None Like God

By Wendy Wood

AW Tozer says “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

God is not like you!  

There is such a vast difference between Creator and creature that we do not really comprehend God.  

Augustine said, “If you comprehend, it is not God you comprehend. Let it be a pious confession of ignorance rather than a rash profession of knowledge. To attain some slight knowledge of God is a great blessing; to comprehend him, however, is totally impossible.”

There is no way for a finite sinner to comprehend a Holy God. Scripture makes this clear.

Isaiah 40:28  says “his understanding is unsearchable”

Isaiah 46:9 says “I am God, and there is none like me”

Isaiah 40:17-18 “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.  To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare him with?”

If we know anything about God it is because He has chosen to make it known. God chose to write a book and reveal His nature to us and chooses to be in relationship with His children. His revelation of himself is a gift!  Our response to his revelation about himself is not to demand more, but to meditate on what is revealed in scripture and worship.

The theology term for God’s essence is “simple”.  Simplicity means that God is not made up of parts; he is not composite or a compounded being.  It is not theologically precise to say God possesses attributes; rather He is His attributes. 

A. W. Tozer says , “The doctrine of the divine unity means not only that there is but one God; it means also that God is simple, uncomplex, one with Himself. The harmony of His being is the result not of a perfect balance of parts but of the absence of parts. Between His attributes no contradiction can exist. He need not suspend one to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that God does; He does not divide himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of His being.

The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures. Love, for instance, is not something God has and which may grow or diminish or cease to be. His love is the way God is, and when He loves He is simply being Himself. And so with the other attributes.” (chapter 3, Knowledge of the Holy)

God does not lose any of His being as He shows grace or mercy.  Those are not things that are dispensed.  Grace and mercy is who God is.  God does not expend strength as a person does.  We may expend energy and be tired.  God never changes. 

God is Goodness itself.  All that is good is imitating the nature of God.  

God is Truthfulness.  All truth is truth because it is mimicking the very nature of God, who is Truth.

God is Triune.  The Father, Son and Spirit are not parts of God.  The Trinity is three persons.  Each Person does not possess part of the divinity, nor does each person make up a part of God like you need to add up the qualities of each to be the totality of God.  Instead, each Person of the Trinity equally and fully shares the undivided essence of God.  The Father is God and all His attributes.  Jesus is God and all His attributes.  The Holy Spirit is God and all His attributes.  God is not divided!

Each Person of the Trinity has different roles, but each is equally and fully God.

For example:

The Son came incarnate and died on the cross.

The Holy Spirit illuminates scripture and reminds us of the truth of God’s word.

The Father sent the Son and it is His will that is fulfilled.

God is not like you!  He is all that He is at all times and never changes.  He is always all that He is - nothing is lost, used up, or lessened, EVER.

God is independent of the created order.  He is self-sufficient and self-existent.  He is life in and of Himself.  God has always existed as all of Himself and will always exist as His whole being.

A.W. Tozer says, “When we try to imagine what God is like we must of necessity use that-which-is-not-God as the raw material for our minds to work on; hence whatever we visualize God to be, He is not, for we have constructed our image out of that which He has made and what He has made is not God.  If we insist upon trying to imagine Him we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts, and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand…  For while the name of God is secret and His essential nature incomprehensible, He in condescending love has by revelation declared certain things to be true of Himself.  These we call His attributes.” - from Knowledge of the Holy

What types of counseling situations need to address the attributes of God? Maybe your counselee is experiencing ANXIETY over an illness or a difficult situation with a child or spouse.  Or, you may have a counselee who is experiencing DEPRESSIVE type symptoms over being alone or struggling through a long-term suffering.  A person might seek counseling for a life-enslaving sin like alcohol or pornography.  A counselee may be seeking help to forgive a past hurt or to learn how to work through conflict in a relationship.  Whatever situation or sin a counselee is facing, be thinking about these attributes of God, how each attribute can bring HELP and HOPE to a counselee. Every counseling situation needs to involve a study of God.

I start EVERY counselee off with studying God’s attributes.  Whether the counselee is primarily a sinner or sufferer, knowing God is key.  I give them reading on about 12 attributes of God that explain who God is and how their circumstances can be viewed differently because of those truths.  Our counselees come in for help because they are looking at their circumstances and don’t know what to do.  They are so consumed with life’s situations, that their view of God is getting smaller.  When the prodigal son came to his senses in the pig pen, he recounted the goodness of his father and all that his father had done for him.  When Nebuchadnezzar comes to his senses after 7 years of acting like a cow, he looks up and thinks rightly about God.  Our counselees need to get their eyes on God.  Then, their circumstances will be viewed through the lens of truth that a Holy, Merciful, Omnipotent, Omnipresence, Omniscient God is with them and for them!

Renewing Your Mind and Why It Matters

By Nancy Williams

Romans 12:1-2 (CSB)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

This is a verse that everyone of us needs to meditate on to remind us that our true worship is to be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. We are called to glorify God.

To do this, verse 2 tells us that we are not to be conformed to this age. In other translation it says world and I like this translation of age to remind us that society, culture, popular opinion changes over generations and that is not what we are to follow.

We are told in verse 2 to not be conformed to this age but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Our mind should not be like the world around us. Because we live in a sin fallen world, we need to remember that our minds are also sin fallen. Which means, our minds do not think correctly about our own sin and can have dark thoughts about the goodness of God. Just like our personality and emotions all of these parts of who we are, are in need of transformation. We are being made into His image which means, mind, personality and emotions need to be transformed which is part of the sanctification process. We are being transformed so that we can be pleasing to God.

Our minds, because they are sin fallen or corrupted by sin, do not need more education or knowledge – knowing more is not what will transform us. Let me say that again, knowing more is not what will transform our sinful mind. Just like our hearts our minds need the gospel to transform us.

When God created the heavens and earth He spoke, and it happened. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God and ate of the fruit allowing sin to enter the world separating us from knowing God until Christ came, lived a sinless life, died on the cross and rose again to pay the price so that we can have a right relationship with God. Until we have a right relationship with God fully surrender to the Lord, our minds cannot be renewed spiritually.

Isaiah 14:12-14 is an example of how we live our life apart from God. Some believe this passage is the fall of Lucifer, but it doesn’t fit with all of 14 so is probably talking about King Nebuchadnezzar who is a perfect example of someone who is not spiritually renewed. Let me read Isaiah 14:12-14

12 Shining morning star,

how you have fallen from the heavens!

You destroyer of nations,

you have been cut down to the ground.

13 You said to yourself,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will set up my throne

above the stars of God.

I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,

in the remotest parts of the North.

14 I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

The phrase “I will” is interesting, in the sense that every time it is said in Isaiah 14, it is being said by this king who wills to be like God. When the king said he will ascend to the heavens and set his throne by God or make himself like the Most High. It did not happen, even though he declared it and wanted the glory, the worship and fame. This is important because we still make these “I will statements” for our own glory but they look more like seeking myself-will, self-glory, self- gratification, self-righteousness and self-sufficiency. We make it all about us so it is easy to buy into this age’s thinking that you can have it your way, you deserve better, you can be whatever you want to be, be your own boss, maker of your destiny or no one has the right to tell you how to live.

