1 Thessalonians Three: Do Huh?

So there I was, just minding my own business and making my way into this chapter of Paul’s letter to the believers in Thessalonica, and I see this phrase come up in conjunction with Paul’s reference to Timothy: “God’s coworker.”

C0worker. As in, “Hey, we work together.” Together. Us. With God.

Am I the only one slightly mind-fried by this?

To think that the God who formed us, saved us, sent His beloved Son for us, is not only in the process of saving people, but He’s using us to get it done. That’s crazy!

Crazier still is this- in this tension-filled reality where we can rebel against a sovereign God (to an extent), I truly believe that God allows us to miss opportunities in our service to Him and His kingdom. Now, that’s not to say that people are going to Hell because we disobeyed God. I don’t think that’s the case. God will save His elect. The question is, will you play a role in it? Jesus told us, “the harvest is plentiful. Don’t worry about that. It’s growing. It’s ripe for the picking. Now who’s going to work for me?”

Coworkers.

Craziness.

1 Thessalonians Two: Beyond Evangelism

Before Jesus ascended back into Heaven, He told His followers here on earth to “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Now if that were all that Jesus commanded of us, it wouldn’t be unthinkably hard to achieve. Indeed, we can see throughout the New Testament evidence that that news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was proclaimed throughout the known world. Today we have the technology and resources to distribute mass literature or write in the sky with airplanes- we don’t even have to be verbal in our communication of the Gospel anymore.

But that wasn’t all that Jesus said, and that’s not what we see Paul engaged in. See, Jesus also said “Go and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them, and teach them to do everything I taught you.” In other words, be Christ-followers producing producing Christ-followers. Don’t just make converts to Christianity- make disciples.

And there is where we find Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2. For ease of reading, let me bullet-point some thoughts from this chapter.

1. Paul preached the Gospel in Thessalonica even though he was being persecuted for it.

2. Paul pressed on in his endeavors out of a motivation to please God, not man.

3. Paul didn’t come with flattery, or a desire to personally profit from the gospel ministry.

4. Paul didn’t just share the gospel- he shared his life.

5. Paul worked day and night in secular work so as to minister to the Thessalonians free of charge.

6. Like a father, Paul “raised” these new believers in Christ, teaching them how to live.

7. Paul witnessed their transformation and development as Christ-followers.

Now I know that not all of us are called to walk in the same shoes as Paul. But at the same time, we’re all called to be disciple-makers, and if Paul is the model to follow, what this means is that we ought not be content to merely toss the gospel out there in hopes that the Holy Spirit will do His thing and save people. Instead, we need to be willing and ready to invest our lives into others. Yes, this means evangelism, but it also means teaching them, training them, doing life together with them, so that as we make disciples, and our disciples make disciples, and then they make disciples…the Kingdom grows exponentially larger with true followers of Jesus, which is really what we’re here for.

Discipleship wasn’t intended to be something we supplement our lives with- it was meant to be our lives.

1 Thessalonians One: How do you know this, Paul?

It wasn’t my intention this morning to find a springboard in I Thessalonians one from which I could launch myself into the ever-controversial doctrines of grace, but at the same time it’s the focal point of this chapter. I mean, how else do we take it when Paul says “we know,  brothersloved by God,  that he has chosen you”? God is clearly the active component in Paul’s declaration. He didn’t say, “we know, brothers, that you have chosen God…” No, God chose them. Paul echos this in his second letter to them as well, as 2 Thess. 2:13 reads, “But  we ought always to give thanks to God for you,  brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you  as the firstfruitsto be saved,  through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”

And then Paul gives his reasoning behind his certainty that God has chosen to save the believers in Thessalonica. He knows this because they responded to the Gospel message of salvation, to the news that Christ on the Cross bore the sins of whomever would trust in Him alone as their means of salvation. When the gospel went out, it proved powerful among the Thessalonians. Furthermore, their lifestyles changed radically. Though persecuted for their faith, they began to become increasingly Christ-like in their words, thoughts, and deeds. In fact, news of their change had gone out into the world around them, that they had turned from their idols and were now serving and awaiting the return of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

I have to sit here and wonder what Paul would think if he heard about the church in America. I wonder what he’d say if he heard that the majority of professing Christians in this country do not believe that Satan is real? Or even more shocking, that almost 40% of American Christians believe that Jesus was a sinner? Worse yet, almost 60% of self-proclaimed Christians in this country do not believe that the Holy Spirit even exists. Don’t take my word on this- read Barna’s article.

