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The Goodness of God and the Suffering of the Faithful

How do we reconcile the love of God with the suffering of the Church? How do we reconcile the idea that "all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose" with the fact that most Christians throughout the world are afflicted and --what's worse-- forgotten?

Need some answers? Here's an attempt...

The only way a deaf and blind world can hear and see the gospel message is by seeing it in our lives. The only way the life of Christ can reach the nations is by us following his incarnation, submitting to God's will, and presenting ourselves in all of our vulnerability.

Read more here.

Honoring the Wife

I just ran across the following thoughts from Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church. Biblically thoughtful and challengingly practical...

Now, my tone is for the men. We speak to men differently than women. Were this a women’s conference, I would not call you all idiots and imbeciles and fools, that you’re a joke, okay? But you men, this is where it needs to go. You’ve been glad-handed and buddied up and positive thinking and you’re a winner and Jesus loves you and you can do better. And I’m telling you, you’re a joke. And the real men in the room know it and they see it. And maybe there’s one woman that you fooled and she doesn’t see it because like Eve, she’s deceived.

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The Ascension of Our Lord

This day, 40 days removed from Easter Sunday, the Church celebrates the Ascension of our gloriously risen King who now sits at the Father's right hand to make intercession for His saints. This day in the story of Christian liturgy, redeemed humanity has been presented victoriously in heaven.

Charles Wesley's words, penned in 1742, were never more fitting...

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

A Few More (Quick) Thoughts on Baptizing Babies

1. There are quite a number of decisions that are made for babies by those entrusted with their care... In fact, some of these are the most immediately important decisions of life (i.e., to feed, to aid with breathing, to clothe or swaddle, etc.). Some of these, yes, happen to be religious in nature (i.e., to raise within or without a religious context, including --though certainly not limited to-- prayer, Scripture, church, or even the neglect of these).

2. In regards to decisions which must inevitably be made in behalf of a child, the fact is that the burden of responsible choice lies squarely on the shoulders of the child's parents --or others entrusted with their care-- alon

3. Until a child learns autonomy, he is in a very real way an inevitable beneficiary of his parents' choosing, whether for the good or the bad. If his parents move to another state or nation, he will gain the benefits or the detriments of said choice. If his parents are Taoists, he will, again, gain something that would inevitably have been not his were they not. Likewise, if they are Christians...

4. Religious circumcision having become sacramentally obsolete, baptism is most immediately and intimately tied to covenantal faith and divine grace.

5. In large part, we who inhabit the churches of American Evangelicalism tend to think of Christian baptism as being a sign (or, testament) to our "personal" faith in Jesus. We should take to heart the historical fact that the Church for the greater part of two millennia understood Christian baptism to be a sign (or, mark) of the grace of God on a person coming to faith. That being so, baptism was assumed to be available to and encouraged for anyone with the direct hope of coming to faith in Christ (i.e., a child being raised in a Christian home, a person being brought into the congregational life of a church, etc.).

Just some thoughts, here...

On Infant Baptism

Conversations and thoughts concerning baptism have been engaging me in the past few months --particularly, weeks-- which have encouraged me to study more.

Let me, first, build a bit more in regards to context, and then, I'll share some summative thoughts from John Wesley's "A Treatise on Baptism".

At our church, we have a student who --along with his mother-- has been asking me about baptism. He has never been baptized and would like to know more concerning it's meaning, significance, importance, etc. What's more: In our church, there is a baby who is just a few months old, whose parents have asked that he be "dedicated". Upon further inspection, I have come to realize that the parents are expecting H2O to be involved in the service of dedication, which --in my mind-- constitutes baptism. After all, water plus "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" equals Christian baptism, right? What's even more: Lindsey and I are expecting our fourth baby to arrive in the next few weeks, perhaps even days. Each of our children have been baptized as infants (no, not to escape 'limbo'). And yet more [This is getting lengthy, I know.]: We have another couple in the church expecting a newborn in a few months. Neither of their two older children were baptized as infants, one being a young boy, and the other being a since-baptized, teenaged young lady.

Needless to say, in the past few months or so, I have, on several occasions, been asked quite a number of questions about my thoughts concerning baptism in general and infant baptism in particular.