This is why renewing the mind matters because the mind is sin fallen and needs the gospel verse 2 of Roman 12 reminds us that

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

We need to transform our minds so that we know the good pleasing and perfect will of God. The word transform is the Greek word “Metamawfao” which is also used in Mark 9:2, Matthew 17:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:12-18.  In the Mark and Matthew passages it is used for the English word transfigured. In Matthew 17:2, He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light. This type of transformation or transfiguration is from the inside out. It is a spiritual transformation and needs spiritual things to help transform it.

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

“12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness. 13 We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside, 14 but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. 15 Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

You see we are all born spiritually blind, we have a veil like Moses covering our face, until we understand what Christ did on the cross. We walk around dead in our trespass (spiritually blind). When we surrender our life and ask Jesus to be Lord of our life He replaces our veil with a helmet of salvation. This helmet of salvation helps us to seek and hunger for spiritual things. And one day Christ promises to come back and He is looking at those with veils and helmets and He is seeking all those with helmet of Salvation on to replace them with the crown of life. This is the Sanctification process making us more like Him.

Being Sanctified is an important part of our walk with God and one many of us do not understand.

There is a great quote by G.K. Chesterton “A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” If we want to go against this age, we need to be alive in Christ and that happens with the renewing of our minds by putting our faith in Christ to remove our veil.

Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

So how do we spiritually renew our mind so that we can discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

It all starts with prayer.

Your first step is to pray – this is just not asking the Lord to help you with your wants and needs, but to help you in your transformation.

Specifically pray, for God to remove the blinders

Lord show me where I am still blind to my own sin.

Lord where am I aligned to this age and not your word?

Help me to be teachable, dying to my ways, seeking your ways

Lord where is my heart still hardened to your word

Lord where do I not want to obey

What I wills or self-wills do I need to repent of to the Lord

Where am I still seeking to be worshipped – help me to die to this

Renew me from the inside out

Give me eyes to see you, ears to hear you and a heart to love you more than anything else

Lord help me to be Kingdom minded

Help me to be humble

Lord why does this bother or frustrates me

How often do you truly pray like this? We should be praying this out of our breath daily, in every circumstance, minute by minute. In Paul E. Miller’s Praying life book, He calls these breath prayers, and they are part of our spiritual transformation.

Another type of prayer is a lament. What do you do with the grief, sorrow, or anguish you have? God’s word teaches us to lament. Do you know how to lament? This is a different type of prayer. The four elements of a good lament are (1) turning to God, (2)  complaining to God, (3) asking God, and (4) trusting God. There are great examples of how to do this in Dark Cloud, Deep Mercy. During Covid I was frustrated with all the complaints on Facebook, so I wrote and posted this lament.

How long oh Lord, will many live in fear? Seeking to hoard, and not share, forgetting to love you and others. How long oh Lord will men and women of God forget whom they worship? Is this what Moses felt with stiff neck people who do not worship or trust your name? Or Noah when he built an ark, did people see only the world not You. When will we fall on our knees and repent? Lord teach us to worship you apart from gathering in a building but gathering as family, friends and neighbors. Lord show us how to be faithful in worship, tithe and studying of your word without a building. Lord use the weeks we are apart to draw us closer to you. May this time bring us to a place where we will worship You and You alone. Use this time of isolation to heal our families, to help us think of others and most importantly draw us to trust you more. Lord use this time to prepare us for what is to come, may we have a better understanding of how our brothers and sisters in persecuted countries do life without a building. Lord may we be stronger, faithful, bold encouragers of Your word, so that the day you bring us back together will be an amazing time of celebration of who You are and what You have done. May it give us a glimpse of what heaven will be like when all your children, from every tribe and nation are together to worship You and only You.

Lamenting should help us to turn to God, complain only to God, asking God for help and trusting Him with the outcome.

Second Be in the Word

• Read daily and as you read pray – ask the Lord to show you His glory, His plan, His attributes, who He says He is

• Read a different translation – so that you don’t say I already know this

• Ask God to show you your own sin, where you need to grow, where do I need to repent, what do I need to obey and then do it.

• When reading a passage ask yourself How does this help me to love God more, and in light of this how should I be living and then start living this way. We are called to not just be hearers of the word but also doers. If you read something about unforgiveness, do you stop and then pray and go ask for forgiveness.

• Memorize Scripture – I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you. I have attached a list of 26 verses you should know. Like 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” Then whenever you are doing something, ask yourself am I doing this for the glory of God? Or 2 Corinthians 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. Am I pleasing God?

Third, preach the Gospel to yourself daily

• Know the Gospel- Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the Cross and rose again and is the Son of God. Do you understand elements of the gospel: Like dying? Trees in the fall are the most beautiful during the dying process. We are most beautiful when we die to self. Or that you are being made new. Who we are today is not who we will be tomorrow and not who we will be in heaven.

• Read the gospel Primer – the poem or a section. One of my favorites is page 39 that takes about all things crucified. If we read this daily there would be more things we would die to, to be like Him.

• Remind yourself that Jesus died even for this

• Read from Valley of vision – sin, repentance, humility

• Listen to Gospel center music or old hymns. What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus, His mercies are new every morning, be hold our God or Come their fount of every blessing, bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, oh take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above

We all need things like Valley of Vision, Gospel primer, Sovereign Grace Ministries for kids and adults, Shane and Shane hymns to help us be reminded of God’s truth to our heart, soul, and mind.

Fourth,  Watch or listen to biblically sound sermons

• Pray before you watch or listen ask God to teach you to be more like Him Make sure that the people you are listening to exegesis scripture

• Take notes – review them ask questions like how does this help me love God more and in light of this how should I be living and then do it

Whenever the Pastor asks you to do something, do it as long as it is not sin, little steps of obedience like for Easter Pastor Steve ask you to give to our Global Partners did you do it? We all have something to give. Being faithful not only to hearing the word but doing the word.

Fifth, Be in an accountability/lifegroup

• Be willing to put yourself under authority- church membership, lifegroup, spouse, boss- if you are single like I am, ask someone to speak truth into you

• Pray that you will receive correction well, do not be defensive – Lord show me where this is true, where it is not, what do I need to change to be more like you.

• Share what you are struggling with and what you are putting off and putting on – be honest do not under exaggerate your sin or over exaggerate your feelings or situation.

• Share what you are learning, what you are struggling with and encourage others. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone about what God is teaching you or are you more excited to share about something that happened on a TV show?

• We all need to be Paul, and need a Paul in our life, we also need to be Barnabas and need to have Barnabas in our life. Who are you speaking truth to and who are you encouraging?

These five steps should help you to renew your mind so that you can be more like Christ by the renewing of your mind on spiritual matters so that you can be transformed from the inside out.

Some books that are helpful –

Praying life – Paul E. Miller

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy - Mark Vroegop Gospel Primer – Milton Vincent

Valley of Vision – Puritan Prayers

Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ -Andrew David Naselli, J.D. Crowley

That little voice in your head – Andrew David Naselli

The Gospel Bible Study – She Reads the Truth Apps

She reads the truth New City Catechism

Verses to know

1 Corinthians 10:31 – Life is all about giving God glory

2 Corinthians 5:9 – The one we want to please is God

Philippians 2:3-4 – Focus on others, not yourself

John 15:5 – We are totally dependent on God for success

Jeremiah 17:5,7 – Trusting in people will ruin you, trusting in God brings blessing Romans 12:18 – Do all you can do to seek resolution. Even then, you may not succeed.