I don’t think that Paul would say to the “church” in America, ”I’m ever thankful that God chose you.” I think he’d say, “You guys need to find a new name for yourselves.”

What would he say about you?

The Gospel According to Zephaniah

As we dive into the book of Zephaniah, we find that this minor prophet- minor due to the length of his book, not the importance of his ministry- is a contemporary of Nahum and is ministering during the reign of Josiah, the best king that Judah ever had. Israel had been exiled, or disbanded, you could say, for about 100 years now, and Josiah was attempting to restore what was left of God’s people. He wanted to get back to that heart of worship for their covenant God Yahweh, but we can see that despite even his best efforts and the example he put forth, not everyone in Judah was on board with him.

Now before I even get into the text, I need to slow down a bit to answer a question that many of you may be wondering,  that question being this: what’s this prophecy business really got to do with me? I mean, how does it affect me as a student in school, or as an adult, or as a gentile Christian?

I’ve answered this question somewhat before elsewhere, so I won’t tie up too much time up here, but I do want to introduce you to a concept that I’ve not hit on before, and that’s the idea of dual fulfillment in prophecy. Dual fulfillment. Two fulfilling. Simply put, this means that when something is prophesized to happen, it may be fulfilled in more than one way. Let me show you a quick example.

Back in Isaiah’s ministry during the reign of King Ahaz, Israel and Syria joined forces against the Assyrians, and they were going to intimidate Judah into joining their alliance. And by intimidate, the Bible tells us in Isaiah seven that the armies of Israel and Syria came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it. It was one of those “go to war with us against the Assyrians, or be destroyed by us instead” concepts. This terrified King Ahaz, and God sent Isaiah to comfort him, to tell Ahaz to not worry about it- that God was going to take care of him.

And then something cool happens. Isaiah tells Ahaz that God has given him the right to ask for a confirmation sign from God, a sign that would assure Ahaz of God’s promises. This sign could be absolutely anything conceivable under the sun. Put me to the test, God says. Demand a sign, and it will be given to you.

But Ahaz doesn’t want to do this, and he says, “I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test.” And this is God’s response in Isaiah 7:14: “The Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Immanuel.” Sound familiar? Of course it does- it was the prophecy fulfilled in Matthew by the virgin Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus. So while this prophecy was fulfilled (albeit partially) in Isaiah’s day, it was also intended by God to reach full completion some 700 years later. Likewise, though the Prophets of God often spoke of judgment that has already happened to God’s people within a short time of the prophecy, there is a very real aspect in which the majority of God’s prophesied judgment has not yet occurred, which is why Zephaniah contains the Gospel, the Good News of God’s salvation. I want to share now four things about this Gospel that we need to understand.

The first thing is this: Good news is only good when contrasted against a backdrop of bad news, and the bad news that you have got to believe is that judgment is coming for every single one of us. Listen to God as He speaks through Zephaniah: “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the Earth. I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD (1:2-3).

Do you understand? We will all stand before Jesus, the King, Creator, Judge over all creation, and He owns us. He made us. He made everything, and it obeyed Him. He told the stars where to sit. He told the planets how fast to rotate, at what angle to tilt. He placed the Sun and the Moon exactly where He wanted them, and they stayed. He commanded the oceans, and the wind, and the mountains and trees, and He got perfect obedience, and then He created us and told us to worship Him and we said “NO!”

