Interpreting Genesis 1: Part 4

I’m continuing my blog series on why one should not interpret Genesis 1 in a literal fashion. I’ve mentioned the highly stylized nature of Genesis 1 (here), the internal coherence between having lights without light sources (here), and the fact that Adam is said to do too much on the sixth day (here). Another good reason to not interpret Genesis 1 in a literal fashion is because there exists literary incoherence between the first and second creation accounts.  When one compares the two chapters with each other, it becomes readily obvious there are chronological, theological, and temporal differences between the two accounts. Most evangelicals typically hold to a one-event view when it comes to the earliest chapters of Genesis. The creation of the universe is found from Genesis 1:1-2:3 and then chapter 2:4-25 is an elaboration of what occurred during or on the sixth day. This harmonization of the two accounts is understandable. People may harmonize because of issues with inerrancy, the skepticism associated with Israel borrowing from other cultures, or because the two accounts may seemingly contradict.  I do not think the two accounts stand in contradiction but in contradistinction- they are describing an event that happened in space-time history from different angles or viewpoints. This means there are multiple initial creation accounts but only one creation. In the ancient world, there was more than one version of how things started. The Israelites could have multiple accounts and not be upset or flustered. It is fitting to point out that we have the same thing within the Gospels. There are multiple accounts of many of the same events with different theological and literary points made and it does not bring inerrancy into question. The historical books of the OT also describe the same events from different viewpoints. Now on to the differences.

Bruce Waltke in his Old Testament Theology summarizes the sequential differences remarking:

If there is tension between day 1 and day 4 of the first creation account, there is an even greater tension in the temporal connections of the second creation (2:4-25) account with the first (1:1-2:3). The second creation account, as presented in the KJV, gives the following sequences of events: God fashions Adam, God plants the garden of Eden and the plants grow, God forms the animals. Adam names the animals, and God “builds” Eve. The NIV partially relieves the temporal tension by rendering the ambiguous narrative waw in 2:8 and 19 by pluperfects, “God had planted a garden” (2:8) and “had formed the animals” (2:19), allowing the sequence: planting the garden, forming the animals, naming the animals, and building Eve, a temporal sequence more harmonious with the first account. Nevertheless, even if one accepts this harmonizing rendering, the temporal burden involved in a straightforward reading of the two accounts is still unbearable. According to the first account, God made man and woman on the sixth day, and according to the second account, he made woman in the garden. Then, assuming the temporal harmony of the two accounts, God planted the garden before making Eve, and presumably he planted the garden on the third day along with other vegetation. But a straightforward reading of the second account envisions the trees as having sprouted and matured to the point of bearing fruit in three days. To be sure, creation may assume apparent age (“mature universe”), as when Christ turned water into wine as a sign and wonder that the new age had begun, but the text recounts that I AM “made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground (wayyasmah, Hiphil, 2:9) as a natural process with no indication that he intended it to create wonder.

Further differences within the two accounts can be seen below as the two accounts are paralleled with each other.

The theological portrait of the main character (God) is different within the two accounts.  Genesis 1 presents a creation with no hint of battle or struggle. It came about by the Sovereign and powerful word of the Lord, a king’s decree if you will. God is announcing things to be within his temple as the supreme temple-builder or architect. This is not a king who says things and sometimes they happen. He speaks and it happens! All of creation is doing exactly what God says. In other creation accounts, many other gods would say something and nothing would come from it. This is not the portrait of God within the first account. There is no fight or questioning within the Gen. 1 narrative. This is a God who gets what he wants when he wants. He is not tame. He is a transcendent king who makes things come into existence. It is a picture of a God who is far off. Genesis 2 presents a potter in the dirt painstakingly creating his works. The second creation account presents God as one who is ever so near; he is immanent. The image is of someone deep down in the mud working (vv. 7-8, 22) as a potter works with the clay. It’s the image of God with dirt under his fingernails. God is said to lean down and breathe life down into the nostrils of Adam. That’s not the image of a king. It is a picture of a God who is near. The Bible starts with this tension and carries the motif to the very end. God is far off but so near. God commands and it is formed yet he is in the mud working with his own hands. God is completely different from us but yet we’re so much like him. There is good reason for including both these two accounts.

One possible objection would be the claim that inn Matthew 19:4-5, Jesus referred to events in Genesis 1 and to events in Genesis 2 as one harmonious account. The Pharisees approach Jesus and attempt to trap him with a question concerned the ethics of divorce. During Jesus’ time, there was a significant debate between Pharisaical parties on the correct interpretation of Moses’ divorce regulations (Deut. 24:1), as noted in this excerpt from the Mishnah, Gittin 9.10: “The school of Shammai says: A man may not divorce his wife unless he has found unchastity in her. … And the school of Hillel says: [He may divorce her] even if she spoiled a dish for him. … Rabbi Akiba says, [he may divorce her] even if he found another fairer than she” (see Mishnah, Gittin 9 for an example of a Jewish certificate of divorce and the terms required for remarriage; see also Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 4.253 for the phrase “whatsoever cause”). The goal was to catch Jesus between a rock and a hard place. In response to their shyster, theological quandary, Jesus appeals to God’s intent in the institution of marriage found within Creation. Jesus avoids the Pharisaic argument about reasons for divorce and goes back to the beginning of creation to demonstrate God’s intention for the institution of marriage. It is to be a permanent bond between a man and a woman that joins them into one new union that is consecrated by physical intercourse. In his response, he quotes from both creation accounts as one event (Gen. 1:27 in Matt. 19:4 and Gen. 2:24 in Matt. 19:5-6). I do not think that this objection is very good though. Those who hold to a two creation accounts viewpoint agree that the Creation stories are both a narrative unity. The author or final compiler (s) included both stories as a narrative unity to expressly and adequately describe the majesty of the God of the Hebrews over the universe. This is how Jesus can refer to the Creation account and use inspired and authoritative words found within both descriptions of the one event.