Philippians 4:11-13 – The key to joy is not changing your circumstances but in being content

Hebrews 12:15 - Bitterness will ruin you

Philippians 4:8 – We are responsible for what we think about

Ephesians 2:10 – Christ saved us that we might do good works

John 10:27-28 -If we belong to Christ, He keeps us safe

Hebrew 13:17 – We are accountable to our church leaders

1 Timothy 6:10 – The love of money leads to other bad behavior Proverbs 24:26 – Truthful and gracious comments of a brother are gentle John 3:27 – God provides for our daily needs

James 4:1-3 – This is why we fight and quarrel

Psalm 84:11 - God’s overall provision and protection

Proverbs 13:15,21 – Life gets harder when we continue in sin Colossians 1:19,20 – God reconciles all things through Christ

James 1:2-4 – Consider all things joy

1 Peter 3:18 – Christ died once for all

Galatians 6:7-8 – The sowing and reaping principle.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 – Christ’s love motivates my personal change Luke 6:43-45 - You say what you say because it’s in your heart to say it Proverbs 4:23 – Your heart is control center

Psalm 63:3 – God is better than life itself 

The Five Solas

By Matthew Barrett

DEFINITION

The five solas of the Reformation, which distinguished the Reformers from the teachings of Rome, include sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone).

SUMMARY

These five statements of the evangelical faith lay at the center of what distinguished the theology of the Reformation from the theology of the Roman Catholic church in the 16th century. Sola scriptura is the belief that because Scripture is God’s inspired Word, it is the only inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church. Solus Christus is the assertion that Christ alone is the basis on which the ungodly are justified in God’s sight. Sola fide maintains that the believer receives the redemption Christ has accomplished only through faith. Sola gratia proclaims that all of our salvation, from beginning to end, is by grace and grace alone. Because of these things, the Reformers held fast to the phrase soli Deo gloria, that only God receives glory for our salvation.

The five solas form the nucleus of the evangelical faith. They not only capture the gospel of Jesus Christ and explain how that gospel takes root in the sinner, but they also define where the authority of that gospel resides and to what end that gospel is preached and proclaimed. Although the phrase “five solas” may be more recent in its usage, the concepts are rooted in the 16th century Reformation. These five solas distinguished Reformers like Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, John Calvin, and so many others from the teachings of Rome. But at the heart of this divide was not merely a theological dispute, but a celebration of the gospel itself. The reformers were willing to lay their lives down for these solas first and foremost because they believed the gospel itself was at stake.

Sola Scriptura

Sola scriptura, sometimes referred to as the formal principle of the Reformation, is the belief that “only Scripture, because it is God’s inspired Word, is our inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church” (God’s Word Alone, 23). Notice, the basis of sola scriptura is Scripture’s inspired nature. As Paul says, “All Scripture is breathed-out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). That cannot be said of church tradition, councils, or church leaders, as important as they all may be. While Scripture may have many human authors, it has one divine author. The Holy Spirit, Peter tells us, carried along the biblical authors so that what they said, God himself said (2 Pet. 1:21), down to the very words.

For that reason, Scripture is also inerrant, inerrancy being a corollary of inspiration. Inerrancy means that Scripture is true, without error, in all that it asserts. As the Holy Spirit carried along the biblical authors, he ensured that their human words reflected his own holy character. Hence Scripture is truth because God himself is truth. It is, after all, God’s Word. Inerrancy is essential not only because it provides warrant for our assurance, giving us every reason to believe Scripture is trustworthy, but inerrancy also distinguishes Scripture from all other fallible authorities. Scripture alone is our infallible, inerrant authority.

Last, sola scriptura means that only Scripture is our sufficient authority. Not only does Paul say all Scripture is God-breathed, but on that basis, Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Or as the Belgic Confession says so well, “We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein.”

Sola Scriptura teaches us, in the end, that all other authorities in the Christian life serve underneath Scripture, while Scripture alone rules over other authorities, for it alone is God’s inspired, inerrant, and sufficient word.

Solus Christus

Scripture, as the Christian’s final authority, is a gift from God. It is a gift because in Scripture we are given Jesus Christ himself. God would have been perfectly just and holy to leave us in our sin and condemnation. But our great God stooped down so low as to speak a saving word to us lost sinners, a word that reached its pinnacle in the living Word, the Lord Jesus himself (John 1:1).

Our temptation is to think, however, that there is something in ourselves, even in the slightest, that can contribute to our redemption. Perhaps it’s obedience to the law, or perhaps it’s good works that spring from faith itself. But Scripture counters: “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). God and God alone can save us.

The Father has done just that by sending his Son to “become flesh” (John 1:14) to represent us, substituting himself on our behalf. Whereas we failed to keep the law, Christ obeyed the law for us; whereas we deserve the penalty for breaking the law, Christ died for us. Christ fulfilled the law we could not keep, and he bore the wrath of God that we deserve (Rom. 3:21–26). And he did so in full. As that old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all.” That means, then, that the work of Christ, and Christ alone, is the basis on which the ungodly are justified in God’s sight.

Sola Fide

But how does the believer receive the redemption Christ has accomplished? Through faith and faith alone. Rather than trusting in ourselves, we trust in another: Jesus Christ.

The Reformers loved to talk about a “great, marvelous exchange.” Christ has taken our sin and its penalty on the cross. What have we received in exchange? The perfect, spotless, righteousness of Christ. Not only have we been forgiven, and our debt been paid in full but imputed to our account is Christ’s perfect record of obedience.

That means, then, that God declares us right with him not on the basis of something in us but only on the basis of an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is extra nos, outside ourselves. Of course, it is none other than the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). Faith, then, is the instrument through which we receive this alien righteousness. Through faith in Christ that blessed status in Christ, which God alone can give, is reckoned to us. Hence Paul warns Christians that no one will be justified by works of the law but only through faith in Christ (Gal. 2:15–3:14).

Sola Gratia

If the work of Christ is the basis of our right standing before God, and if we are justified by God not on the basis of our works but only through faith in the works of his Son, then it follows that our salvation is by grace and by grace alone.

Sola gratia, however, is not limited to our justification, but spans all of salvation from start to finish. In fact, the grace that saves us is, as John Newton so famously sung, “amazing,” because it does not originate with us at all but stems from God’s mercy in eternity. As Paul says, God “chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).

“But wait a minute,” you might say, “Surely my will and my choice must be the determining factor.” Not according to Paul: God’s election “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16) His choice, in short, is not conditioned on us; that would give us reason to boast. Rather, his electing grace is unconditional.

And if his grace in eternity is so free, then so too must his grace be unconditional when applied by the Holy Spirit. The God who has chosen us by grace alone, is the one who alone can call us out of darkness into the light of his own Son (effectual calling; John 6) and raise us from spiritual death to spiritual life (regeneration; John 3). His grace is not synergistic, as if it depends on our will for its success. No, it is monergistic, for he alone works to bring us dead, lifeless sinners to new life in his Son. Moreover, he alone can grant us the faith that believes and work such belief within us so that we embrace Christ as our Savior and Lord (Acts 13:48–50; Eph. 2:8–10; Phil. 1:29–30; 2 Pet. 1:1).

Soli Deo Gloria

Only if our salvation is by grace alone will God alone receive all the glory. If there is something of our own we can claim, then we no longer boast in Christ alone. But if he is the author and finisher of our salvation then he alone is to be magnified for his sovereign grace. As Christians, these solas should cultivate an attitude of total humility. Whether it is in our secular vocations or our praise on a Sunday morning, to God alone be the glory.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-five-solas/

A Theology of Thanksgiving

by Dustin Crowe

In our day and age of more-more-more where “Thanksgiving” is the waiting season between Halloween and Christmas, gratitude often takes a back seat. By relegating giving thanks to an occasional add-on in the Christian life—either on Thanksgiving Day or when God blesses us in an undeniable way—we miss out on how it’s meant to tune our hearts toward God on a daily basis.