No, I will not obey you! No, I will not live in the reality that you are God- I will be god! I’ll do what I want to do. I’ll do nothing you want me to. I hate you! That’s the attitude that our first father Adam demonstrated, it’s the same attitude that we’re all now born with. It’s the attitude in action every time we choose sin over obedience. It’s the attitude prevalent among what was left of the nation of Israel, it’s the attitude of the entire human race, and don’t be fooled for one moment- judgment is coming.

This is what God says in verses fourteen through eighteen of chapter one of Zephaniah: “The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast. The sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of His jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end He will make all of the inhabitants of the earth. “

You think this is something you can sweet talk your way out of? No way. Maybe your hope is in the fact that you’ve never killed anybody. I mean, you’re basically a good person, right? Wrong. Even at our best, we are offensive to God. James tells us that if we’ve sinned once, we’re guilty of breaking all of the Law, and Paul tells us that every single one of us have sinned, and we have therefore earned for ourselves the end result of Judgment Day, where God will cast rebellious sinners into the Lake of Fire to suffer beneath His holy wrath for an eternity because of our infinite guilt before Him.

We get a glimpse of this judgment day, the ultimate Day of the LORD, which is unlike any other time in human history that mankind has experienced God’s judgment in a more focused, “smaller” day of the LORD. We get a glimpse through the eyes of John the Beloved, one of Jesus’ closest followers.

Some 700 years after Zephaniah’s ministry John shares with us the Revelation of Jesus Christ, a prophetical vision- experience, even- of the future. In chapter twenty, beginning in verse eleven, John says “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire. “

In the middle of this darkest of all portions of Scripture we see a ray of hope. A book of life, a book containing names of individuals who will be spared from God’s eternal wrath against their sins. A book that means, if your name is not written in it, that there is no hope for you. The existence of this book hints at the Good News, the second truth you need to know, which is this: God saves sinners. He saves sinners. Not because He’s obligated to, because He isn’t. Not because some people are better than others, because we are all wicked in His sight. But because He has lovingly chosen to demonstrate mercy and kindness to an undeserving people. Not everyone. Just some.

We see this echoed in the pages of the Old Testament as well, as God has continually promised covenant blessings to His people, and He has always promised to spare a remnant of Israel for Himself. And then in Romans nine Paul tells us that simply being born Jewish doesn’t make you one of God’s covenant people, but that God’s people, those to whom He promised salvation, is comprised now both of believing Jews and believing Gentiles, or non-Jews. Zephaniah knew this- he had to! Look at what God says in chapter three: “I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD, those who are left in Israel. They shall do no injustice, and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”

How? How can this be? How can God simply go “Nevermind! Psych! Fooled you, haha! Just kidding about that damnation part- we’re cool, bro!” How can He do that? How can God forgive wicked people when Zephaniah tells us that God “is righteous, he does no injustice” (3:5)? How can God clear the guilty when Nahum tells us that “God will by no means clear the guilty”? How can God justify a wicked sinner when Proverbs 17:15 tells us that “whoever justifies a wicked man is an abomination to God”? He can’t! God cannot simply forgive sinners. It’s against His character.

And it’s because of this that we turn to the third thing you need to know – the greatest scandal in human history. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the creator of the Universe, puts on human skin and steps into our story. Jesus tells us, “you cannot live up to my Father’s standards…but I can.” And for the next thirty-three years he did just that. He lived a perfect life. He loved people. He healed people. He raised them from the dead. He taught them about the Kingdom of God. But it was all winding down to one event, the event that has split history wide open. ‘Cause see…the only way our Judge could forgive us is by taking upon Himself our punishment, and this is what the Son of God did for His people. Theologians call it the “Great Exchange.” Paul explains it like this: “he became sin, who knew no sin.”

