STORYLINE 24

GO TO MY NEW BLOG SITE!

2008-10-03T09:59:00.003-05:00

Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog here. I've taken this blog to another blog site. There I am posting twice a week on what I'm teaching my student ministry (youth ministry) in systematic theology and biblical theology. I'm trying to post daily some theological thoughts and helps when it comes to student ministry/youth ministry. I am uploading on the blog mp3's, handouts, powerpoints, and other helps for youth pastors who want to teach through the Bible and through doctrine. So feel free to stop by there. WWW.STORYLINEFRAMEWORK.WORDPRESS.COM. I'd love to hear from you!

Storyline Biblical Theology #18: Exodus 25-40. "Touring the OT Tabernacle"

2008-07-28T20:27:00.003-05:00

When Saddam Hussein rose to power in Iraq, he purposed to build himself a palace that would symbolize his absolute power and rule. He idolized the ancient king Nebuchadnezzar and his rule. So, he not only built a palace like his, but he also built it with the ruins of the ancient palace. Six hundred rooms, 60 million sand-colored bricks each inscribed with a tribute to his rule, overlooking the Euphrates river, architected like a ziggurat (ancient temple), as high as four stories, as long as five football fields, hundreds of thousands of feet of marble, and gold bathroom fixtures are just some of the intimidating tactics that Saddam had to playing a part in his palace. The funny thing is, Saddam rarely even lived in it.

In Exodus 25 – 40, we see God instructing Moses how to build a house for His dwelling: a Tabernacle. Every single detail that God gave to Moses was to reflect His glory, His holiness, and His Son. Even though the tabernacle was to illustrate God’s transcendent holiness, man’s rebellious sinfulness, and Christ’s incarnational coming; it wasn’t to be built as an intimidation factor. Rather, God’s house was to be built because He desired to dwell with His people. The more we understand the Tabernacle, the more we understand God’s presence through Jesus!

God’s Tabernacle was to be located in the center of Israel’s camp whenever they stopped. When looking at The Tent from all of the other Israelite tents, you would see a huge wood fence with cloth between the slats separating you from the holy presence of God. Israelites could go in the gate of the fence and enter into the Courtyard (27:9-19). The first item in the courtyard would be the Bronze Altar (27:1-8) where Israelites would bring animals for the priests to sacrifice as a substitute offering for their sin. This pictures Christ’s one and final sacrifice as a substitute for our sin in which we must believe (Heb 9:15). The next item in the courtyard would be the Bronze Basin (30:17-21) where priests would wash their hands and feet before sacrifices and before entering into the Tabernacle. In Scripture, water is usually a symbol of being washed and cleansed of sin through the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:26).

Within the courtyard was the Tent (Tabernacle) in which only Israelite priests could enter. They would pass through a curtain and enter into a magnificent room of beautifully woven fabric and gold-plated furniture. To the left, the priest would see the Golden Lampstand (25:31-40) which was the only source of light within the Tabernacle. It was to symbolize God watching over His people, and remember that Jesus called Himself the Light of the world (John 8:12). To the right, the priest would see the Table of the Bread of Presence (25:23-30). It had twelve loaves on it to represent the twelve tribes of God’s people. It was to symbolize how God would continually provide for His people. Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life from which we must eat (John 6:35). Straight ahead in the back of this first room (the Holy Place), the priest would see the Altar of Incense (30:1-10) which would burn a fragrance within the Tabernacle. The smell was to remind the priest of God’s nearness, and to be a pleasing aroma to God since it was just on the other side of the veil behind the ark. The Apostle Paul says that we are the aroma of Christ to God (2 Cor 2:15).

Not just any priest, but only The High Priest (Exo 28-29) could pass from the Holy Pace into the next room: The Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Jesus Chrit is our final High Priest (Heb 4:14). The rooms were separated with a very thick cloth often called the Veil in Scripture separating God’s specific presence. Within the Holy of Holies, the High Priest would see the Ark of the Covenant (25:10-22). The ark was a box that contained some very important artifacts which served to be reminders of God’s provision in the life of Israel. It had a lid that was decorated with two cherubim whose wings spread to make a throne: the Mercy Seat. This is where the glory of the Lord would descend from heaven and rest to specially dwell among His people. After the Tabernacle was built, the glory of God did just that! Jesus fulfills the Holy of Holies. He is the specific presence of God in our lives (John 1:14 – Jesus “tabernacled” among us). Jesus is the bright radiance of God’s glory (Heb 1:3). Jesus is the final One who entered the veil, tore it from top to bottom, and brought us in by His blood so that we too can draw near this holy God with confidence (Heb 9:11-28).

In 2003 when the U.S. army invaded Iraq, a group of soldiers approached one of Saddam’s dozen palaces. As they inched closer, they expected an onslaught of attack as protection by the Iraqis. But the U.S. soldiers found that it was deserted. As a sign of victory, they ran in his palace, toured his rooms, sat on his furniture, and made it their homes. In a much different way, Jesus of Nazareth entered into the Tabernacle of God on our behalf. He didn’t have to storm nor invade it. Rather, the God-man tore the now-unnecessary veil, and walked into the presence of the Godhead of which He was a part. And for those of us who are in Christ, the author of Hebrews explains that Christ has brought us in with Him. This is something incredibly special as it was completely off limits for the Israelites and the non-High Priests. What are we supposed to do since we are able to enter into the specific presence of God? The author of Hebrews gives us three important instructions (10:19-21)…

Draw Near (10:22). We are to draw near unto God and realize His specific presence in our lives through the blood of Jesus. We are to pray to Him as those who are living in His Holy of Holies. We are to constantly practice nearness to Him.