It’s easy to blame “the world” around me, but I’ll admit that while I know God is the source of all things in my life, it doesn’t mean thanksgiving makes it into my day-to-day rhythms as it should. I go through most days taking God’s gifts for granted. I’d prefer getting things over giving thanks. And when I don’t get what I want, I complain. With all the difficulties and stresses of 2020, I’ve noticed my heart gravitating toward groaning and murmuring rather than choosing thanksgiving.

To fight our fallen inclination toward grumbling, we need to give thanks. But thanksgiving involves more than naming blessings. “I’m thankful for family. I’m thankful for church. I’m thankful for pumpkin pie and all its various spinoffs.” I’m not the thanksgiving police here to slap anyone on the wrist for giving thanks, but I’d love to see Christians move from merely being thankful to being thankful to Someone.

Thanking God by acknowledging his gifts is a great place to start, and it’s better than not thanking him at all. But giving thanks isn’t limited to naming blessings; it’s knowing the One behind them. When we give thanks, we acknowledge something to be from the Lord and it stirs up worship because it tells us what he’s like. Thanksgiving helps us better enjoy the gift because we also see the love and goodness of the Giver behind it.

Thankful…to God

In the Bible, thanksgiving is much more than a quick nod of the cap for all the goodies in life. David Pao writes, “Thanksgiving…is an act of worship. It is not focused primarily on the benefits received or the blessed condition of a person; instead, God is the center of thanksgiving.”1 Giving thanks takes us beyond recognizing God and into enjoying God.

As we give thanks to God, we not only confess we would have nothing good apart from him (James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 4:7), but we also consider who he is. Biblical thanksgiving is a response to more than God’s gifts and acts. It’s a response to what we learn about him through those gifts and acts.

I’m not just saying we should value the giver more than the gifts. I’m suggesting that as we give thanks for the gifts—which we can truly and deeply enjoy—we should also look through the gift to learn more about the person who gave it. In doing so, we will enjoy and love the giver even more.

Ask, “What does the nature of this gift tell me about the giver? What does it tell me about what they want for me or how they’re seeking my good? How does this provide insight into their heart, character, intentions, and attributes?”

Biblical Examples of Thanksgiving

In Paul’s thanksgiving prayers (Colossians 1:3; Ephesians 1:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), he praises God and recognizes the grace and power of God at work in their gospel-growth. There’s a rich theology of God under every statement of thanksgiving to God.

Consider the story of Jesus healing ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19. There’s one man in particular who not only “praises God with a loud voice” (17:15), but he also falls “on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks” (17:16). The healed Samaritan doesn’t just see Jesus as a person who did something for him; he falls to his feet in thanksgiving because he sees Jesus as his healer, deliverer, and savior. The joy isn’t only in what he received from Jesus, but it’s also in what was discovered about Jesus.

This kind of God-centered, worship-filled thanksgiving shows up throughout the Psalms (such as Psalm 9, 30, 100, 103, and 138). In Psalm 103, for example, David begins by blessing God for specific actions on behalf of his people (1-5). As he continues, we see that God’s actions reveal his attributes and heart toward his people. David thanks God for His actions but also worships God as those actions reveal a God who is righteous and just (6), merciful and gracious (8), unswerving in love (8), a compassionate father (10), and understanding of our weaknesses (14).

The gifts, works, and actions of God are windows allowing us to see who God is, and who he is for us. A theology of thanksgiving to God is therefore a conduit of communion with God. Gratitude for what God has done produces worship because of who God is.

Growing in Gratitude

Thanksgiving involves saying thank you to God for his acts and gifts but also worshipping God because of what those things tell us about him. We first recognize God as the source of what we have to be grateful for. The second, more neglected step, is we must stop and think about what these gifts tell us about him. Thanksgiving moves from recognition of what God has done to revering Him as a God who does such things. 

It’s good to give thanks to God for a material blessing. It’s even better to perceive in that blessing a God with a generous heart eager to provide for his children. It’s good to give thanks to God for a spiritual blessing, such as our adoption in Christ, but it’s more impactful when you simultaneously delight in a God who clears your charges and embraces you in his loving arms.

Thanksgiving to God for his gifts and actions reveals God to us in bigger and clearer ways. See God at work and know him through what you see. Fight grumbling with gratitude.

*This article is adapted from Dustin Crowe’s new book, The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks: Reclaiming the Gifts of a Lost Spiritual Discipline.

Footnotes
1David Pao, Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 28.

Dustin Crowe

Dustin Crowe serves as pastor of discipleship at Pennington Park Church. He is the author of The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanksand Finding Satisfaction in Christ. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram (@indycrowe) or visit his blog (indycrowe.com).

Posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/a-theology-of-thanksgiving/

The Nature of Sin

AN ESSAY BY Christopher Morgan

DEFINITION

Sin is the quality of any human action that causes it to fail to glorify the Lord fully, which was first present in the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which has corrupted all people except for Christ, and which leads to death, both bodily and spiritually.

SUMMARY

Sin is the failure to keep God’s law and to uphold his righteousness, thus failing to glorify the Lord fully. While there are many different manifestations that sin can take, they are all rooted in the initial disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden. All those who have been born afterwards, other than Jesus Christ, have been born into sin and cannot escape the guilt and punishment that sin incurs apart from the freedom found in Christ. God did not create sin or the suffering which sin brings into the world, but God is sovereign over his world and provides a way to be reconciled to him, faith in his Messiah, Jesus.

The Bible uses many words for sin. Many are expressions that view sin as a failure or a “falling short” of a standard. In this sense, sin is a failure to keep God’s law (“lawlessness,” 1 John 3:4), a lack of God’s righteousness (Rom. 1:18), an absence of reverence for God (Rom. 1:18; Jude 15), a refusal to know (Eph. 4:18), and, most notably, a “coming short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Thus, sin is the quality of any human action that causes it to fail to glorify the Lord fully. More specifically, the biblical descriptions of sin can be further defined as a failure to glorify God and a rebellion against him (1 John 3:4; Rom. 1:18; 3:23; Eph. 4:18); as an offense against God and a violation of his law (Gen. 39:9; Ps. 51:4; Rom. 8:7; 1 John 3:4); as a willful act and a present state of human existence (Ezek. 18:4; Matt. 7:17); as personal and social (Josh. 7; Isa. 1:2–4; 10:1–4; Jer. 5:12, 28–29); as involving commission (a deed done), omission (a deed left undone), and imperfection (a deed done with wrong motives; Matt. 22:37); as a rouge element in creation (Gen. 1:31); as a failure to image the Creator to the world (Jer. 2:11–12; Rom. 1:23; 3:23; 8:20–22; 1 Cor. 1:18–25); as including guilt and pollution (Mark 7:21–23; Rom. 1:18; cf. 3:19–20; Eph. 2:3); as including thoughts (Exod. 20:17; Matt. 5:22, 28), words, (Isa. 6:5; James 3:1–18) and actions (Gal. 5:19–21); as deceit (Jer. 17:9; Heb. 3:12–13); and as having a beginning in history and an end in the future (1 Cor. 15:55–57; see John W. Mahony, “A Theology of Sin for Today,” in Fallen: A Theology of Sin).