Okay, so, now, onto the good stuff... Wesley's summative thoughts concerning the Christian baptism of infants:

To sum up the evidence: If outward baptism be generally, in an ordinary way, necessary to salvation, and infants may be saved as well as adults, nor ought we to neglect any means of saving them; if our Lord commands such to come, to be brought unto him, and declares, 'Of such is the kingdom of heaven;' if infants are capable of making a covenant, or having a covenant made for them by others, being included in Abraham's covenant, (which was a covenant of faith, an evangelical covenant,) and never excluded by Christ; if they have a right to be members of the Church, and were accordingly members of the Jewish; if, suppose our Lord had designed to exclude them from baptism, he must have expressly forbidden his Apostles to baptize them, (which none dares to affirm he did,) since otherwise they would do it of course, according to the universal practice of their nation; if it is highly probable they did so, even from the letter of Scripture, because they frequently baptized whole households, and it would be strange if there were no children among them; if the whole Church of Christ, for seventeen hundred years together, baptized infants, and were never opposed till the last century but one, by some not very holy men in Germany; lastly, if there are such inestimable benefits conferred in baptism, the washing away the guilt of original sin, the engrafting us into Christ, by making us members of his Church, and thereby giving us a right to all the blessings of the gospel; it follows, that infants may, yea, ought to be baptized, and that none ought to hinder them.

-paragraph 10 of section IV from "A Treatise on Baptism" in The Works of John Wesley, Volume 10 (p 198)

"And the Heavens Were Silent"

At the crucifixion of Christ, we see the heart of Man...
We see hatred and fear.
We see rejection and grasping.
We see anger and mockery.
We see bitterness and rage.

At the crucifixion of Christ, we see the heart of God.
We see One who loves without limit.
We see One who embraces suffering.
We see One who invites humiliation upon Himself.
We see One who is –without reservation– concerned with His beloved.
We see One who is utterly and perfectly self-giving.

At the crucifixion of Christ...
The eternal Father did not turn His back upon His eternally-begotten Son;
Rather, He turned His face in horrific anguish and incomparable pain.

At the crucifixion of Christ...
God embraced the suffering of Man.
God was spat upon.
God was mocked.
God was rejected.
God felt the paralyzing fear and cold bitterness of death.

At the crucifixion of Christ...
Matter was embraced.
Humanity was redeemed.
God and Man were reconciled in the Person of the crucified Creator.
The One who is the very source and ground of life was put to death.

And the heavens were silent...

Thoughts concerning John 13-17...

I am astonished, considering the context of these chapters in the life of Xp, by the content therein. This, the last night of Jesus with His disciples, and what does He do?

He washes feet.
He institutes the Supper.

Judas, who has already received his pay of 30 pieces, has already begun his betrayal and is yet at table – being washed and being served.

“This is My body...”
“This is My blood...”

Remember...

And what else? He teaches.

Oh, does He teach... concerning – among other topics and themes – the nature of God, the glory of God, the presence of God, the Spirit of God, and the will of God.

Having prayed, He is arrested – betrayed by a kiss.

Thoughts Concerning Scantily-Clad Young Ladies

I ran across this article this afternoon and found it to be an honest and telling piece of thought. I appreciate the writer's candidness, but I certainly regret that she leaves us hanging without ideas for either containment or correction. Perhaps, she herself doesn't know the answer to the all-evasive question, "Okay. So, now what?"

In the pale-turquoise ladies' room, they congregate in front of the mirror, re-applying mascara and lip gloss, brushing their hair, straightening panty hose and gossiping: This one is "skanky," that one is "really cute," and so forth. Dressed in minidresses, perilously high heels, and glittery, dangling earrings, their eyes heavily shadowed in black-pearl and jade, they look like a flock of tropical birds. A few minutes later, they return to the dance floor, where they shake everything they've got under the party lights.

But for the most part, there isn't all that much to shake. This particular group of party-goers consists of 12- and 13-year-old girls. Along with their male counterparts, they are celebrating the bat mitzvah of a classmate in a cushy East Coast suburb.

[Read the entire article...]

On the Importance of Study as a Spiritual Discipline

I am currently involved in a small group which meets on Sunday evenings in the home of a family in our church. We are currently studying Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster, and each week, we share and discuss our answers to questions I have developed related to the chapter at hand.

The following is an answer I wrote in response to the question, 'How does study contribute to the fulfillment of the purpose of the Spiritual Disciplines?'

The purpose of the Disciplines is the total transformation of the person, having been made in the divine image, also being remade in said image (i.e., conformity to the image of Xp). Our transformation particularly pertains to the renewal of the mind, us being called to share the mind of Xp, study being used by God as the primary vehicle through which we encounter those thoughts, or ideas, which bring the mind of God (Phil. 4:8; cf. truth, goodness, beauty).