Hold Fast (10:23). We are to firmly grasp and hang on to the truths of Christ that God has revealed to us. Not holding them lightly, but firmly within our grip for special care.

Stir Up (10:24). We are to lovingly encourage and serve each other by participating as the church (the presence of God and body of Christ): by sharing what we own with each other, by giving each other our time and love, and by holding each other accountable to meet together for regular worship of God through Christ with each other – the local church.

Let me encourage you as your brother. Be a regular participant of your local church. If we see the importance of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament and the body of Jesus Christ as the specific dwelling of God in the New Testament, then we must see that the gathering of our local church is equally important to the life and godliness of each and every Christian.

Storyline Biblical Theology #17: Exodus 25-40. "BE AWARE: God's presence in our lives through Christ"

2008-07-28T20:17:00.005-05:00

Just the other night, I woke up to a loud noise which sounded like someone had gotten my front door open and they were trying to rip the chain lock off to get in. As soon as I woke up, the noise stopped. I laid very still in my bed for several minutes listening for footsteps all over my house. I turned sideways, and it looked like someone was standing outside my window looking in to watch my every move. I laid even more still. I finally got up the nerve to go look through my blinds and saw it was the shadows of the trees outside. I then army-crawled on my belly to look under my door to see any feet in my house. I saw nothing. I laid back in bed and fell back asleep after several more minutes. I woke up the next morning and found all my doors locked, nothing missing, and nothing wrong. I guess I totally dreamed-up the noise in my head!

When we sense the presence of someone or something greater than us, it changes our every move and consumes our thoughts. Are we fully aware of God’s awesome presence in our lives? God is omnipresent which means He is everywhere at all times, but God is especially present with His people in a very specific way. In Exodus 25 – 40, God commanded Moses to have His people build Him a tabernacle so that He could dwell among them and they would know He is their God (29:46). While God was commanding Moses this very thing, Israel was at the bottom of the mountain making an idol so that their “God” would be present among them. This infuriated God so much so that He told Moses He would not go with them to the Promise Land (33:3). This news devastated Israel. So Moses went outside the camp to the Tent of Meeting. God descended from heaven to the tent in the pillar of cloud, and all the people would watch from their own tents in worship. There Moses begged God to go with them and dwell among them. He didn’t want to go any farther without God’s presence (33:8-16).

Do you feel that way about God’s presence in your life? Do you refuse to go anywhere, to not do anything, to not make any decision without being aware of the presence of God Himself? Many Christians today do desire to have contact with God, but they leave the daily experience with God to the professionals. They go to church to hear from a pastor who has a real relationship with God, to pray for them, and to study God’s Word for them. All those are great things, but each Christian should personally be aware of God’s dwelling presence in their life. How is God present in our lives today if there is no Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting?

John, one of Jesus’ closest friends and disciples, wrote “And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Wow! John is saying that just as God dwelt among His people in the Old Testament by His glory, Jesus has dwelt among His people in the New Testament. The author of Hebrews says that whenever God’s glory is present, Jesus is present. How is God present in our lives today? He is present through our union with Jesus Christ in salvation.

My favorite basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. I saw him play one time against the Hawks in Atlanta. But there was another time that I got to go to Jordan’s personal restaurant in Chicago. While we were eating, our waitress told us that Jordan was in the building that day doing a press conference. I got more excited than being at the game! He was supposed to be there, but this was being around Jordan in my every day life! When we learn to be aware of God’s presence in our daily lives, we change. Our relationship with Him is deepened because we realize how near He is. Our power over sin is strengthened because we do not want to bring Him shame in His presence. Our courage to witness is heightened because we want those around us to experience His personal presence just like we are. I pray that no one thinks they sense God’s presence, imagine Him watching over us, lay still to listen to Him, and even look around to see Him there…but wake up in eternity to find that it wasn’t God after all. It was our imagination. Is God present in your life by believing in the saving gospel of Jesus Christ?

Storyline Biblical Theology #16: Exodus 19-24. "Camping Out At Fear Mountain: Friendship, Obedience, and Worship"

2008-07-28T20:05:00.004-05:00

As we turned the corner and heard the sound, we knew our lives were in danger. A couple friends and I decided to go hiking and camping in the Tennessee mountains over a July 4 weekend. We hiked up a 2 mile mountain, pitched our tent near the top, and came back down the mountain for a good meal that night with more friends in the area. Those friends warned us about going back up the mountain that night since many bear attacks were reported in the areas at night, so we decided to sleep in the car that night. When we couldn’t sleep, we started driving around. When we turned the corner on the road, we nearly hit a huge, 3-foot-long wild boar. Early that morning, we decided to hike back up the mountain quickly to get the tent. While hiking up and winding around the corner of the trail, we heard the snorting sound of a hog. I remember running like a gazelle down the mountain for the fear of getting eaten alive by Porky. We finally got up the courage to go back up the mountain, get the tent, and drive home.

In Exodus 19 – 24, Moses writes about an even more fearful camping trip. Israel had just recently left their bondage in Egypt, and they are traveling through the wilderness toward the land God had promised to provide for them. In Exodus 19:1-6, God is reminding them that if they continue to follow Him they will be His “treasured possession.” God is promising friendship with Him. Friendship with God is too often misunderstood. We can’t think of being God’s friends like a buddy, a pal, or an equal. Just like Jesus calls the disciples “His friends,” we are God’s friends in the way of Him sharing Himself with us. That is why we don’t call God our friend. That would be an insult. God is not our friend. He is our God, our King, our Lord!