When Jesus was arrested, falsely accused, and crucified by the Roman government at the behest of the Pharisees, he did so much more than die wrongly as an innocent man. When Jesus was on the Cross He stepped into the place of law breakers and bore the punishment for their guilt. Do you understand that? The only way the Father could be reconciled to sinful people, the only way that Jesus could be given a bride, the only way that God could spare any of mankind, the only way that a remnant of Israel could be delivered, was by the Son of God redeeming them, purchasing them, paying their debt to God while suffering in their place. It’s the only way for anyone to be forgiven by God. And through His death, burial, and resurrection, John tells us, again in Revelation, that Jesus “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

It was because of the coming Messiah that God can say through Zephaniah, “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.”

But here’s the thing…the fourth thing you need to understand tonight is going to be the hardest, and that is this: the Messiah did not come to save the entire human race. You heard me right. The Son of God did not come to earth determined to save every last man, woman, and child. If that was Jesus’ intention on the Cross, then He failed. Miserably.  Nor did Jesus come simply to make people savable. If all He did was make people savable, and left the rest up to us, then grace just went out the window and we are saved by our own will or actions. No- Matthew tells us in Matthew 1:21 that Jesus came to save His people from their sins. In His death, burial, and resurrection He purchased, secured, and guaranteed the salvation of people from every people group in the world. You may be one of them. You may not.

You say, “How do I know, Richard? How can I know whether or not God has saved me?” Great question- here’s a simple answer by way of a promise of God: “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Jesus told us all to see our sin for the evilness, and rebellion, and wickedness that it is, and to trust in Him as our savior, to have full confidence in His death, burial, and resurrection as the means for our salvation as He bore our punishment in our place.

It’s not about being good, it’s not about attending church, it’s not about asking Jesus into your heart. Let’s wrap up by looking at one final verse, John 3:18. Jesus said, talking about himself: “Whoever believe in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

There are two types of people reading this right now- those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. Those who believe will be saved, those that refuse to believe the truth of who Jesus is will remain in their sins and be thrown into Hell for their continued rebellion against God. Maybe today the light bulb came on for you and you now truly see yourself for who you are, Jesus for who He is, and you’re ready to trust Him with your soul. Perhaps you’re reading this and wondering if you were really one of His and now you know beyond any doubt that He has saved you. Maybe you’re still not sure and you have questions that you need answers to. Whatever the need, whatever is going on with you right now, I encourage you to talk with God right now and let the truths of His Word transform your life.

Colossians Three: I’m a Real Boy!

I couldn’t help but think about Pinocchio as I read this chapter, though the analogy doesn’t go very far. What I was thinking about were those exploratory steps that Pinocchio took when he realized that he was no longer merely a puppet- he was a real boy! He could walk like a real boy, talk like a real boy, move like a real boy. He didn’t have to behave like a puppet anymore.

Likewise, Paul sends a reminder to the church in Colossae that as believers in Christ, born again through the power of the Holy Spirit, that they could now live in freedom, that they didn’t have to stay trapped in the actions they revelled in prior to their conversion. In fact, he specifically says to put away from us any form of sexual immorality, anger, obscene talk, lying, and others. Put it away, Paul says. Instead, put on the new self, which is “being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Want a fulfulling life? Pursue Christ. How do you do that? By pressing into Him through God’s Word, allowing it to change you, to shape you. Christianity never was, and never will be about the things we can do to earn God’s favor or approval. It was never about rules and things we could or couldn’t do. It’s more about God, and the ability He gives us to know Him, and it’s in this knowledge that He changes us…but it starts with the knowledge. Are you gaining it through diligent study of His Word?

Nahum: Divine Payback…And Some Good News, As Well.

Beginning before and continuing throughout Isaiah’s ministry to Judah, the southern Kingdom, things got increasingly worse in Israel, the northern Kingdom. Things never got better than they were when Jeroboam II ruled Israel from 793 to 753 BC. Jeroboam II was a productive king and did a lot of good for Israel as a kingdom, but spiritually he was wicked and therefore aided in the spiritual downfall of Israel.