For these reasons, it is likely best not to interpret Genesis 1 in a literalistic fashion.

 

On the Cosmological Argument

The principle of sufficient reason in practical terms means that there is a reason for why things occur or exist. The principle of sufficient reason has been formulated as follows:

1. For any contingent entity, there is sufficient explanation for why it exists.
2. For everything that exists, there is a reason for its existence, either due to the casual efficacy of other beings or due to the necessity of its own natures.
3. By sufficient reason in the full sense I mean an explanation adequate for the existence of some particular being. An adequate explanation must ultimately be a total explanation, to which nothing further can be added.

Douglas Groothuis in his Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith believes that this principle offers help for the cosmological argument because the universe is not self-explanatory. If the universe is not self-explanatory, it is contingent. It, like all other things within the universe, has a beginning. The cosmological argument argues for the existence of God based upon the cause and effect nature of things. If there is sufficient reason for the universe, God is the best candidate to be that very reason.

Groothuis champions the idea that only the explanation for the universe that appeals to God is satisfactory because the option of denying it would lead to some very unfortunate ends. If the principle of sufficient reason were rejected, the author believes it would mean the universe is meaningless. Total meaninglessness entails nihilism which is both unlivable and counter-intuitive to our morals and very existence. Humanity then lacks objective worth and dignity. The disasters and moral atrocities of such a viewpoint would be limitless if it were to be lived out. Furthermore, it makes arbitrary and ad hoc to search for explanations concerning others things within our world (the endeavor of science). Groothuis also rejects the idea that the universe is self-existent, it is a thing that explains itself. He points out that we find nothing within our universe that would lead us to believe the universe exists by its own nature. Humanity has no problem looking for the cause of things within the universe or wondering if those certain things should have never existed in the first place. How much more the universe itself?

 

What is the Atonement?

The atonement and the riches bought their are truly innumerable and inexhaustible for the man or woman who has eyes to see and ears to hear. J.C. Ryle in his commentary on the book of Matthew said “We can never attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. It is the leading fact in the word of God, on which the eyes of our soul ought to be ever fixed. Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the cardinal truth on which the whole system of Christianity hinges. Without it the Gospel is an arch without a key-stone, a fair building without a foundation, a solar system without a sun… This, after all, is the master-truth of Scripture, that “Christ died for our sins.” To this let us daily return. On this let us daily feed our souls. Some, like the Greeks of old, may sneer at the doctrine, and call it “foolishness.” But let us never be ashamed to say with Paul, “Be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14.)” I hope this encourages and builds your faith.

• What is the atonement?
  • The atonement is the work Christ did in his life and deathto earn our salvation.
    • There are also saving  benefits that come to us from Christ’s resurrection, ascension, intercession in Heaven, and his Second Coming.
• What was the ultimate cause that led to Christ’s coming to earth and dying for our sins?
  • Both the love and justice of God.
    • “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)”
    • “Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom. 3:25-26)”
• Was there any other way for God to save human beings than by sending his Son to die in our place?
  • Before answering….
    • “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…(2 Pet. 2:4)”
  • Once God decided to save human beings, His Son’s death was the only way…
    • “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. (Matt. 26:39″
    • “And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? (Luke 24:25-26)”
    • “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  (Heb. 2:17)”
    • “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Heb. 10:4)”
• What is the nature of the atonement?
  • Christ’s obedience for us (active obedience)- Christ, as our representative before God the Father, obeyed the requirements of the law in our place and was perfectly obedient to the will of God for us. Without this, we would have merely been viewed as neutral. Not righteous…
    • “….and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith… (Phil. 3:9)”
    • “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption… (1 Cor. 1:30)”
    • “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Rom. 5:19)”
    • “But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Matt. 3:15)”
  • Christ’s sufferings for us (passive obedience)- Christ, as our representative before God the Father, suffered the due penalty for our sins opening up full reconciliation to God.
    • Suffering for his whole life
      • Jesus suffered when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11)
      • He also suffered in growing to maturity (Heb. 5:8)
      • He faced intense opposition by  the religious leaders of the day (Heb. 12:3-4)
      • He suffered grief at the death of loved ones around him (his earthly father, John 11:35)
      • He was to be a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3)
    • The physical pain of the cross
      • “And they crucified him…(Mark 15:24)”
    • The pain of bearing sin
      • Our sins, with all their psychological guilt, anguish, bitterness, and hatred, were placed upon Jesus.
        • “and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:6)”
        • “…yet he bore the sin of many…(Isa. 53:12)”
        • “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)”
        • “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Gal. 3:13)”
        • See also Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 2:24
    • Abandonment
      • By his closest friends
        • ” And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. (Mark. 14:43)”
        • “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)”
        • “…Then all the disciples left him and fled. (Matt. 26:56).”
      • By God the Father
        • “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…(Hab. 1:13)”
        • “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46)”
    • Bearing the wrath of God
      • Jesus’ sacrifice is described as a “propitiation.” A “propitiation” is a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in doing so changes God’s wrath toward us into favor.
        • “Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom. 3:25-26)”
        • “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)”
        • “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. (1 John 4:10)”
        • See also Heb. 2:17
      • What exactly is the “wrath” of God? What did it feel like?
• Who required Christ to pay the penalty for our sins?
  • God the Father required the penalty and God the Son graciously, lovingly, and wholeheartedly obediently accepted this requirement out of love, mercy, justice, and other attributes.
    • 2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:6, 10; Rom. 5:8
• What does the “blood of Christ?”
  • The blood of Christ is the clear outward evidence that his life was poured out when he died a sacrificial death to pay our redemption.  The blood of Christ means his death and it’s saving aspects.
    • It has many benefits
      • Our consciences are cleansed (Heb. 9:14)
      • We gain bold access to God in prayer and worship (Heb. 10:19)
      • We are progressively cleansed from remaining sin (I John 1:7; Rev. 1:5)
      • We are able to conquer the devil (Rev. 12:10-11)
      • We are rescued out of the sinful way of life (1 Pet. 1:18-19)
• How else can we described the atonement?
  • We deserve to die as the penalty for sin.
    • Sacrifice-”…. he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb. 9:26)”
  • We deserve to bear God’s wrath against sin.
    • Propitiation-see earlier verses
  • We are separated from God by our sins.
    • Reconciliation- “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18-19)”
  • We are in bondage to sin and the kingdom of Satan.
    • Redemption-  “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)”…”He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13-14)”