Isn’t it interesting in Exodus 19 that Moses is the only one who God seems to be speaking to and who can speak back to God? God is showing him and Israel how Holy and unapproachable He is to sinners. Through Christ, we can speak with God in prayer. Moses isn’t our mediator, but Jesus is. Do we understand how awesome this is…that we can pray to the Almighty God? Are we guilty of rushing through our prayers and not speaking to Him in such a way that He is unapproachable apart from His Son’s mediation?

God is displaying Himself as holy, fearsome, and unapproachable through a blazing mountain. The mountain that Israel has come to is the Mountain of God. The mountain has thick smoke swirling around it, and deafening-thunderous blasts that shake the ground. Needless to say, the people trembled with fear seeing the fierce holiness of God. Not only were they prohibited from climbing the mountain, but they weren’t even allowed to touch it – or they would die. Moses reverently climbs the mountain, and God gives Him the 10 commandments there. We can’t fall into the trap of thinking God’s laws are just a list of do’s and don’ts. God’s laws are a way of revealing His character to His people. If they are to be His people, then they must live out His character. The first 4 commands speak directly to our relationship with God. The last 6 commands speak to our relationship with other people. When asked the greatest command, Jesus answered that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second greatest is to love others. He perfectly summed up the Law of God! In fact, Jesus didn’t just sum it up perfectly with His answer, but He also perfectly fulfilled the Law of God for us with His obedient life. God expects every believer to fulfill God’s Law. We cannot. So Christ has done it for us. That is why we believe salvation by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9).

The last thing Moses did in this passage is something that I would get fired for as a youth pastor. Moses read the law to the people, and he sprinkled (covered) them all with the sacrificial blood of oxen (Exodus 24). God never wanted His people to forget that salvation will only come through blood. Hebrews 12 tells us that we have come to Mount Zion to worship God in reverence and awe through the blood of Jesus – an even better covenant of salvation. Is that what your weekly worship of God looks like – a complete reverential awe for who Christ is?

Framework Systematic Theology #10 - MACRO Theology - Doctrine of Revelation

2008-07-28T19:55:00.003-05:00

Imagine living hundreds of years ago in a medieval kingdom, with a castle in the middle, and citizens living as servants to their sovereign king. Imagine your King making an appearance once a week to verbally address his kingdom from the castle’s third-floor balcony. Remember, whatever the King says is law for his kingdom and life for his citizens. All would listen intently!
Likewise, the Doctrine of Revelation is all about God revealing Himself, His character, and His purposes through the way in which He speaks to all people. Here are some true/false questions:
1. People can be saved by looking at the created universe and believing in God as creator.
2. People can be saved by listening to their conscience tell them that God really exists.
3. All people in all times and in all places have known that God really exists.
4. God wouldn’t send someone to hell who has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Divine Revelation is the one true God speaking to us in order to reveal Himself. What if God wrote a daily column in the newspaper? I’m sure everyone would read it daily! But do we believe that God speaks just as fresh, just as powerful, and just as daily through His revelation?
There are a few things we must understand about Divine Revelation. First, Divine Revelation was natural in the beginning between God, Adam, and Eve. There was no separation as God would speak and reveal Himself to them in the garden. Would they have needed a Bible? Secondly, Divine Revelation is now necessary because of sin. Sin is not only wrong, but it also separates us from the holy God. Therefore, God must speak to reveal Himself to sinners who do not naturally know Him. Third, the purpose of Divine Revelation is for us to know God through Jesus Christ. God’s goal is that we look to Him and know Him through His Son (John 17:3).

While Divine Revelation is the broad doctrine of God revealing Himself, General Revelation is the doctrine of God revealing Himself to all persons, at all times, and in all places through the creation and the conscience (Psalm 19:1, Rom 1-2). As a youth pastor, I get lots of questions from teenagers about the people in foreign lands like Africa who die without knowing the gospel. Do they go to heaven or hell? The Apostle Paul says that all people everywhere have always looked at the creation, perceived that God exists, but reject Him (Rom 1:18-21). Not only creation, but also all humanity’s conscience bear witness of God’s law and existence, yet they reject Him and His law (Rom 2:14-16). This means that all people, at all times, and in all places are guilty before God because of their need of Jesus Christ. It is both contrary to a sinner’s nature to come to God without Christ, and contrary to God’s purposeful plan in Christ. While General Revelation is true, it is never enough to lead a sinner to Christ (Rom 10:10-15).

Because General Revelation is insufficient for salvation, what we call Special Revelation is needed. Special Revelation is when God reveals Himself to specific people at specific times and in specific places for them to enter into a saving relationship with Him through Jesus.
Dreams, Visions, and Prophecies are Special Revelations from God used throughout Scripture to reveal His plan, His will, and His desire for the people within His covenant (Matt 1:20).
Direct Address is used by God to speak to people in specific events (Gen 3:16-19, Matt 3:17).
Scripture is said by the Apostle Peter to be an even more sure and confident revelation of God than His audible voice. This is because the written Word of God passed down throughout generations is more protected from alteration than “God told me…” (2 Peter 1:16-21). Jesus Christ is the fullest, most exact, and most special revelation of God (John 1:1, 14:9, Heb 1:1-4). Nothing reveals God better to humanity than His own Son – fully God and fully man.