His son Zechariah assumed the throne but was assassinated six months later by Shallum, who only a month later was murdered by Menahem, who then set himself up as king. Reigning for ten years, we find that the Assyrian empire is beginning to flex its muscles against Israel, and Menahem raises over ten million dollars to “buy” the friendship of the Assyrian empire. Now, if you think back to the image of a schoolyard bully, what happens the first time you give your lunch to someone to avoid being beat up? That’s right- the next week they want another one. The same thing happens to Israel, who is now considered a “vassal” to the Assyrian empire.

After Menahem dies, his son Pekahiah assumes control of Israel. After two years, however, one of his military leaders named Pekah murders him inside the royal palace and sets himself up as king of Israel. Eight years after this the Assyrians began to plot against Israel and helped a guy named Hoshea to kill Pekah and become king.

By this point in history, though, Israel isn’t near the size and strength that it used to be. Bit by bit, the Assyrian empire whittled away at the borders of Israel, and finally in 724 BC Shalmaneser V began a two year siege of Samaria, the capital city of Israel. When the city finally fell in 722 BC, Israel as a kingdom ceased to exist. The Assyrian empire moved key Israelites out of the land, pulled their own governmental officials into the region, and assimilated Israel into the empire.

Now, there are two things right off the bat that we need to understand and try to wrap our minds around. The first is this- Israel is toppled by the Assyrian empire, whose capital city is Nineveh. That’s right- the same city that experienced complete revival and repentance through the ministry of Jonah. What was once a city with 120,000 brand new converts within only a couple generations reverted back to the Israel-hating, God-rebelling people that they once were. I’ve said before and I’ll continue to say that your parent’s faith does you no good at all on the Day of Judgment. What matters is where your faith is. If you’re trusting in yourself to earn your way into Heaven, you’re in for a great disappointment. God’s gracious salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone.

The second thing we need to grip is the realization that the Assyrian’s oppression of Israel is God’s way of passing judgment over Israel. Of their entire line of 19 kings, not a single one of them did right in God’s eyes, and as a result from the time of the kingdom division in 931 BC to the fall of Israel in 722 BC, God’s people lived lives of idolatry and rebellion against the God who delivered them from Egypt. His judgment in return was their oppression by Assyria, which we see clearly in Isaiah 10:5 as God says, “Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger. The staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him.”

Now here’s where things get crazy, because the entire book Nahum is about Nahum’s vision and prediction of God’s complete destruction and overthrow of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire for its crimes against the kingdom of Israel. This book was a great comfort to Judah, who could rest assured that God was going to have His payback. But the crazy part is this: the Biblical record is clear that God purposely caused Assyria to oppress His people as judgment for Israel’s sin, and then God in turn is going to destroy Assyria for what they did. I mean, how does that work?

What we see in Nahum is a beautiful illustration of Divine tension. On the one hand we see that God is absolutely sovereign and can used whatever means necessary to bring judgment upon a person or a nation. On the other hand, we are indeed responsible for our actions and will give an account for what we’ve done. Some people simply cannot grasp this and do not believe that it works. God would never ordain sin and use it, and then turn around and blame the one who God “made” sin in the first place! At least, that’s what they think. Their problem, though, is that they fail to recognize that God can ordain and bring about sin without having to “make” anyone sin. All God needs to do is withdraw His restraining grace and allow their evilness to be more rampant. And the reason God can hold the Assyrian’s responsible for their actions against Israel and against God is because they were doing exactly what their evil hearts wanted to do- rebel against the God of the universe. So realize these tension-filled truths: God is sovereign and accomplishes His purposes…but we are also accountable to God for our actions and responsible for our sins.

Judgment is certainly coming to Nineveh. As Nahum delivers his message to Judah some eighty or so years after the fall of Israel, we get a sobering look at God’s wrath against sinners in this short book of just three chapters.

Nahum opens with a word about the character God as he says

“The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
  The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
  He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
  The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.

  Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Ok, so the picture that Nahum paints is of a God in complete control of His creation who is angry at the rebellious Assyrians. Throughout the book this becomes clear as God says things like this in chapter three:

“1Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
no end to the prey!
² The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel,
galloping horse and bounding chariot!
³ Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spear,
hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!
⁴ And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute,
graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
and peoples with her charms.

