suffering and the Book of Job”, writes on page 28…

 

We must raise our whys. And we will, whether we wish to or not. The mind can no more contain its whys than the body can hold its breath. But there are many ways of asking why. It can be whined or cursed or snarled or pouted. But it can also be prayed.

 

A why can be a child’s empty cup, held up to the love and wisdom of our gracious God. Our Lord doesn’t fill it to the brim, but he satisfies each person’s need. He is too kind to drown us all in the knowledge we crave. He doesn’t give more than we can hold; sometimes we must wait to be made larger cups. Our present questions may be the wrong ones. Then he helps us outgrow them and prompts us to ask better ones.

 

God knows that the road we must travel would overcome us if we could, in a single moment, see around every bend. He gives us a candle rather than a floodlight—and he promises to be there. He asks us to remember is one form of mercy. His aim is not to keep things from us, but to keep things—the best things—for us!     

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When God Hides

 O Lord, why do you stand so far away?
      Why do you hide when I am in trouble? ~Psalm 10:1, NLT

My heart is heavy tonight and I sensed the need to return to writing. Not only have I been feeling overwhelmed of late with my own problems and hurdles beyond my control, but today I received some dire news concerning a dear friend and fellow writer in much more dire straits (and a much better writer than I)–who was recently given 6-12 months to live and had just finished his first book, with many more projects certainly on the horizon.

   

Yesterday he gave up on chemo, it wasn’t helping any longer, guessing it was only going to kill him quicker. He and his family are now preparing for his passing. Without a miracle, it’s a matter of time, and very little. He’s in his mid-fifties and was in the prime of his life as far as I could tell, before this. His initial diagnosis was less than 4 months ago. Michael Spencer (aka imonk) has been God’s instrument to speak to me the last couple years in ways I can’t begin to list.   

 

There’s an account of Jesus healing a blind man that’s caught my attention the last few years… 

 

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.  “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

 

“It was not because of his sins or his parents sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! ~John 9:1-7, NLT 

Notice that Jesus never gave the concrete answer that cut the mustard for inquiring minds that had to know, he merely answered, “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”

 

God doesn’t heal every time you know, all of our bodies will give out and return to dust one day, that is, if our life isn’t cut shorter by some calamity.

 

For years I thought it important that I had the answer to every question that seemed like a life or death issue at the time… until life turned upside down for me. It wasn’t until I experienced real loss and brokenness that I began to see that God doesn’t answer all of our questions with a yes, a no, or even a maybe. At times he is curiously silent. He doesn’t tend to email us a five point bulletin when we are broadsided, our car smashed up, as we are rushed off to the intensive care unit with our skull cracked open and our face mangled beyond recognition.

 

No, he doesn’t do that. Rather, to our surprise, he gives us himself. If you don’t believe me, read the book of Job.

 

Life really can turn on a dime, even when we do love Jesus. 

 

First, it was a highly sought after position in youth ministry that fell through several years ago now, it was probably an idol for me, but it stung nonetheless. I couldn’t quite figure out why God would let something so important to me end up falling to pieces. Either way, I was in my mid-twenties with a tremendous wife by my side and two beautiful-healthy young daughters to support. A decade later it was the loss of what I considered at the time to be the best job I ever landed, and for the life of me couldn’t quite figure out why I was let go when I was such a good employee and was doing everything asked of me and then some. Days after the shocking news, I came down with a sickness that took the doctors nearly a year to find and by the time they did I was fearing for my life, wondering if I were already on death’s doorstep. Where was God? He’d let me lose my well-paying job that I enjoyed so much, and then, as if it were nothing, he allowed me to get sick? 

 

In each of these instances my immediate reaction was “Why is this happening?” …I could have named several solid reasons a bridge should have collapsed on me every time I went under one but I still wanted to know why? Maybe it wasn’t because I was such a bad person (truth be told, I’m a actually an undeserving wretch), because I certainly had known of friends who much more resembled a choir boy than a wild child like myself—friends who’d lived through much worse tragedies than I. 

 

But those adversities weren’t the end for me. Not even a year after recovering from my illness I was served with the worse news of my life; my wife of sixteen years was divorcing me, something I certainly deserved. But I still wanted to know why? Never had I loved, cherished or trusted her more, and yet, she pulled the trigger at a time when I believed in her more than I had any other person in my entire lifetime.    

 

As if that weren’t enough, I moved back to Nashville a few years ago with no driver’s licence only to be closer to my three kids and ended up nearly getting running over by a runaway car while walking down the sidewalk in the early afternoon on my way home from work minding my own business… as it turned out, I got to see two of my three wonderful children the last day there only to say a sad and brief good-bye.    

 

It’s been through adversities I couldn’t understand that I’ve learned profound lessons about the character of God. To this very day I still haven’t gotten to the why when it comes to some of my not so happy moments in life, and even though I’d like to say I never ask anymore, the thought still crosses my mind from time to time.

 

Now, as mentioned, I have been anything but an angel as much as I’d like to say I am one, and I don’t figure God owes me an answer, but I still wonder what happened and where did I go wrong, or where did I not go right? Even yet, what bigger problems was God responding to in the hour of my crisis’? …it sure seemed as if he were anywhere but with me. I’ve often said that God moves after midnight on our clocks, but what about when he doesn’t move after the lights have went dim and everyone has gone home? 

 

Through these events I have discovered that, although I don’t have the answers, I can learn to accept that. What I can’t figure out nudges me one more step towards trusting God. It’s now okay for me to say “I’m not quite sure why things turned out the way I never planned they would.” There’s nothing intrinsically sinful about asking these questions, but there comes a day in all of our lives when we need to be still and know that God remains God even in those instances we never found the missing piece to our puzzle.    

 

He can be trusted when we aren’t sure about much else.

 

We know that God works all things to the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28), but that doesn’t mean we’ll have all the answers when disaster strikes. There are tragedies we witness and even are prey to which we can’t say with a straight face and mean it, “Well, God must have better”… tell that to a young husband who loses his bride to cancer a year after their wedding or Haitian believers who lost a 5-year-old in the recent horrific earthquake. Some things are so terrible that they require a simple “I don’t know.” There are deaths, divorces, diseases and devastation that we can’t wrap our finite minds around and package up nice and tidy, try as we may. 

 

All we know for sure is that God is love and that he reigns eternal, and that the hidden things of God are not for us to know, today anyways. 

 

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ~1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV

 

What have I learned through all of my questioning? 

 

When it seems God is hiding, its then that he is actually closest.

 

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Belief as a Consequence

I’ve been wrestling with this in one of the chapters in my book on Christian spirituality. John Piper nails it here.  

HT: Irish Calvinist

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