Why does God reveal Himself to us? It is because God’s absolute best plan for our lives is that we are in relationship with Him. We know God best through His Son, Jesus Christ. And we know Jesus Christ best through His Word (Rom 10:17) and His church (Eph 1:22-23). We only know God as much as we know Jesus. We only know Jesus as much as we know His Word.

Storyline Biblical Theology #15: Exodus 16-18. "Drinking, Eating, and Fighting: Being Baptist in the Wilderness"

2008-07-28T19:30:00.007-05:00

It was probably the most hungry I’ve ever been in my whole life. When I was a 9th grader growing up in my youth ministry in Alabama, my youth pastor took us on a 50 mile hiking trip over some of the toughest terrain in the Appalachian Mountains. After a week of hiking and struggling to eat the hiker’s diet of oatmeal, trail mix, and fig-newtons, this southern-bred boy was ready for some real food. Like an oasis in a desert, as we exited the trail we saw a Pizza Hut. From the feeling of starvation and the smell of the long-awaited greasy meat, I ordered a large pizza of my own. The rest is a blur, but what I barely remember is barely making it into my third piece before I had to make a run for... Well, you get the picture.

In Exodus 15:22 – 18:27, Israel has run into a serious problem: thirst and starvation. After creating the cosmos, humanity fell into sin and rebelled against God. He called a people to Himself to be His “treasured possession.” He delivered them from Egyptian oppressors, and now He is leading them to a land He has promised them. As they are trekking through the wilderness, something doesn’t seem right. They haven’t had water to drink in three days. Extreme thirst doesn’t make sense to them if they are the chosen people of God. Finally, they find water, but it is undrinkable. The people begin complaining because they are in extreme desert heat, and even their children are thirsting. God tells Moses to throw a log into the water. He did, and the water became sweet. God was teaching His people to depend upon Him for everything: water and the way of life (Exodus 15:22-27). Jesus tells us that He is the Living Water from which we will never thirst again. We are all so thirsty that we will be drinking from something else to quench our thirst if we’re not drinking from Jesus (John 4:14-14).

In Exodus 16, the people of God begin to complain to Moses again that they would have been better off staying in Egypt since they at least got to eat and feed meat to their children. God graciously hears their cries. But let me ask you, “Did Israel ever see their situation and humbly cry out to God in prayer to request their needs?” I can’t remember a time they did this in all of Exodus. It’s so easy to look down on them when we usually have more than what we need to live, yet we complain in life about what we don’t have -- whether it is better food, better stuff, or a better situation. How often do we humbly cry out to God in prayer with our requests? God answers by providing bread to fall on the ground fresh every morning. The people were instructed to only gather enough bread for that day, and the day before the Sabbath they were instructed to gather enough for two days since bread would not be provided on the Sabbath. In John 6:31-35, Jesus links Himself with Moses’ manna and calls Himself the Bread of Life. Feeding from Christ must be fresh every day, and special on every Sunday – the Lord’s Day.

Just when you’d think they had learned the lesson of prayer, Israel rebels farther -- past complaining -- and starts doubting God’s presence among them and goodness to them (17:1-7). They are thirsty again, and all they can see is huge Mount Horeb before them. God tells Moses to strike the rock (Mount Horeb), and He will provide water. Moses does, and water comes out. Did you know Paul tells us that the rock Moses struck was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4)? Again, God was teaching His people to depend on Him by following and being nourished in His Son.

Lastly, we see why God was teaching them to rely on Him for nourishment, health, and safety. Israel runs into the Amalekites (17:8-16). God designs the battle so that as long as Moses’ arms are lifted in the air, Israel wins. If his arms are dropped, Israel gets defeated. Battles take a long time, and arms get tired. Moses ended up sitting down with Joshua and Aaron at his side to hold his arms up. Could this be a pattern for victory that God is setting into place? God has called us to fight as Christians, but the true victory comes through the out-stretched hands of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Old Testament truly is filled with historical truths written to show us how dependent we must be on Jesus – our Water, Bread, and Victory.

Framework Systematic Theology #9 - MACRO Theology - Doctrine of the Spirit

2008-07-28T19:16:00.004-05:00

Who is the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit’s primary role in the universe? Has the Holy Spirit always existed? How are we supposed to relate to the Holy Spirit as Christians? Let’s begin with some true-false questions, and then we’ll answer them in the lesson.

When referring to the Holy Spirit, we should say “It” because that’s what the Bible says.
The Holy Spirit won’t be in eternity since we won’t be sinners and Jesus will be ruling.
The Holy Spirit’s primary role is to point the world to God the Son, Jesus Christ.
When thinking about these questions, I’m convinced that John 15:26-27 is one of the most important passages of Scripture in all the Bible teaching on the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” This is the role of the Holy Spirit!
Before we get into all that, let’s first understand who the Holy Spirit is not.