⁵  Behold, I am against you,
declares the Lord of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at your nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶ I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.
⁷ And all who look at you will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?”
Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

God tells Nineveh that no one will feel bad for the destroyed capital city, or for the Assyrians as a whole. History confirms the accuracy of Nahum’s prophecy, for we see that within twenty years Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC by the combined efforts of the Medes, Scythians, Babylonians, and Susianians. By 608 BC the Assyrian empire ceased to exist. When God says that payback is coming, He means it.

But we know, not only from the Prophets, but from the Biblical narrative as a whole, that God is also a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness. We know that though we all deserve the spend an eternity in Hell suffering the wrath of God for our own rebellion, that He sent His Son into the world to die on a Cross and redeem for Himself people from every tongue, tribe, and nation. We know that forgiveness is extended and guaranteed for all those who will see their sin as God does and trust Jesus as their Savior. We know that God’s attitude towards His people is radically different from the way He see His enemies, and we see that at work in the book of Nahum as well.

But I want to zero in on one verse and some of the implications that it has for those of us who have trusted Christ as our Savior. If that’s not you reading this, my prayer is that God will open your heart and eyes to the Truth. But this is especially important to those of you who are following Christ. Look at Nahum 1:7, which reads “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in him.”

Three things I want you to think about today. The first is this: God is good. The very fact that He saves sinners shows His goodness. The patience that He has with us, the unconditional love, the fact that He will not give up on us shows His goodness. But I want you to know that not only is God good when life is good, God is also good when life is bad, and we know this to be true because no matter how bad it gets, we know that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.” This is hard to understand sometimes. It really is. Sarai and I are friends with a couple back home who have a five year old son with a growing tumor in his brain that is going to kill him. This is what their Facebook status read last week:

“tumor is stable but having chemo complications, nose and eyelid bleeds, so we will still do weekly vinblastine but change the avastin to every 3 weeks. The vinblastine is still causing neuropathy to his arms, hands, legs, and feet but since the tumor is only stable he has to continue it. We are monitoring him for a possible GI bleed due to a questionable stool last night, avastin can cause this in adults but usually not in children, but his stool appeared to have some blood in it last nigt and looked a little grainy. Thank you all for you continued prayers for our sweet boy, he is still in great spirits.”

Though it’s hard to understand, God is still good even in this hellish nightmare of a world where children suffer and die, evil runs rampant, and everywhere we turn it seems like God is defeated. But He’s not. He’s in control, and He’s good. So I don’t know what you’re facing this week. Could be family issues, or you’ve lost someone close. Relationships have ended, parents have split, jobs have been lost. I don’t know where you are, but I know that our God is good, even in the worst of times. Do you believe that?

The second thing to note is this: God is a stronghold in the day of trouble. A stronghold is a place to hide, a place to seek shelter and protection, and God offers that to His children. Whether your battle is against your own sin nature, or you need a place to run to because life is overwhelming to you, God says to us, “Run to me. Come to me. Seek me. Rest in me. Trust me. I will bring you through this.” Maybe you’re so used to fighting and losing your own battles that you’ve forgotten that God is the one fighting for us. Perhaps you’ve been defeated so many times that you’re convinced that God is done with you. But that’s not what we see in Scripture. Instead we find that God is forever offering protection for those who want it. Maybe today is the day where you fully surrender to the truth of the Gospel and trust Jesus as your Savior. God is a stronghold- go to Him.

Lastly, we see that God “knows those who take refuge in Him.” Clearly God knows everyone on the planet, which tells us that Nahum is going deeper than a simple surface-level knowledge of our existence. What God means when He says He “knows” His people is that He is intimately involved in every aspect of their lives. He is guiding their steps. He is protecting them. He is conforming them to look more like Christ. Even if this means disciplining us when we get out of line, that’s all a part of what a loving parent does to their wayward child. God is actively involved in every breath you take, every molecule of your existence. What are you doing to get to know the One who saved you? Are you spending time daily in His book that He wrote for you? Are you talking to Him and seeking His help in your life? Or are you still trying to do this thing alone?