Adapted from Grudem’s Systematic Theology

There are a host of other benefits won and gained as a result of the atonement.

• To Absorb the Wrath of God
  • Gal. 3:13; Rom. 3:25; 1 John 4:10

• To Please His Heavenly Father
  • Isa. 53:10; Eph. 5:2

• To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected
  • Heb. 2:10; 5:8

• To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead
  • Heb. 13:20-21

• To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners
  • Rom. 5:7-8; John 3:16; Eph.1:7

• To Show His Own Love for Us
  • Eph. 5:2; 5:25; Gal. 2:20

• To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us
  • Col. 2:13

• To Become a Ransom for Many
  • Mark 10:45

• For the Forgiveness of Our Sins
  • Eph. 1:7; Matt. 26:28

• To Provide the Basis for Our Justification
  • Rom. 3:24; 3:28; 5:9

• To Complete the Obedience That Becomes Our Righteousness
  • Phil. 2:8; 3:9; Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:21;

• To Take Away Our Condemnation
  • Rom. 8:1; 8:34

• To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation
  • Gal. 5:11; 6:12

• To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful
  • Mark 14:24; Jer. 32:40

• To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect
  • Heb. 10:14; Col. 1:22; 1 Cor. 5:7

• To Give Us a Clear Conscience
  • Heb. 9:14

• To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us
  • Rom. 8:32

• To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness
  • Isa. 53:5; Matt. 8:16-17

• To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him
  • John 3:16

• To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age
  • Gal. 1:4

• To Reconcile Us to God
  • Rom. 5:10

• To Bring Us to God
  • 1 Pet. 3:18; Eph. 2:13

• So That We Might Belong to Him
  • Rom. 7:4; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Acts 20:28

• To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place
  • Heb. 10:19

• To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God
  • John 2:19-21

• To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End and Become the Eternal High Priest
  • Heb. 7:23-27; 9:24-26; 10:11-12

• To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest
  • Heb. 4:15-16

• To Free Us from the Futility of Our Ancestry
  • 1 Pet. 1:18-19

• To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin
  • Rev. 1:5-6; Heb. 13:12; Rom. 6

• That We Might Die to Sin and Live to Righteousness
  • 1 Pet. 2:24

• So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God
  • Rom. 7:4

• To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves
  • 2 Cor. 5:15

• To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting
  • Gal. 6:14

• To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him
  • Gal. 2:20

• To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning
  • Eph. 5:25

• To Create a People Passionate for Good Works
  • Titus 2:14

• To Call Us to Follow His Example of Lowliness and Costly Love
  • 1 Pet. 2:19-21; Heb. 12:3-4; Phil. 2:5-8

• To Create a Band of Crucified Followers
  • Luke 9:23; Matt. 10:38

• To Free Us from Bondage to the Fear of Death
  • Heb. 2:14-15

• So That We Would Be with Him Immediately After Death
  • 1 Thess. 5:10; Phil 1:21-23; 2 Cor. 5:8

• To Secure Our Resurrection from the Dead
  • Rom. 6:5; 8:11; 2 Tim. 2:11

• To Disarm the Rulers and Authorities
  • Col. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8

• To Unleash the Power of God in the Gospel
  • Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18

• To Destroy the Hostility Between Races
  • Eph. 2:14-15

• To Ransom People from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation
  • Rev. 5:9

• To Gather All His Sheep from Around the World
  • John 11:52-53; 10:16

• To Rescue Us from Final Judgment
  • Heb. 9:28

• To Gain His Joy and Ours
  • Heb. 12:2; Psa. 16:11; Luke 15:7; John 15:11

• So That He Would Be Crowned with Glory and Honor
  • Heb. 2:9; Phil. 2:7-9; Rev. 5:12

• To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant by God for Good
  • Acts 4:23, 27-28; Isa. 53:10

 

Adapted from John Piper’s 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. A free pdf version of the book can be found here.

 

How May I Know that I have Eternal Life?