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force or an “It.” The Holy Spirit is not merely the force or the arm of God. The Holy Spirit is a Person; therefore, we should refer to Him as “He.”
The Holy Spirit is not the Wal-Mart bouncing smiley face. Many people view the Holy Spirit’s role as to merely make God’s people happy and nice. But there is so much more to Him.
The Holy Spirit is not God’s energy drink in you. I’ve heard many accounts of so-called “Holy Spirit Revivals” where people are “slain in the Spirit,” filled with the Spirit for Holy laughter and vomiting (its true!), and crawling around on all fours wearing a dog collar to picture submission.
The Holy Spirit is not weak or selfish. If the Holy Spirit does indwell a person, that person’s life will be changed. The Holy Spirit doesn’t indwell a person’s life for His own glory, but for the glory of Jesus Christ! Notice how Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit meaning the Spirit submits to the Son. And when the Holy Spirit came, He didn’t point to Himself, but the Spirit came to bear witness of Christ. That is the primary role of the Holy Spirit!

Let’s get into Who the Holy Spirit really is. The Holy Spirit is a member of the Triune God which means He is His own Person yet He is also a full part of the Divine Godhead. He has eternally existed, and he was involved in the beginning at the creation of the universe (Gen 1:2). The Holy Spirit was, is, and always will be the sign of the Kingdom of Christ. Let me explain. In the OT, He anointed the prophets, kings, and specifically chosen people of God to accomplish God’s specific will. His final anointing was on Jesus (Christ = Anointed One, Messiah) making Him the King of the cosmos. Through Christ, we too as the church are anointed with the Holy Spirit (filling the church together as the temple of God). The Holy Spirit does not seek to be worshipped, rather He leads everything into worship of the Son. The Holy Spirit fills everything. He also gives and sustains life in the eternal Kingdom of the New Creation (Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22). Therefore the Holy Spirit convicts to point the world to the Son of God (John 16:8-11), fills believers to transform them into Christ’s image (2 Cor 3:18), and assists us in bringing glory to the Father. That is why He is called the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9, 1 Pet 1:11).

So from saying all of that, how can we live in the Spirit. As Christians, we can live in the Spirit in three primary ways. First, the Holy Spirit gives the people of God wisdom. I’m afraid that Christian pop-culture today encourages us to “wait on God” rather than use wisdom. If God intended for us to pray and wait, He would not have needed to give us His Word so that we can study in order to gain wisdom and make wise, godly decisions. Second, the Holy Spirit gives the people of God power (not weakness). The Holy Spirit does not just enable us to live for Christ, but He also empowers us to want to live for Christ so that we live in righteousness (Phil 2:13). Lastly, the Holy Spirit gives the people of God the ability to be Christ-like. The Holy Spirit is constantly working to transform us into Christ’s glorious and perfect image (Rom 8:28-29).

Storyline Biblical Theology #14: Exodus 14-15. "The Great Escape: Sea the salvation of the Lord"

2008-07-28T19:06:00.008-05:00

Glass was shattering, the roof came caving in, and the walls were crumbling to the floor. “It was like a bad dream. I just have to keep reminding myself it really happened,” one teen recounted. In February 2007, a massive tornado ripped through the Enterprise, AL area. School was in session, many teenagers were injured, and some were killed. Personally not having children, I can’t imagine being a parent who raised their child for over 15 years and having them taken away by such a disaster.

Please Read Exodus 14-15. Escaping Egypt by the desert, what are the Israelites thinking when God has them turn back to camp with the vast Red Sea before them and Egypt behind them? What is going through their minds when they look up and see what looks to be an approaching storm and what sounds like thunder? Instead it is the swirling dust of chariots racing through the desert and the galloping of horses. They are trapped, but did God set this trap purposefully? Yes, but this is not a trap for Israel to be slaughtered. Instead, it is a trap for God to get the glory from destroying His enemies, the persecutors of His people: the Egyptians.

God has only talked to Moses about what is going to happen at this point, so of course the Israelites are complaining, confused, and afraid for their lives. Moses speaks out and says something that we all must remember when our back is to the sea and we feel like there is no way out of our circumstance: “Watch the salvation of the Lord, you will never see your enemies again, and the Lord will fight for you (14:13-14).” As we place our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will be saved from our lives of suffering, our enemies will be destroyed, and it is all done by the grace and power of our God through the work of His Son! We must remember that God doesn’t get us out of every situational jam in this life, but His promise is to rescue us from the power of sin and death through resurrection. Our resurrection from the dead is the greatest way that we can see the salvation of the Lord, our enemies being slain, and God fighting for us. God getting us out of jams in this life is purely by His grace. It is the jams of life that grow us.

God fights for His people by moving in the form of the pillar of cloud and fire between Egypt and Israel. By the raising of Moses’ staff, God parts the Red Sea. Israel files through with watery walls on the left and right as Egypt follows close behind them and with God between them. When the last Israelite makes it to the other side on dry land, God closes the sea and drowns every single pursuing Egyptian. The Scripture specifically says that Israel then believed in the Lord and His servant Moses (14:31). Watch what Israel immediately does next!

Standing on the sea shore with wide eyes and hearts full of both fear and gratitude, Israel does something very godly but also very natural. They sing in worship to God! Singing to express emotion is part of God’s image in humanity. Although singing is not the only form of worship to God, it is a very primary part of worship. Some of my thoughts on worship from this:

1. Worship God because of your salvation. Exodus 13:17-15:21 give us such a powerful, physical picture of what has taken place in our spiritual salvation. We can see the salvation of the Lord, our enemies being crushed, and how God fights for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. If we hardly ever respond in singing, we will continue to have a very weak faith.

2. Worship God by exalting Christ. Exodus 15:1-18 is the song of Israel recounting what God did to save them from the Egyptians. Our worship of God must be driven by the Spirit of God who points us to the Truth of God who is the Son of God (John 4:24). Worship Jesus for who He really is – not some beautifully sweet sissy, but a majestic, powerful, and worthy King!