Creation and Sin

At first glance, one might conclude that this first epoch of the biblical story has little to contribute to our understanding of sin. After all, sin is not even mentioned, but that silence speaks volumes! In particular, Genesis’s teaching about God’s creation clarifies two critical principles related to sin (see Christopher W. Morgan, “Sin in the Biblical Story,” in Fallen: A Theology of Sin).

First, sin is not something created or authored by God. Rather, God created a good universe and good human beings. Genesis 1–2 shows the Creator to be transcendent, sovereign, personal, immanent, and good. God’s goodness is displayed in his turning the chaos into something good—the heavens and the earth. His goodness is even more clearly reflected in the goodness of his creation, evidenced by the steady refrain, “And God saw that it was good” (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), a goodness accentuated on the sixth day: “Behold, it was very good” (v. 31). God’s generous provisions of light, land, vegetation, and animals are blessings given for man’s benefit, as are the abilities to know God, work, marry, and procreate. God blesses man with the Sabbath, places him in the delightful garden of Eden, gives him a helper, and establishes only one prohibition, given not to stifle man but to promote his welfare.

The good God creates a good world for the good of his creatures. Humans are created good and blessed beyond measure, being made in God’s image, with an unhindered relationship with God and with freedom. As a result, casting blame for sin on the good and generous God is unbiblical and unfounded. In the beginning, God creates a good cosmos with good humans who have good relationships with God, themselves, one another, and creation itself.

Second, sin is not original. It has not always existed. From a theological standpoint, God’s creation of the universe out of nothing shows that he alone is independent, absolute, and eternal. Everything else has been created. Further, the inherent goodness of creation leaves no room for a fundamental dualism between spirit and matter. Contrary to some philosophical and religious traditions, the Bible teaches that matter is a part of God’s creation and is good. Sin is ethical, not physical or tied to the cosmos itself.

From a historical standpoint, the story of creation recounts that there was a time when there was no sin. Sin is not original. The world is not now the way it was and, as Cornelius Plantinga helpfully states, “is not the way it is supposed to be” (see Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin).

The Fall and Sin

God does not create sin but creates a good universe and good human beings. Sadly, Adam and Eve do not obey God’s command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but “fall.” The Tempter calls into question God’s truthfulness, sovereignty, and goodness. The “cunning” Tempter deflects the woman’s attention from the covenantal relationship God had established. In the central scene, the fall reaches its climax. The fatal sequence unfolds rapidly: Eve “saw,” “took,” “ate,” and “gave” (Gen. 3:6), and the sequence culminates in “he ate.” But the forbidden fruit does not deliver what the Tempter promises, and instead brings new dark realities, as the good truthful covenant Lord had warned.

This initial rebellious act brings divine justice. The consequences of man’s sin are fitting and devastating. The couple immediately feel shame, realizing they are naked (3:7). They sense their estrangement from God, foolishly trying to hide from him (vv. 8–10). They fear God and his response (vv. 9–10). Their alienation from each other emerges as Eve blames the serpent, while Adam blames Eve and by intimation even God (vv. 10–13). Pain and sorrow ensue. The woman will experience pain in childbirth; the man will toil trying to grow food in a land with pests and weeds; and both will quickly discover dissonance in their relationship (vv. 15–19). Worse, God banishes them from Eden, away from his glorious presence (vv. 22–24).

How they wish they had heeded God’s warning: if you eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, “you will certainly die” (2:17). Upon eating the forbidden fruit, they do not immediately die from something like cardiac arrest. But they do die. They die spiritually, and their bodies also begin to experience the gradual decay that leads ultimately to their physical deaths (as God’s judgment states, “you will return to dust”; 3:19).

Most devastating is that these consequences not only befall Adam and Eve but extend to their descendants as well. The scene is dismal, as life becomes difficult, with all of humanity shut out of the garden.

So, in the beginning, God creates a good cosmos with good humans who have good relationships with him, themselves, one another, and creation. But sin enters the picture and disrupts each human relationship—with God, self, one another, and creation.

Paul’s remarks in Romans 5:12–21 also shed light on the fall. Romans 5:12–21 is not primarily about sin, but it is instructive, setting Christ’s work against the backdrop of Adam’s sin. In Adam, sin enters, death spreads and reigns, and condemnation is sentenced. In contrast, in Christ there is righteousness, new life, and justification.

Synthesis

Sin is fundamentally against God and a failure to live as the image of God. Most fundamentally, sin must be defined as being against God. The accounts depicting the fall suggest that sin is rebellion against God, breaking his covenant, and failing to live as his image-bearers by serving as kings and priests according to his will and on his mission. As such, sin is exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for something less, like idols (Rom. 1:23; cf. Ps. 106:20; Jer. 2:11–12). Sin is falling short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and brings disrepute on the name of God (2:24).

Sin enters the human experience in Adam’s sin. That sin is an intruder, entering the human experience in Adam’s sin, is clear historically from Genesis. That sin enters human history in Adam’s sin is also clear theologically from Romans 5:12: “Sin came into the world through one man.” Although clarity concerning the reason(s) for Adam’s sin remains out of reach, Scripture does indicate that Adam’s sin not only results in his own punishment but also has dire consequences for all humanity. Adam sins not merely as the first bad example but as the representative of all humanity. Recall Romans 5:12–21 and the contrast between Adam’s representation of us and Christ’s representation. In Adam, there is sin, death, and condemnation. In Christ, there is righteousness, life, and justification. In Adam, there is the old era, the dominion of sin and death. In Christ, there is a new reign, marked by grace and life (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20–57).

Sin is universal—no one escapes. That the fall of Adam results in universal human sinfulness is suggested by Genesis 3–11 and emphasized by Romans 5:12–21. In particular, verse 19 clarifies, “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.” This can also be seen through Paul’s insistence that no one is exempt, for all have sinned and fall short (Rom. 3:23); there are none righteous, not even one (3:10–18).

Sin produces universal human guilt and condemnation. Romans 5:12–21 displays this, particularly in verses 16 and 18: “The judgment following one trespass brought condemnation” (v. 16); “One trespass led to condemnation for all men” (v. 18). Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 2:1–3 speaks similarly: we were all “by nature children of wrath” (v. 3). Humans are universally guilty, in that state by nature (by birth, see Gal. 2:15), and thereby stand condemned under the wrath of God.

Sin begets universal human death. This is evident from Genesis, including God’s warning in 2:17: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.” It is evident from God’s judgment upon Adam: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (3:19). The new entrance of death is also clear from the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden and from participation in the Tree of Life (vv. 22–24). That Adam’s sin results in the universality of human death is also manifest in Romans 5:12–21. Death enters human history through Adam’s sin (v. 12) and spreads to all (v. 12). Indeed, the universality of death clarifies that sin was in the world before the law was given (vv. 13–14). Paul puts it starkly, “Many died through one man’s trespass” (v. 15); “Sin reigned in death” (v. 21); and later, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:23).

Sin brings universal corruption. The corruption of all is directly related to the domain of sin and death just mentioned. Indeed, Romans 5:12–21 conjoins Adam’s sin, humans constituted as sinners, universal guilt, universal death, and the domain of death. The domain of sin and death is the macro-environmental condition in which life occurs; the particular human corruption is a part of the personal and individual aspects of the domain of sin and death.

Sin results in the reality of human suffering. As sin enters through Adam, so do its effects, suffering included. And just as God is not the author of sin, so is he not the author of suffering. Suffering is not a part of God’s good creation but is sin’s byproduct.