“The Bible teaches clearly that the evidence of God’s work in a life is the inevitable fruit of transformed behavior (1 John 3:10). Faith that does not result in righteous living is dead and cannot save (James 2:14-17). Professing Christians utterly lacking the fruit of true righteousness will find no biblical basis for assurance they are saved (1 John 2:4). Real salvation is not only justification. It cannot be isolated from regeneration, sanctification, and ultimately glorification. Salvation is an ongoing process as much as it is a past event. It is the work of God through which we are “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29, cf. Romans 13:11). Genuine assurance comes from seeing the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in one’s life, not from clinging to the memory of some experience.” John MacArthur

“The whole of John’s Epistle is a commentary on what believing faith looks like and how counterfeit faith may be opposed and corrected.” Robert Yarbrough

How may I know that I have eternal life? The epistle of 1 John gives the reader some helpful indicators. Walk through the book and examine your life in comparison. Use this brothers and sisters when you have doubts. Search the Scriptures and let the Lord have the last word on your salvation.

• Walking in Light vs. Walking in Darkness (1:6-7)
• Confession of sin vs. Saying we have no sin (1:8-10)
• Keeping Commandments (2:3-5a)
• Walking as Jesus Walked (2:5b-6)
• Loving brother vs. hating brother (2:9-10)
• Doing God’s Will vs. Loving the world (2:15-17)
• Confessing the Son vs.Denying the Son (2:23-24)
• Practicing righteousness vs. practicing sin (3:4-10a)
• Loving brother vs. not loving brother (3:10b)
• Loving brother vs. hating brother (3:14-15)
• Keeping God’s commandments (3:24a)
• Presence of the Spirit (3:24b)
• Listening to Apostolic teaching vs. false teaching (4:6)
• Loving vs. not loving (4:7-8)
• Loving one another (4:11-12)
• Presence of the Spirit (4:13)
• Confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God (4:15)
• Loving brother vs. hating brother (4:20-21)
• Believing Jesus is the Christ (5:1)
• Love for the Father evidenced by love for God’s people (5:2)
• Loving God= Loving God’s people= keeping commandments [not burdensome] (5:3)
• Believing God’s testimony concerning his Son; having the Son vs. not having the Son (5:10-12)
• Not continuing to sin (5:20)

 

An Objection to the Fine-Tuning Argument

The fine-tuning argument is as follows:

1. The fine-tuning data are the result of either (a) chance, (b) natural law, (c) the combination of chance and natural law, or (d) design.
2. They are not the result of chance or natural law, or the combination of both, since the data are contingent, complex, and specified.
3. Therefore, (a) the data are the result of design.
4. Therefore, (b) there is a Designer.

The fine-tuning argument seeks to serve as a theistic proof by pointing out the “staggering numbers of contingencies that must come together to make earth habitable, as well as an ideal place to observe the rest of the universe.”

The objection I found most interesting was the one concerning pantheism. The fine-tuning argument is severely weakened if pantheism is true. Within pantheistic thought, not only is God not different, but God is creation. There is no difference between the Creator and his creation. He is the all-pervasive and impersonal substance that is also usually thought to be ineffable. Douglas Goothuis in his Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith responds and asserts that the argument for fine-tuning rules out a pantheistic god for three reasons. The first reason is the argument for fine-tuning rules out pantheism because a Designer trades on the commonsense notion of the subject-object relationship; that is, we are subjects who evaluate the cosmos’s nature. There is a difference between the knower and the known. Because pantheism is nondualistic, it makes the cosmos/God/self into a necessary being. The author rejects the idea that the world is a necessary being for two reasons: the universe came into existence a finite time ago and its contingent features take values that are not logically necessary.

The second reason the fine-tuning argument rules out pantheism is the inference to a Designer contradicts the idea of an impersonal being, since design requires intelligence. Such intelligence requires the profile of a person and not one or something that is impersonal. The third reason is that if pantheists claim that God is ineffable, and “known” only through nonrational mystical experiences, then no rational argument can support this god’s existence. Discussion and debate becomes futile under such a viewpoint.

 

A Short Sketch of the Ontological Arguments of Anselm

Both of Anselm’s arguments are aimed at the same thing-proving God’s existence using sheer rational concepts. However, they go about it in two different fashions, seeking to prove God’s existence from two vantage points. Argument one seeks to prove God’s existence based upon the concepts of a greatest possible being/greatest conceivable being and existence as an attribute of that being. It is greater to exist in reality rather than mere understanding and “this being possesses each attribute to the highest degree.” If it is greater to exist in reality and the being is the greatest conceivable being, it follows that the being exists. Argument two is different than argument one because it employs the concept of necessary existence. God’s existence is either impossible or necessary. The existence of the Perfect Being cannot be contingent. Because the idea of a Perfect Being existing is not nonsensical or self-contradictory, it must be necessary. Both arguments are deductively valid meaning that, if the premises are true, then the conclusion has to be true.

Anselm’s Two Ontological Arguments

Argument 1	Argument 2
God is understood or defined as a being “than which   nothing greater can be conceived.”	God is defined as a maximally great or Perfect Being.
A thing exists either in (a) the understanding only or (b)   in both understanding & reality.	The existence of a Perfect Being is either impossible or   necessary.
It is “greater” to exist in reality than to exist merely   in the understanding.	The concept of a Perfect Being is not impossible, since it   is neither non-sensical nor self-contradictory.
If God exists merely in the understanding, then God is not   the greatest possible being, since a being that existed in reality would be   greater than a being that existed only in the understanding.	Therefore (a) a Perfect Being is necessary.
But God is by definition the greatest possible being.	Therefore (b) a Perfect Being exists.
Therefore, God exists not merely in the understanding but   in reality as well

 

A Prayer for You Not to Waste Your Life!