3. Worship God by encouraging each other. Exodus 15:19-21 shows us the importance of singing the salvation story to one another. Singing together as a church is crucial! As we sing together, we are reminding each other what we believe, what God has done in Christ, and how God will save us in the future. Remember God’s Great Escape. “Sea” the salvation of Christ!

Framework Systematic Theology #8 - MACRO Theology - Doctrine of God

2008-07-28T17:50:00.003-05:00

How many times have you been asked questions or have heard comments about people’s questions concerning God, such as: “How can anyone really know that Christianity is the only way? How do you truly believe that God exists? Can’t all the other religions be just as right since they believe just as strongly? Why are we here? What is our purpose? Where did everything come from?” These are the questions I actually get asked most in student ministry. They are asking to be able to answer them for their friends who come to them with questions.

When it comes to these questions, there are four major thoughts seeking to answer them.
1. Nihilism says there is no God or meaning to anything. These people would say that the universe and even our decisions as human beings are merely reactions to chemical explosions. So whatever we do is meaningless because another explosion will occur and destroy all this.
2. Naturalism says that there is no God, and all matter is eternal. These people would say that there is nothing supernatural since everything is merely natural. Time will continue on forever.
3. Deism says that God exists, but He’s not involved. These people would say that God created everything but “wound the watch” for it to continue on its own. Deism is an explanation for people who say that all religions can be right and point to the same God from different angles.
4. Christian Theism says that the triune God both exists and rules. As Christian Theists, we believe in one God who is three Persons, and He is actively ruling over every aspect of lives.

It took me quite a while to think, study, and search through a lot of the Scriptures for one of the most descriptive passages in the Bible about who God is. Can you imagine the task of teaching who God is to teenagers in a single 30-minute lesson? Yeah, it was quite a challenge. I ended up landing on Psalm 100. It is an interesting passage because it starts out with a command to praise God and then gives the reasons why to praise God. I’m going to switch them around…

It is urgent to understand who God is (Psalm 100:3). This is getting a glimpse of His make-up, or what His parts are. There is just one God, not many. The one true God consists of three Persons – Father, Son and Spirit. We don’t believe in three Gods, but in only one God who is three Persons. Each Person within the Trinity (three Persons of the one God) are all equally God. On the other hand, each Person within the Trinity is different in Personhood and role from each other. By different in Personhood, I mean that the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. By different in role, I mean that the Father serves authoritatively within the Trinity (1 Cor 11:2), the Son is the God-man Mediator who serves as eternal King of all the cosmos submitting to the Father (1 Cor 15:28), and the Spirit, in submission to the Son, fills all faithful humanity to point them to Christ and transform them into His image (John 15:28, Rom 8:29). Understanding who God is naturally causes us to serve and worship Him (Psalm 100:1-2). If we struggle with that, we need a clearer view of Him!

It is also urgent to understand what God is like (Psalm 100:5). God is knowable. We should not fall into the trap of trying to put God in a box because we do not know everything about Him since He is infinite and our finite minds are unable to know everything about the infinite God. On the other hand, Scripture is very clear that we can put boundaries around our knowledge of God in order that we do not wander into the abyss of what He is not (sinful, weak, wishy-washy, untrustworthy, etc.). We are separated from God because of our sin, but through Christ we can have this relationship of knowing Him and what He is like from His Word. God has told us about Himself in His perfect Word so that we can know what He is like and what He is not like. Understanding what God is like causes us to pray to Him with praise and thankfulness (Psalm 100:4-5). If we lack praise and thankfulness, we lack understanding of what God is like. Its amazing to think we can sit and make God out to be as great as possible in our finite minds, and for the rest of our lives we could still never imagine His greatness (Ps. 145:3)!

Storyline 13: Exodus 5 - 13. "Shock and Awe: The Judgment of Jesus"

2008-05-30T14:07:00.005-05:00

Imagine living in a country where your national leader sees himself like a god. He rules in absolute power by brute force. In fact, even after just being inaugurated into office, he arrests and executes many of his political opponents. He even has the gall to ask his ministers for candid advice. When one tells him to step down to promote peace, that minister is delivered to his wife’s doorstep in dismembered pieces. When America attacked Iraq with the “Shock and Awe” military tactic, our ultimate purpose was to dethrone this cruel tyrant - Saddam Hussein. Exodus 5 – 13 describes a more powerful attack on a more evil ruler - Pharaoh of Egypt.

Several weeks ago, we left off the story with God raising up Moses as the leader to rescue His people from the world super-power - the Egyptian empire. When Moses approaches Pharaoh with God’s command to let His people go so that they can worship God in the wilderness, Pharaoh asks: “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” Well, God is about to show him who He is! Pharaoh is so insulted by the request that he turns up the heat on the Israelites by making them provide their own straw and make more bricks. When Moses gets back to the people, they are furious at him for causing life to get even worse. Our spiritual situation is similar to the one of Israel. Just like Israel, we can’t worship God fully while we’re enslaved, Satan turns up the heat of temptation when God is calling us into a deeper relationship with Him, and life often gets more difficult when we seek to follow God.