Sin creates shattered relationships at every level. As noted, God created a good cosmos with good human beings who had good relationships with God, themselves, one another, and creation. But sin entered the picture and brought disruption and estrangement in each human relationship, with God, self, one another, and creation.

The Good News

Indeed, “the biblical story sheds much light on sin. But clearly, sin is only the backdrop, never the point. It emerges in God’s good creation as a temporary intruder, causes much havoc, and holds many in its clutches. But it is no match for the work of God in Christ. Through his sinless life, sin-bearing death, sin-defeating resurrection, and sin-crushing second coming, sin and its offspring of suffering and death are given the death blow. Sin abounded, but grace super-abounds” Morgan, “Sin in the Biblical Story,” in Fallen: A Theology of Sin, 162).

FURTHER READING

• Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image

• Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, eds., Fallen: A Theology of Sin

• Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin

• D. A. Carson, How Long O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil

• Henri Blocher, Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle

• Mark Thompson, “An Unavoidable Truth: The Doctrine of Sin Today”

• Wayne Grudem, “Sin” in Systematic Theology

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-nature-of-sin/

When Our Own Understanding Fails

Madelyn Canada

It doesn’t make sense.

I don’t understand why people kill other people out of anger. I don’t understand why an invisible virus can both take and destroy lives with the fierceness of a great army. I don’t understand why people we love get cancer. I don’t understand why the dearest of friends are pitted against each other with the simple click of a share button. I don’t understand why sometimes doing the right thing can cost so much. I don’t understand how all of this can still be used for our good and God’s glory.

But I wanted to understand. I needed to understand.

And that desperation to understand how and why God can bring good for His children out of such loss and heartache is what made reading Psalm 131 so uncomfortable a few weeks ago.

The Psalm opens with these words: “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things to great and too marvelous for me.” (Psalm 131:1 ESV) I had only to read one verse to feel, as a dear older sister in the Lord would say, “my toes getting stepped on.”

I started to rationalize and convince myself that the things this Psalmist was writing about, were not the things I was struggling with wanting to understand. The things mentioned as being “too great and too marvelous for me” were not the things found all over the pages of my journal in recent weeks. No, this was a good Psalm, but not one meant to convict me. This was one for them.

But as I kept reading, I suddenly wasn’t so sure. The Psalm continues with this: “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forth and forevermore.” (Psalm 131:2-3 ESV) Calm and quiet? I wanted that. I longed for that. But my soul was the farthest thing from it. Perhaps, after all, my heart was not like that of the Psalmist’s in verse one. Perhaps, I was occupied with things too great and too marvelous for me. Perhaps, my heart was lifted up and my eyes raised too high.

A heart not lifted up…

My eyes wandered from the Psalm down to the study notes below. My commentary suggests that the opening of the Psalm, which speaks of a “heart not lifted up” and “eyes not raised too high,” is a description of humble man or woman’s attitude toward God. To have ones heart lifted up and eyes raised high is an expression of pride and arrogance, to demand or expect something from God which He does not owe us.

To “occupy oneself with things too great and too marvelous” is to try and understand things which are humanly impossible to understand. A finite mind simply cannot comprehend all the doings and workings of an infinite Being. It just doesn’t work that way, and a humble man or woman would not shy away from admitting that.

All of these things form a posture of humility from which the Psalmist writes a very short, three verse chapter filled to the brim with hope for the ones who just don’t understand. In order to grasp that hope though, we, the questioning, must be “humble under the mighty hand of God.”

This is why reading Psalm 131 initially discomforted me more than comforted me. I was reading it with a great deal of pride welling up in my heart. I demanded to understand things that God did not owe me answers for. I refused to trust Him and “lean not on my own understanding.” I ignored the reality that He is God and I am not, that His ways are higher than mine.

A prideful heart cannot be comforted with a peace that passes understanding, because it demands to understand unsearchable things. It is the humble heart, the one that waits quietly on the Lord and trusts in His unfailing promise keeping, that is clothed in peace. Simply to be held fast by the One who knows all the answers is enough for them.

Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.

Elisabeth Elliot

Oh Lord, give us humble hearts that spring forth hope.

Peace when we don’t understand…

We have to stop spending all our time trying to understand all of the “hows” and “whys” and spend more of it getting to know the Who behind them. We can spend our days searching for answers to try and make sense of a broken world, or we can spend them seeking to know better the One who can (and will!) save us from it. The answers our prideful hearts demand will not calm nor quiet our souls like the love and nearness of our Lord will.

Sometimes, God gives us the answers we search the ends of the earth for. Sometimes, He doesn’t and instead He gives us a deeper knowledge of who He is that enables us to trust Him to carry those answers for us. The too great and too marvelous things are safe in His steadfast, unfailing, all-wise hands.

I don’t understand a lot of things. Some mornings I still wake up with a defensive spirit and an arrogant heart, but then I recall the words of Psalm 131, and rather than praying for immediate answers, I pray for a soul like that of the Psalmist. A heart not lifted up. Eyes not raised too high. A mind not occupied with things too great and too marvelous for me. A calm and quieted soul. Hope in the Lord now and forevermore.

Then I remember that God has promised to work all things for the good of those who love Him and the glory of His name. He keeps His promises, whether I understand how He does it or not. His ability to keep His word and bring His perfect plans to pass are not dependent on our understanding of how He will do it. Praise Him.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV

I still don’t understand a lot of things, which is why if I leaned on my own understanding, it would fail me. But I know the One who understands all, and it’s on Him that I lean when life doesn’t make sense. I can say with the Psalmist that I have calmed and quieted my soul. And He will always be enough. It is from the humble heart that hope springs forth.

Oh Lord, give us humble hearts.

Posted at: https://thecornershelf.com/2020/06/10/when-our-own-understanding-fails/

What Does It Mean to Worship God in Spirit and Truth?

BY SAM STORMS

Many Christian are familiar with the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. But not everyone can explain what Jesus meant when he said the Father is seeking men and women who will worship him “in spirit and truth” (v. 23).

To say that we must worship God “in spirit” means, among other things, that it must originate from within, from the heart; it must be sincere, motivated by our love for God and gratitude for all he is and has done. Worship cannot be mechanical or formalistic. That does not necessarily rule out certain rituals or liturgy. But it does demand that all physical postures or symbolic actions must be infused with heartfelt commitment and faith and love and zeal.

But the word “spirit” here may also be a reference to the Holy Spirit—there’s disagreement among good Bible scholars. The apostle Paul said that Christians “worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

It’s the Holy Spirit who awakens in us an understanding of God’s beauty and splendor and power. It’s the Holy Spirit who stirs us to celebrate and rejoice and give thanks. It’s the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see and savor all that God is for us in Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit who, I hope and pray, orchestrates our services and leads us in corporate praise of God.

Don’t Omit Truth

This worship, however, must also be “in truth.” This is easier for us to understand, for it obviously means that our worship must conform to the revelation of God in Scripture. It must be informed by who God is and what he is like.

Our worship must be rooted in and tethered to the realities of biblical revelation. God forbid that we should ever sing heresy. Worship is not meant to be formed by what feels good, but by the light of what’s true.

Genuine, Christ-exalting worship must never be mindless or based in ignorance. It must be doctrinally grounded and focused on the truth of all we know of our great Triune God. To worship inconsistently with what is revealed to us in Scripture ultimately degenerates into idolatry.