Your steadfast love, O Lord, is better than life. You have told us this in many ways. With these very words you have said it through the mouth of your servant David: “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” You have said it in the words of your apostle Paul, when he cried out in prison, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” O Lord, how much better you are than life! Does your apostle Paul not use strong language! Not just “better,” but “far better.” You are so much better than life that your apostle says death is gain. “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” To lose everything this world can offer and be left with you alone is gain.

Why, O Lord, is your love better than life? Surely David gives us the answer in the way he speaks. He does not say, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise your love.” What does he say? He says that he will praise you, not your love. “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” Is this not because the most loving thing about your love is that it brings us home to you—with eyes and hearts and minds able to see the riches of your glory? With all your wrath removed, and all our sin forgiven, lest anything prevent the pleasure of your presence. Is this not what divine love is—the will and work of God, to give us undeserving sinners everlasting joy in God? What else could love be, if it would be infinite! What greater prize might we be given than yourself, if we are loved!

O God, you know I tremble now for fear that many of the ones who call you Lord have made themselves the prize and glory of your grace. How many, Lord, have made your love a witness to their worth! Is then their joy a resting in your worth or in their own? So many decades have gone by in which the constant mes­sage from the world, and even from some ministers, is this: that love means making much of man. And so when men, with this assurance, ponder what your love might mean, they say the same: God’s love means making much of man. For proof they ask: Don’t you feel loved when someone calls attention to your worth?

I answer: Once I did. When life was better than the Lord, and not the other way around. There was a time love felt like this—when I could not conceive of any joy greater than the honor of my name. When I was so absorbed in me that it was incon­ceivable for joy to rise by my admiring rather than my being admired. Oh, yes, I’ve known what it is like to call the praise of men an act of love and justify this craving with the readiness to give the same. How satisfying it does seem—this love among ourselves of mutual admiration!

But now (thanks to your mighty grace!) I see it is an imita­tion. It has its roots in Eden long ago. The great destroyer of our love and joy said to our mother, Eve, “God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” Like God! She should have said, “I am like God already.” She should have seen the trick. But she did not, and oh, how many do not see it yet today! She was indeed like God! You made her  so—your very image-bearer. Her calling and her high design was this: to image forth her Maker’s majesty, and with her joy and trust, make much of you. But then the evil thought was sown: “I could be like him in another way. I could be one whose majesty is seen, and love might be defined as making much of me.”

And so it came into the world, this great inversion we call sin. And love was made to stand now on its head. I grieve, Lord, just to put it into words, but here it is with shame: Your love no longer means that you do what you must do to make yourself our joy. It has come to mean that you do what you must do so we can feel our worth. It was a sad exchange. And doubly so: Not only did it rob our souls of that one joy that you designed to satisfy us for eternity, but worse, it robbed you of your honored place as Treasure of our lives.

And everything you’ve done since that dark day in Eden is designed to set things right. Oh, what a history of deeds and rev­elations you have wrought to make yourself the center of our joy and take back for yourself the place of honor in the world—to be the One your people treasure more than life. How many ways you said and showed, “I made you for my glory. I made you for my praise. I made you for my honor and my name.” And, lest we miss the point, you added: “In my presence there is fullness of joy; at my right hand are pleasures forevermore. Delight yourself in me! Be glad in me and leap for joy; I am your sure and great Reward! Come taste, and even now rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Oh, what a grand design! To make our joy the echo of your excellence. To make our pleasure proof that you now hold the place of Treasure in our lives. To make the gladness of our souls the essence of our worship, and the mirror of your worth. To make yourself most glorified in us, O God, when we are satisfied in you. How could I, Lord, have ever been so blind to think that being loved by you means making much of me and not your­self? How could I put my eye to some great telescope, designed to make me glad with visions of the galaxies, and notice in the glass a dim reflection of my face and say, “Now I am happy, I am loved”? How could I stand before the setting sun, between the mountain range and the vastness of the sea, and think that everlasting joy should come from making much of me?

No, Father, love is this: At great expense you made yourself my glory and my boast. The cost was infinite by which you made yourself the Treasure of my life. You sent your Son, the blazing center of your beauty and your love. You gave him up to mock­ery, betrayal, thorns, the whip, the rod, the fists, the nails, the shame, and death. For what? To swallow up your wrath, and satisfy your righteousness, and bury all my sins as far as east is from the west and in the deepest sea, so that I might come home and see the galaxy. This is your love, O God, not to make much of me, but do whatever must be done so that I waken to the joy of making much of you through all eternity.

How then shall Christ not be my only boast! Not only that he bought yourself for me, O God, but is himself your perfect image and the blazing center of your radiance. What do I have that does not come from him? What gift of life or breath? What promise ever made did not receive its Yes in him? What one sweet thing—or hard thing you will soon make sweet—did I receive except that it was purchased by his blood? Not one thing I deserve, but hell. Yet everything is mine in him, and by his sacrifice alone. O God, forbid that I should ever boast save in the cross of Christ, my Lord.