Moses is devastated at the response of Pharaoh (even though God had already warned him), but he was ultimately discouraged at the response of Israel. God encourages Moses. He will deliver His people from Pharaoh, and He will keep His covenant to take them to the Promise Land just like He did it with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This whole story, as well as the entire Bible, is about God being faithful to keeping His covenant. Why? Because His covenant of salvation brings about His highest goal: the glory of Jesus Christ. God is continually keeping His covenant before His people’s eyes just like He does with us and the gospel. We need to be reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ daily which empowers us to live it continually.

When the Pharaoh declines again to let God’s people go, God begins His war campaign which He calls “Signs and Wonders.” It makes “Shock and Awe” look like little bottle rockets. The 10 plagues were: Nile turned to blood along with all other sources of water which caused all marine life to die and all of Egypt to stink, frogs came up from the Nile and swarmed the people everywhere including their food, Aaron struck the dust of the ground and it became gnats covering people and animals, swarms of flies covered and ruined the land of Egypt, all of the livestock of Egypt died, Moses threw dust in the air which became boils breaking out on all people and animals, heavy hail with thunder and fire rained down upon Egypt killing everything left outside, a swarm of locusts filled Egypt making it dark and ate all remaining food crops, pitch darkness fell over the land of Egypt for three days so that no one could see each other or go anywhere, and lastly the death of the firstborn. This is significant as Pharaoh’s firstborn son was the future Pharaoh and was thought to be a god. God commanded each family of Israel to kill a lamb, and to spread its blood over the family’s doorposts. If lamb’s blood was on the doorposts, the Death Angel of the Lord would Passover in peace. If there was no lamb’s blood, the Death Angel would kill the firstborn – from Pharaoh to slave to animal. Pharaoh finally let Israel go!

Throughout this entire historical drama, God is repeatedly saying that through this the whole earth will know that “I am the Lord, that there is no other like Me.” He wants His people free to serve Him. We must know that God pours out His wrath on all sin. God’s greatest judgment: Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son of God, hanging on the cross in agony plagued with the penalty of the sin for all humanity. For those who believe in His death for their sin, they will be spared from the judgment of Jesus that is coming with His return (2 Thess 1:5-12 – a must read).

Framework Systematic Theology - 02 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - His Deity

2008-05-05T22:14:00.004-05:00

(This video is not meant to be sacrireligious. It was created to show how people can stereotypically fall into thinking about Jesus. Do we forget He is fully God along with His full humanity?)

In the last lesson, we looked at the storyline of Jesus Christ. It was about how we can understand Him throughout Scripture - from before the beginning of time through the time of future eternity. Why are we starting out with Jesus when looking into doctrines, and why are we looking so deeply into who He is? As people who are all about glorifying our great God, we must understand that Jesus is the glory of God (Philippians 2:11). So who IS (not “was”) Jesus?

Let’s first look at what the Deity of Jesus Christ means: Jesus as fully God. We have to remember that everyone has a view on this. Right now, if you realize it or not, you have thoughts on whether or not Jesus has always been fully God, if Jesus is fully God today, and if Jesus will always be fully God. All throughout history people have had views on this, such as:
Ebionism – People who believe this say that Jesus was a regular man who was born but chosen by God to become His Son at His baptism. The Spirit of God left this man near His death. This might sound crazy that people would believe that, but there is a man named Jose Luis today who believes He is now the “Christ” as the Spirit has entered him to be God’s Son. YouTube him!
Aryanism – People who believe this say that Jesus is not God because he is God’s Son who He created to be His firstborn over all creation. Jehovah’s Witnesses do hold to this thought today. When I meet other “Christians” throughout life, I normally love to ask them their thoughts on who Jesus is. I’ve gotten many answers saying that there is no way that Jesus is fully God and that God would never want Jesus to be worshipped because only God should be worshipped. The view of Aryanism is all over the place in many different people from bad teaching!

Are we crazy for thinking that God has a Son fully divine as He is? Are we the only ones who think this? Actually, Jesus claimed Himself to be God (John 10:30). Of course any yahoo can claim that, so what did others say about Him? Those who walked, talked, and lived with Him claimed His Deity as well (John 1:1). Again, any lunatic can claim that for himself and brainwash his followers to do this same. Did He actually display divine attributes? Yes! In the New Testament, Jesus displayed the divine attributes we normally think of: omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. But He also portrayed other important divine attributes: eternal existence, ability to forgive sins, faultless holiness, loving, just, etc.

Yet this article isn’t just to teach you that Jesus is fully God, but it is also to teach you that Jesus is the fullest physical revelation and fulfillment of who God was showing Himself to be all throughout the OT. God is creating and ruling by speaking in the OT. In John 1:1-14 Jesus is specifically called the Word of God. God is teaching and calling for living the way of wisdom in the OT such as in Proverbs. In the NT, Jesus is called both the Way (John 14:6), and the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:30). As God is claiming Himself to be LORD in the OT, Jesus is constantly referred to as Lord in the NT (Philippians 2:10-11). God reveals Himself to Moses and His people in the OT as the “I AM”, and Jesus makes the same claim for Himself (John 8:58). Lastly, the greatest promise God gave to His OT people is that He would bless them with His presence. In Matthew 1:23, the author says that the angels’ proclamation took place to fulfill the OT prophecy that Jesus would be called “Emmanuel” meaning: “God is with us.” God is speaking of Himself in the OT to point us to His glory in the NT – His Son Jesus Christ.