Both/And

Some prefer to worship only “in S/spirit” but couldn’t care less about truth. In fact, they think focusing on truth has the potential to quench the Spirit. The standard by which they judge the success of worship is the thrills and chills they experience.

Now, make no mistake, worship that doesn’t engage and inflame your emotions and affections is worthless. Jesus himself criticized the worship of the religious leaders in his day by saying that whereas they honor God “with their lips,” their “heart is far from” him (Matt. 15:7–9). True worship must engage the heart, the affections, the totality of our being. But any affection or feeling or emotion stirred up by error or false doctrine is worthless.

Any affection or feeling or emotion stirred up by error or false doctrine is worthless.

Others prefer to worship only “in truth” and are actually offended when they or others feel anything or experience heightened emotions. Not long ago I heard one evangelical pastor say, “I often wish that we wouldn’t sing or have music, but that I could simply see and say the words or the lyrics that express biblical truth. I don’t like being distracted by the emotions that rise up in me when we sing to musical accompaniment.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. By all means, let us sing only what is true. But to do so without affection and feeling and heartfelt emotion is unthinkable. Perhaps you’ve seen this statement by John Piper, one worth seeing again:

Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full . . . of artificial admirers. . . . On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the disciple of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.

Heat and Light

Many would insist this is simply impossible. The human soul, they say, can’t simultaneously hold such seemingly conflicting realities. You’ll eventually default to one side or the other.

Some insist you can’t focus on the truths of God’s Word without turning into an hyper-intellectual, arrogant elitist, while others argue you can’t cultivate heartwarming, emotionally uplifting celebrations without deviating from Scripture and succumbing to unbridled fanaticism.

I beg to differ.

Better still, Jesus begs to differ. The Bible itself begs to differ. God forbid that we should ever find ourselves individually or as a church failing to worship God in both S/spirit and truth. Genuine, Christ-exalting worship, after all, is the fruit of both heat and light. The light of truth shines into our minds and instructs us about who God is. Such light in turn ignites the fire of passion and affection and the heat of joy, love, gratitude, and deep soul-satisfaction.

Some will inevitably conclude that there’s too much emotion at Bridgeway, where I serve as pastor, while others insist there’s too much doctrine. Some will say we’re too experiential in our worship, while others contend we’re too theological. Personally, I don’t think you can be too much of either, so long as both are embraced and God is honored.

None of this means you have to worship the way other people at your church do. If the truth of God’s Word moves you to lift your hands, dance, or shout aloud, God bless you. If the truth of God’s Word leads you into solemn reverence, as you remain seated and immovable, God bless you.

But let’s make certain that in either case we are worshiping in both S/spirit and truth. For it is just such people the Father is seeking.

Sam Storms (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; PhD, The University of Texas) is lead pastor for preaching and vision at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, founder of Enjoying God Ministries, and a Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He has authored numerous books, including Practicing the Power. He and his wife, Ann, have two children.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god-in-spirit-and-truth/

Big Brains and Diseased Heart

Paul Tripp

Has your personal study of the Word of God informed and enlarged your brain without convicting and transforming your heart?

When I was a younger pastor, I was exegeting my way through Romans, engulfed in an intoxicating world of language syntax and theological argument. I labored over tenses, contexts, objects, and connectors. I studied etymologies and the Pauline vocabulary.

Countless hours of disciplined private study were represented by page upon page of notes. It was all very gratifying. I felt so proud that I had filled my notebook with copious notes on Romans.

Then one evening, it hit me. It was a sweet moment of divine rescue by the Holy Spirit. I had spent hours each day for months studying perhaps the most extensive and gorgeous exposition of the gospel that has ever been written, yet I had been fundamentally untouched by its message.

My study of the Word of God had been a massive intellectual exercise but almost utterly devoid of spiritual, heart-transforming power.

You may never exegete an entire book of the Bible, but God does call you to be a diligent student of his Word. But here’s the danger: because of remaining sin and self-righteousness, our study of Scripture could leave us with big theological brains and untouched and diseased hearts.

Could I be describing you? Here are three signs of an untouched and diseased heart that I have experienced, even after studying passages that speak directly to these symptoms!

Anxiety

In Matthew 6, Christ asks his followers, “Why are you anxious?” He explains that it makes sense for the Gentiles (unbelievers) to be anxious because they don’t have a heavenly Father, then reminds us that we have a Father who knows what we need and is committed to delivering it.

As you study the Word of God and see evidence of his past, present, and future provision splashed across every page (Phil. 4:19, 2 Pet. 1:3, etc.), does it give your heart rest? If this theology informs your brain but does not capture your heart, the anxieties of life will likely influence how you live.

Control

I am convinced that rest in this chaotic world, submission to authority, and a willingness to give and share control all arise from a sure knowledge that every single detail of our lives is under the careful administration of One of awesome glory.

As you memorize verses like Daniel 4:35, Psalm 135:6, and Isaiah 46:10, does it create peace in your heart? When the theology of God’s sovereignty moves beyond your brain and transforms your heart, you won’t have to be in control of everything and everyone in your life.

Addiction

Whenever you ask creation to do what only the Creator can do, you are on your way to addiction. I’m not talking about life-destroying addictions that require a rehabilitation center, but anything (however small) that provides a temporary retreat or pleasure or buzz that you return to again and again. When the joy of Christ isn’t ruling your heart, you are rendered more susceptible to some form of everyday addiction.

As you study the Word of God, are you searching for heart and life-transforming pleasure? (The pleasure of knowing, serving, and pleasing Christ: see 2 Cor. 5:9, 1 Thes. 4:1, Eph. 5:10) Some Christians get way too much pleasure from being theogeeks!

I am not suggesting at all that your Bible study cannot include any scholarly components. But whenever you search the Scriptures, it should be a time of worship and not just education.

Each time you open the Word of God, you should be looking for your beautiful Savior, whose beauty alone has the power to overwhelm any other beauty that could capture your heart.

God bless,

Posted on Paul’s Tripps Wednesday’s Word email.

Why is My Theology Not Changing My Life?

John Piper

Audio Transcript

Why is my theology not changing my life? Or at least, not changing me as fast as I thought it would? Anyone who regularly plunges into the riches of Scripture and of the Reformed tradition will eventually face this very sobering and probing question. The topic was taken up by Pastor John and by the late R.C. Sproul at a Ligonier National Conference back in 2011. The conversation was on stage. There the dialogue turned toward how the mind and heart relate to the discovery of biblical truth. We jump into the conversation, beginning with Pastor John.

Behold and Be Changed

John Piper: I totally agree that the primacy of the affections is in terms of the mind serving the affections so that they’re not emotionalism, but real fruit of knowing. God is not honored by emotions based on falsehood. He’s only honored by emotions that are rooted in truth.

Now, here’s the practical issue: Lots of people know things and don’t get changed. Some of you are just discovering the doctrines of grace, and you’re just as crabby this year as you were last year. What’s wrong? Knowing leads to right affections and doing, but not quickly for everybody, or not immediately, or sometimes not at all. The devil knows quite a bit of theology and hates all of it. And he’s maybe more orthodox than most of us, but he can’t abide it. The reason is because he doesn’t know it as glorious. He doesn’t know it as beautiful.

I’m just going to add: to know something aright is not just to get the theological pieces in order and have the right quotes in the Bible, but to go to 2 Corinthians 3:18: “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Now, I would say the implication is that the veil is lifted by the Holy Spirit. This is Reformed, sovereign grace, lifting the blinding veil, so that now we don’t just see five points; we see five stunningly glorious, beautiful things about God. And it’s the beauty of them that changes us: beholding the glory, we are being changed.