And now shall we who treasure Christ and know your love is better far than life lay up, like all the world, our treasures on this earth? Would not we hear you say, as you once said, “Fool, will not this same night your soul be taken back? And then whose will these barns of bounty be?” Forbid, O Lord, that while the world is filled with need we would sit down and say, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” A terrible reversal awaits such lovelessness. “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” We tremble at the words you spoke once to the heartless rich: “Remember in your lifetime you received good things, and that poor man, beside your door, received the pain; but now the great reversal comes, and he has comfort here, while you lie there in anguish.”

O God, such riches are a wasted life. Protect us, Lord. Grant us to hear and heed another call: “Lay up your treasure not on earth, but in the place where moth and thief will never come. Make treasures for yourself that cannot fail.” But then we ask, “What treasures, Lord?” We see you smile. “I am your Treasure and your great Reward. I am your food, your drink, your festal garments and your everlasting gain. I am your life and your all-satisfying Joy.”

Yes, Lord. That is enough. But we would ask, How shall we lay this treasure up? Is it not laid there by your grace alone and bought now once for all by Jesus’ blood? How shall we make this life—this brief and only life that we now live—a laying up of treasure there in heaven? To answer this, you know, O God, that I have written this small book. And I have looked not to myself or listened to some voice. But I have tried to probe your written Word and say what you have said. That is my only claim to truth—that I have echoed what you wrote.

The answer is that in this life we may begin to treasure Christ, and here gain, as it were, an aptitude for joy in him. A greater weight of glory waits to be enjoyed for those who grow in love to Christ. And what is love to Christ? It is the cherishing of all you are for us in him. It is the treasuring of his perfection over all the treasures of the world. It is delighting in his fellowship beyond all family and friends. It is embracing all his promises that there will be more pleasure in his presence than from all the lying promises of sin. It is a gladness in the present taste of glory  and the hope of future fullness when we see him face to face. It is a quiet peace along the path he chooses for us with its pain. It is a being satisfied that nothing comes to us in vain.

There is a quiet kind of joy, O Lord, that Jesus did both save us from our sin and show us how to love. His life, as you have said, was both a purchase and a path. He died for us, and now calls us to die with him. He took our poverty upon himself that we, in him, might have the riches of his heaven, and he calls us now to use our riches for the poor. He did not count equal­ity with you a thing to grasp, but made himself of no account and crossed an endless chasm between heaven and earth, so we might see what frontier missions means and join him in the final task. Is not this, then, the way we lay up treasure in your house—to give our money and ourselves to make as many rich with God forever as we can?

A quiet kind of joy, I say, because of so much suffering. I cannot rise above the great apostle Paul who called his life a daily death and put it in a paradox: “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet pos­sessing everything.” O Father, grant your church to love your glory more than gold—to cease her love affair with comfort and security. Grant that we seek the kingdom first and let the other things come as you will. Grant that we move toward need and not toward ease. Grant that the firm finality of our security in Christ free us to risk our homes and health and money on the earth. Help us to see that if we try to guard our wealth, instead of using it to show it’s not our god, then we will waste our lives, however we succeed.

Dear Lord, I tremble now to pray for readers what I barely feel myself. But I have tasted what our life might be if I, and they, could walk along the ever-present edge of death, and smile with utter confidence that if we fell, or possibly were pushed, it would be gain. Oh, what abandon, what great liberty, what invincible resolve to love would be our portion if we walked this way! What readiness to suffer for the glory of Christ! What eagerness to show the poor that we would gladly spend and be spent to make them glad in God for all eternity! What lowliness and meekness and freedom from the need for praise and pay! All things are ours in Christ—the world, life, death, the present, the future. All are ours, and we are Christ’s. And none of it deserved.

And so, dear Lord, I dare to pray that everything I’ve written in this book, if it be true, explode with fear-defeating joy in Jesus Christ. Let every wavering heart remember this: You promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So may we say with death-defying confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Forbid that any, Lord, who read these words would have to say someday, “I’ve wasted it.” But grant, by your almighty Spirit and your piercing Word, that we who name Christ as the Lord would treasure him above our lives, and feel, deep in our souls, that Christ is life and death is gain. And so may we display his worth for all to see. And by our prizing him may he be praised in all the world. May he be magnified in life and death. May every neighborhood and nation see how joy in Jesus frees his people from the power of greed and fear.

Let love flow from your saints, and may it, Lord, be this: that even if it costs our lives, the people will be glad in God. “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.” Take your honored place, O Christ, as the all-satisfying Treasure of the world. With trem­bling hands before the throne of God, and utterly dependent on your grace, we lift our voice and make this solemn vow: As God lives, and is all I ever need, I will not waste my life . . .through Jesus Christ, Amen.

John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life 183-189

 

What are the Sacred Writings of Judaism?

Judaism in its present form has two basic sacred texts as-well-as other writings used within the religion. The two sacred texts are the Tanakh and the Talmud. The Tanakh is an acronym for three sets of writings called the Torah (the law), Nevi’im (the prophets), and the Ketuvim (the writings).  The Talmud is the oral traditions, commentaries and rabbinic discussions dealing with the Tanakh or Hebrew bible.