I really don’t know where you are in life, but God does, and He’s extending Himself to you. How will you respond to him?

Colossians Two: Spotting Saturns

I have a car that looks fairly decent, given that it’s nine years old with over 180,000 miles on it. It’s a Saturn L200, and the reason you won’t see a lot of the ole L200s around is because ’03 was the last year that Saturn produced them. It was Feburary of ’04 and to me this like-new car was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I was able to pay cash for the car from my deployment savings, and it was a great upgrade from my ’91 Grand Prix.

When I first looked at the car, I couldn’t recall ever seeing one like it. I was excited that I was going to have something novel, a ride that would attract attention. Sure enough, the first few days with it there were a lot of people curious about just what it was I was driving. But wouldn’t you know it? It seemed like everywhere I looked, someone was in a silver ’03 Saturn L200 just like mine! It wasn’t until I was personally invested in this vehicle that I began to be more aware of its presence elsewhere, I think the cross of Jesus Christ is the same way to me.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Reformed theology, though I don’t necessary wear the banner or drop C-bombs everywhere, simply because there are too many misconceptions and errant preconceived notions about what I believe. The crux of the debate that’s raged for thousands of years is simply over what role God has in the salvation of sinners. At the far left is the heretical Pelagianism, and then you progress through positions such as semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism, Moderate Arminianism, Amyraldianism, Moderate Calvinism, Calvinism, and Hyper-Calvinism, with a few variations in between.

Some camps believe that God has nothing to do with the conversion of a sinner- everything the individual needs he already possesses. Now he simply needs to use his own will to accomplish his salvation. Then the Hyper-Calvinists believe it’s all God and as such we need not waste time proclaiming the Gospel or inviting sinners to Christ. After all, if they were of the Elect, their salvation will most certainly occur and you need not help at all. There is obviously a lot of room for discussion in this arena, and one of the reasons I hate the label “Calvinist” is because by a large, ideas are lumped together with Calvinism that simply aren’t true.

One of the key issues in this fight concerns the role of the cross of Christ and what it was intended to do. Those to the left side of the debate believe that the cross merely made salvation possible, contingent upon the will of the sinner- all for whom Jesus died. Those on the right believe that Jesus indeed secured the salvation for all of the sinners for whom He died, but did not die salvifically for the entire human race, else they’d all be saved. These two positions are a necessity, because unless you’re a Universalist, then you have got to place limitations on the atoning work of Christ. Either it was limited in it’s accomplishment, or it was limited in it’s extent. You may say that Jesus died for all and actually saved none by His death, or you can believe that Jesus died savingly for a particular group of individuals who would be linked to Christ and His atoning benefits through faith purchased in the cross and given to God’s elect as a gift.

I have to believe the latter. I’ve written extensively throughout this blog about my Biblical and logical reasons for believing that monergism is the most Biblical understanding of God’s salvation of sinners, but I’ll include here one simple reason why I believe that the cross of Jesus purchased my salvation. Simply put, if Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection on my behalf is not the basis for my salvation, then this means that my salvation is not by grace alone. In other words, what Jesus did wasn’t sufficient to guarentee my salvation. I had to bring something of my own to the table to actually expunge my sins before God.

The more I ponder what happened on the cross, the more like my Saturn I see pieces of the big picture all throughout Scripture. Colossians one had a big one- Colossians two does as well, because we see Paul telling the Christians in Colossae this: “ You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God  made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by  canceling  the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

I mean, how beautiful is that? For those of us in Christ, we are reconciled to God and saved in the cross of Jesus because our sins were nailed to it. They are dealt with. They were paid for. And when we trust in Christ as our Savior, this becomes our reality. The best part is, this is available for everyone who will trust Christ as their Savior. This is the Good News. Do you believe it? Are you sharing it?