‘Open My Eyes’

They asked me the other day in our little roundtable at Bethlehem College & Seminary, “We’re students here and we’re faculty here. What can we do so that we don’t just become academically big-headed and get it all right and not be changed or help anybody?”

The most practical thing I can say is that as you study from morning till night, pray at least every ten minutes that God would not let that happen, and would reveal himself to you as beautiful in the part of Scripture that you’re working on or the theological issue you’re working on. Ask him over and over again: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Open my eyes. I’m staring at it right now. Nothing’s happening. Ask him, “Open my eyes.” Because I need to see not just truth, but beautiful truth, glorious truth, and that’s what changes. So, prayer, I think, would be the key.

You look like you’re ready to say something.

Beauty in the Heart of Worship

R.C. Sproul: No. I’m just sitting here eating that up, John. One place where I have felt so much alone in the ministry that I am involved with is I find so few people who have a passion for beauty. God is the foundation for the good, the true, and the beautiful. And you can distinguish among those three things, but you better never separate them.

And I love it when you sit here and talk about it, because you’re articulating what I’ve been trying to articulate for years. I’ve usually said that it’s not just enough to understand the truth; you’ve got to see the loveliness of it. You’ve got to see the sweetness of it. You talk about the glory of it, but you’ve added to it the beauty of it. And that’s it.

Our worship is supposed to be for beauty and for holiness. God went to such extremes in the Old Testament to communicate that principle of beauty in the heart of worship. That’s one of the great weaknesses of our tradition is that we seem to think the only thing that’s virtuous is ugliness and we have to get away from beauty. But everything that’s beautiful, even paintings painted by pagans, travesties — sometimes in spite of themselves — they call attention to the character of God, because everything beautiful bears witness to him because he is the source of beauty.

And that beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder. It’s there essentially in the character and the being of God himself. When you talk about it here, it just thrills my heart because we have to see how beautiful the truth is and how beautiful the God of the truth is.

I think that the enticement to sin is that sin promises pleasure. That’s the bad kind of hedonism. But it never delivers; it’s a lie. And that’s where our great deception is. We think that we can’t be happy unless we’re sinning. And sin can be pleasurable for a season, from one perspective. But it can never be joyful — ever. It can’t possibly bring joy because it’s not beautiful. It’s ugly. And we have that attraction to ugliness. Our basic makeup is to prefer the darkness rather than the light.

We live in a world that has been marred, seriously marred. It’s been vandalized. The glory of God is everywhere in the beauty of creation. The whole world is full of his glory. But we have vandalized that glory.

Escape Through the Promises

John Piper: It seems to me that the way Jesus argues is that the kingdom of God is like a man who found a treasure hidden in a field, and in his joy — from his joy — he went and sold everything he had and bought that field (Matthew 13:44). That’s the paradigm for how you get freed from the bondage to the world and sin and the devil. If you see the kingdom and the King as a treasure more valuable than your grandfather’s clock, your car, your computer, your books, your fame, and whatever, then it all becomes rubbish and you’re freed.

Before then, it had tremendous power. It held you. Sin has the power of pleasure. And the Bible breaks that power with the power of a superior pleasure. It severs the root of it.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

How do you escape from the corruptions in the world? Precious and very great promises of the glory and excellence of God. The sequence of thought in 2 Peter 1:3–4 is this: escape from corruption comes through a superior promise.

I think that the beauty of holiness, the more it goes deep and satisfies — really, really satisfies — the freer you become from pornography, and from the pleasures of resentment and bitterness that you want to hold on to, and from fear of man. These sins have their talons in us, and those talons are dislodged, not so much by duty — yanking them out like this — but by pushing them out.

Someone asked once, “What’s the easiest way to get the sin of air out of a glass?” Should you put a vacuum on it and suck the air out? No, just pour water in the glass. If you want to get the air out of the glass, just fill it with water. That would be the way I want to build holiness into my people’s lives.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-is-my-theology-not-changing-my-life?fbclid=IwAR30ITDOXhc-VyZbCr99i6bsApb_D2rsd0PR5bTnXE-_FA57vexpMx5hQYM

Ten Truths About God’s Absolute Being

John Piper

1. God had no beginning.

God is who he is means he never had a beginning. And that just staggers the mind. Every child asks his parents, “Where did God come from? Who made God?” And every wise parent says, “Nobody made God. He just was always there. Always. No beginning.”

2. God is without end.

God is who he is means God will never end. If he didn’t come into being, he can’t go out of being, because he is being — absolute being. There’s no place to go outside being. There’s only he. Before he creates, he’s all there is. Absolutely.

3. God is absolute reality.

God is who he is means God is absolute reality. There’s no reality before him. There’s no reality outside of him unless he wills it and creates it. He’s not one of many realities before he creates. He is simply absolute reality. He’s all that was — eternally. No space. Space didn’t exist. The universe didn’t exist. Emptiness did not exist. Only God existed forever, absolutely and absolutely all.

4. God is utterly independent.

God is who he is means that God is utterly independent. He depends on nothing to bring him into being. He depends on nothing to support him. He depends on nothing to counsel him. He depends on nothing to make him what he is. He is absolutely independent.

5. Everything depends on him.

God is who he is means everything that is not God depends totally on God. All that is not God is secondary, dependent. The entire universe is secondary reality. Let that sink in, because nobody in this city believes that. And if the church doesn’t, you’re just like them. All the universe is secondary. Humanity is secondary. God is primary, absolute first, last, glorious. Everything else is secondary.

6. Nothing compares to God.

God is who he is means all the universe is, by comparison to God, as nothing. Galaxies compared to God are nothing. All the universe by comparison to God is as nothing. Contingent, dependent reality is to absolute, independent reality as a shadow to substance, as echo to thunderclap, as bubble to ocean. All that we see, all that you are amazed by in your land or around the world — all the world, all the galaxies — compared to God, is as nothing. If you put God on one side of the scales and the universe on the other side of the scales, the universe goes up like air or dust on the scale. Isaiah 40:17: “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.”

7. God cannot be improved.

God is who he is means God is constant. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot be improved. He cannot be diminished. He’s not becoming anything. He is who he is. There’s no development in God. There’s no progress in God. Absolute perfection cannot be improved.

8. God sets the ultimate standard.

God is who he is means he is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty. There’s no law book that he consults in deciding what is right. There’s no almanac to establish facts for God. There’s no guild, no musical guild, for example, to determine what is excellent and beautiful. He’s the standard. He himself is the standard of the right, the true, the beautiful.

9. God always does right.

God is who he is means God does whatever he pleases, and it is always right, always beautiful, always in accord with truth. There are no constraints on God from outside that he doesn’t will to exist, and thus govern. All reality that is outside of him is subordinate to him. So, he’s utterly free. He’s the only free being in the universe, in fact. He is utterly free from any constraints that don’t originate from his own will.

10. Nothing is worth more.

God is who he is means he’s the greatest, the most beautiful, the most valuable, and the most important person in existence. He’s more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all persons and all realities put together, including the entire universe.

The Bible reveals and assumes that God everywhere.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/who-is-yahweh?fbclid=IwAR0aU5FB4q06C9y3j8Rzd98gaMpPjPk61mbw99nnPj78D7U2f1ijCxxfFOE