The Tanakh has the same books as the Christian Old testament, but arranged in a different order. The Torah or law refers to the first five books of the Christian Old testament and is also known as the Pentateuch. Both Christianity and conservative Judaism ascribed authorship of the Torah to Moses. The Nevi’im, composed of eight different books, includes most of the history books of the Old testament (Joshua-Kings), the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and also the minor prophets (Hosea-Malachi). All twelve of the minor prophets are viewed as one book in the Nevi’im. The last division of the Tanakh is the Ketuvim which is composed of eleven books. The Ketuvim comprises the rest of the books found in the Christian Old testament.  Inspiration and the level of authority the Tanakh conveys depends on the thought in the three divisions of modern Judaism: orthodox, conservative, and reformed Judaism. Despite the divisions, all three groups believe the Tanakh possesses some form of authority. In Christ’s time on earth, the Pharisees and other Jewish sects believed in the inspiration of the Hebrew bible. However, the Sadducees believed only in the inspiration of the Pentateuch and the Pharisees also believed another book carried the same authority as the Tanakh, the Talmud.

The Talmud  is the written oral traditions passed down from generations of the Jewish Rabbis, Pharisees, Scribes, and other religious leaders that sought to explain, interpret, and apply the Tanakh to daily life.. The Talmud is composed of two different books: the Mishnah (200 A.D.) and the Gemara (500 A.D). The Mishnah is a compilation of the legal opinions and debates on the law amongst the rabbis. By Christ’s time, many traditions not found literally in the Tanakh were prevalent throughout second temple Judaism and were in turn condemned by Christ as having less authority as the “law and prophets (Matt. 15:2-3; Mark 7:3-13).” The Gemara is basically the legal commentary on the Mishnah and other various topics found in the Tanakh. The Talmud is viewed as equally authoritative and sacred as the Tanakh by Orthodox Jews, moderately authoritative by conservative Jews, and rejected completely by reformed Jews.

Other writings in Judaism that are not considered sacred are the Midrash and the Responsa. The Midrash is a vast plethora of rabbinic sermons expounding upon the Tanakh, Talmud, and other facades of the Jewish life. The Midrash was composed between the fourth and sixth century but modern forms of the technique continue until present times. Responsa is a collection of questions and answers dealing specific with the Jewish scriptures and laws. Both the Midrash and Responsa are easier to read and interpret making them more accessible to the average reader.

Through this small survey of the sacred writings of Judaism, one can observe the similarities and differences between the Judaistic and Christian scriptures. Judaism altogether rejects the New testament and Christianity discards the Talmud, Midrash, and Responsa. Christianity’s rejection of the Judaistic scriptures originate from Christ himself and the beliefs held about the inspiration of scripture, the Old and New testament. Judaism, at its core, fails to adhere to the authority the New Testament seems to possess and the Church accepted.

 

What is God Committed to Most- His Glory or Our Freedom?

I’ve heard it stated that the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism is actually more of a philosophical debate concerning what God, in the end, values most. Does he value his own glory/ supreme name most or does he value human freedom/choice most? Various speaker claim that one has left the realm of only-Scripture and entered into an issue of philosophy as well when determining such values. It is an issue of philosophy and biblical truth. Not merely a Scriptural issue. That aside, I think Scripture gives us good indication as to what God values more or most and it should have at least the first voice within this debate. Find me one verse where God does something for the sake of humanity’s freedom (I’m doing this for the sake of your choice/freedom). You can’t because it doesn’t exist. However, there seems to be ample scriptural citations for the idea that God does things for his own excellent reputation, glory, or name’s sake. I bet I’ll be charged with the typical “You’re-saying-Arminians-aren’t-faithful-to-the-text-but-letting-philosophy-and-preconceived-notions-of-love-and-freedom-have-to-be-get-into-the-way-of-Scripture” claim but so be it. Thomas Schreiner said, “If we are willing to let the Scriptures challenge our most cherished ideas and opinions, then we will be able to understand the Scriptures and let them change our minds.” Let these verses having bearing within the discussion.

Probably no text in the Bible reveals the passion of God for his own glory more clearly and bluntly as Isaiah 48:9-11 where God says,

For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

I have found that for many people these words come like six hammer blows to a man-centered way of looking at the world:

For my name’s sake!
For the sake of my praise!
For my own sake!
For my own sake!
How should my name be profaned!
My glory I will not give to another!

What this text hammers home to us is the centrality of God in his own affections. The most passionate heart for the glorification of God is God’s heart. God’s ultimate goal is to uphold and display the glory of his name.

God chose his people for his glory:

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace. (Ephesians 1:4-6, cf. vv. 12, 14, NASB)

God created us for his glory:

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory. (Isaiah 43:6-7)

God called Israel for his glory:

You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified (Isaiah 49:3).

I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. (Jeremiah 13:11)

God rescued Israel from Egypt for his glory:

Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works . . . but rebelled by the Sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. (Psalm 106:7-8)

God raised Pharaoh up to show his power and glorify his name:

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Romans 9:17)

God defeated Pharaoh at the Red Sea to show his glory:

And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord . . . And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. (Exodus 14:4, 18; cf. v. 17)

God spared Israel in the wilderness for the glory of his name:

I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. (Ezekiel 20:l4)

God gave Israel victory in Canaan for the glory of his name:

Who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? (2 Samuel 7:23)

God did not cast away his people for the glory of his name:

Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord . . . For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake. (l Samuel 12:20, 22)

God saved Jerusalem from attack for the glory of his name:

For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. (2 Kings 19:34; cf. 20:6)

God restored Israel from exile for the glory of his name:

Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name.. . . And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name. . . . And the nations will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 36:22-23; cf. v. 32)

Jesus sought the glory of his Father in all he did:

The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. (John 7:l8)

Jesus told us to do good works so that God gets glory:

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16; cf. 1 Peter 2:12)

Jesus warned that not seeking God’s glory makes faith impossible:

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (John 5:44)

Jesus said that he answers prayer that God would be glorified:

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:13)

Jesus endured his final hours of suffering for God’s glory:

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’ (John 12:27-28).

Father, the hour has come; glorify your son that the Son may glorify you. (John 17:1; cf. 13:31-32)

God gave his Son to vindicate the glory of his righteousness:

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood . . . to show God’s righteousness . . . It was to show his righteousness at the present time. (Romans 3:25-26)

God forgives our sins for his own sake:

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25)

For your own name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

Jesus receives us into his fellowship for the glory of God:

Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Romans 15:7)

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Son of God:

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14)

God instructs us to do everything for his glory:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (l Corinthians 10:31; cf. 6:20).

God tells us to serve in a way that will glorify him:

Whoever serves, [let him do it] as one who serves by the strength which God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (l Peter 4:11)

Jesus will fill us with fruits of righteousness for God’s glory:

It is my prayer that . . . [you be] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9, 11)

All are under judgment for dishonoring God’s glory:

They became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images. (Romans 1:22, 23)

For all havesinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Herod is struck dead because he did not give glory to God:

Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory. (Acts 12:23)

Jesus is coming again for the glory of God:

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:9-10)

Jesus’ ultimate aim for us is that we see and enjoy his glory:

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)

Even in wrath God’s aim is to make known the wealth of his glory:

Desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, [God] has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory. (Romans 9:22-23)

God’s plan is to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)

Everything that happens will redound to God’s glory:

From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

In the New Jerusalem the glory of God replaces the sun:

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb (Revelation 21:23).

From Let the Nations Be Glad 41-46

 

My Valedictory Speech

Below is my valedictory speech I delivered last Friday at SEBC’s 2012 graduation. I was honored, humbled, and excited to be chosen to deliver this years speech. Despite being nervous Thursday when I gave a small speech concerning what it means to be bibilically grounded, I had no fear once I got up on stage. I know many people were praying for me before and during it. God bless you.

Southeastern Bible College Faculty and Staff, fellow students, family, friends, and graduating Scootzis/seniors, I’d like to extend a thanksgiving to the men and women you see upon this stage and also to the left of me. They are men and women who have been obedient to the Lord’s call upon their lives and have led us in our theological training these past four years. Thank you professors for loving us well, serving the Lord tirelessly, and leading us with all humility, boldness, and compassion. We have been honored to sit at your feet and learn from each of you. Now to the graduating class, I desire to leave you with an exhortation to remember. Scripture uses the language of remembering over 160 times within its two testaments: remember my covenant, remember the Exodus, remember the LORD, remember to keep my commandments, remember me when you come into your kingdom Lord, remember those in prison, and the list continues. I think Scripture uses this type of language to highlight the fact that we are a forgetful people. We tend to go about our lives and forget precious truths that could enrich, enlighten, and embolden our daily walks with our LORD. So tonight seniors, I am calling you to remember. Remember the mission and remember your role in that glorious mission.

Beloved, we are called to a mighty task of announcing and initiating God’s victory within his new world. N.T. Wright, the former bishop of Durham, rightly highlights our task as believers. He says:

 ”Our task as image-bearing, god-loving, Christ-shaped, spirit filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion…The gospel of Jesus points us and indeed urges us to be at the leading edge of the whole culture, articulating in story, music, art, philosophy, education, poetry, politics and theology and even–heaven help us–biblical studies, a worldview that will mount the historically-rooted Christian challenge  [to our current situation in life], leading the way…with joy and humor and gentleness and good judgment and true wisdom. I believe if we face the question, “if not now, then when?” if we are grasped by this vision, we may also hear the question, “if not us, then who?” and if the gospel of Jesus is not the key to this task, then what is?”

Remember your mission my friends to bring the announcement of God’s triumph over the forces of evil in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to the entire creation until he returns.

Remember that your efforts, though couched in the darkness of a fallen world with its pain and toil, are not in vain. Paul, after eloquently expounding upon the reality and joy of Jesus’ resurrection in First Corinthians 15, ends the chapter in verse 58 with a command to work steadfastly for the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain. Again, the good bishop remarks:

 “You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to roll over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are – strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe the resurrection itself – accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of His creation; every minute spent teaching a special needs child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the Gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. That is the logic of the mission of God. God’s recreation of his wonderful world, which began with the resurrection of Jesus and continues mysteriously as God’s people live in the risen Christ and in the power of his Spirit, means that what we do in Christ and by the Spirit in the present is not wasted. It will last all the way into God’s new world.”

Remember that what you do for the Lord is not in vain.

Lastly, remember your place as you work for the LORD. Jesus said in Luke 9:24 that “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Brothers and sisters, I implore you not to build a kingdom for yourself. I beseech you not to spend your time and efforts making your ministry known and loved by the masses. I urge you not to lose your life for some social cause, political party, theological system, or other insignificant task or calling.  I encourage you friends to place everything–your time, your money, your loves, in short your whole lives–into the task of making Jesus’ name and His fame known throughout the nations to the Glory of God. We can exhaust ourselves by seeking significance in what we do and how we are known, hoping that we will be remembered after we are gone. Or, we can lay our lives on God’s altar; squandering them in the world’s eyes, but entrusting our legacy to our Maker. Remember that it is always about Jesus Christ. Leave your legacy up to the Lord and work hard knowing what you do for Him is not in vain. As Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf of the Moravian Brothers says, “Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.” Beloved, preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten. Thank you.