What I want to leave with you is that Jesus is the difference maker. As we speak with friends and family about bringing meaning into their lives, we must be faithful to share the person and work of Jesus Christ for God to make a difference in their lives. Churches aren’t making a difference when they don’t point their people to Jesus Christ. So many people want to say that all religions are worshipping the same God but just from different angles. No! The glory of God is Jesus Christ and anyone who doesn’t believe in Christ isn’t a child of God the Father, rather they are a child of the Devil (2 Corinthians 4:1-6, John 8:42). Jesus is fully God.

Storyline Biblical Theology 12 - Exodus 2-4 - "The Raising of a Leader: Moses, Jesus, and You"

2008-04-16T21:20:00.004-05:00

That video of Michael Jackson proves that he’s been in a transformation of complete freakishness. Wow, my spell-check actually accepted that word! Isn’t it freaky to watch his face morph from child to adult knowing now that he’s fathering children? Apparently, he named his first son Prince Michael, his first daughter Paris, and his second son Prince Michael II, (calls him Blanket). What a weirdo. Let’s pray for him now! Okay I’m back…do you remember when Michael held out baby “Blanket” over the 3rd story hotel balcony? His fans were freaked out!

Read Exodus 2 – 4. This is exactly the opposite of what Moses’ mother was doing three months after his birth when she hid him in a basket and floated him along the Nile River. God had her hide Moses for protection. The daughter of the King of Egypt found Moses and ended up raising him as an Egyptian prince who was mighty in word and deed (Acts 7). God was raising Moses to lead His people. When Moses was 40, he really wanted to get to know his Hebrew relatives, so he went out among the slaves. He saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Israelites and became so enraged with anger that he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When word got around and the Pharaoh found out, Moses ran away for the sake of his life.

Forty years later, while shepherding a flock, Moses looked over his shoulder and saw a bush in flames but it wasn’t being consumed. Then the bush started talking to him and calling his name? It could only be the desert heat getting to him or…God. After commanding Moses to take off his shoes because of His presence making the ground holy, God tells Moses His plan of using him to free the Israelites from Pharaoh and to escape Egypt. Moses comes back with five different excuses: “I’m not worthy. Who are you really? They won’t believe me. I’m not capable. Send someone else.” God responds with five direct promises: “I will be with you. ‘I am’ sending you. I will prove Myself. I will do it through you. I will send your brother, too.

Maybe you are reading this article and you have come up with so many excuses not to lead others to Christ because your family-life hasn’t been the “American dream” or because you feel your sinful past has you dragging too much “baggage” behind you. Wow, you may sound a lot like one of the greatest leaders of history! God is also promising you that He will give you both the passion and the ability to accomplish every good work through you (Philippians 2:13). God is calling all of us in this passage to follow Christ and to lead others to Him. Where? He tells Moses that Israel is His firstborn Son (Exodus 4:22-23). Calling someone “son” is sensitive language. I remember hearing my dad call my brother-in-law “son” for the first time. As a man, I don’t like to admit it, but it broke my heart. I grew up being my dad’s only son. Of course I understand now. But that’s not what God was doing. He was calling Israel His firstborn Son because that was His purpose for them…to bring about Christ through birth! This passage is filled with the hope of Christ, and it is pointing us to be followers of Christ and to lead others to Him. Check out the response when Moses returns to the Israelites after over 40 years of being away: they believed him, they bowed their heads, and they worshipped God (Exodus 4:29-31).

We must follow Christ toward The Promised Land just as the Israelites followed Moses to their promised land. When Jesus said to His disciples, “Come and follow Me,” they dropped what they were doing and followed Him. That is often how I picture my Christian life. I look at each decision I make and every action I take as either a step with or a step away from Christ. Thinking that really helps me visualize my walk with Jesus as a disciple. Are you reading this knowing that God has called you to both follow Christ and lead others to Him? You are called to be a leader! Reading this article right now may be many future pastors, teachers, missionaries, and ordinary people who lead others to Christ through every day conversations. Many of you who are reading are designed to be a follower. You must be careful about to Whom they are leading you. To sum it all up: Follow Christ first as you lead and follow others to Him!

Storyline Biblical Theology 11 - Exodus 1 - "Enslaved: Our need for coaching, community, and commission"

2008-04-09T20:41:00.002-05:00

How many of y’all out there had the pleasure of having hamsters for pets when you were growing up? I see that show of hands. I remember loving to watch those little fur balls run around their cage, exercise in their wheel, and maneuver through all their tubes. I always dreamed of having a play-land that cool! Actually, I finally found something very similar to a hamster cage for adults…The St. Louis City Museum is amazing! But that’s beside the point. From what I remember, we had to get rid of our hamsters because we just couldn’t control them as they were popping new little hamster babies out at the rate of a salad shooter. If we didn’t act fast enough, they’d take over our home and eventually the world! Okay, that was a tad extreme.

Something strangely similar is playing out in Exodus 1. Remember, through a series of God-ordained events, Joseph was taken to Egypt and rose to power under the Pharaoh, so Jacob with his family moved to Egypt to avoid starving from the famine. In Exodus 1, we see how God is faithful to both His commands and His covenant (1:1-7). In Genesis 1, God commands Adam to be fruitful and multiply, and as early as Genesis 12 God makes a covenant with Abraham promising to make him into a great nation with a great land and bless him. Exodus 1 is a fulfillment of God being faithful to accomplish His command and fulfill His covenant promises. We must remember this: whatever God commands, we can accomplish through Him (Phil 2:13). Whatever God promises, He will be faithful to accomplish it!

Also strangely similar to the hamsters, the Israelites are getting so numerous from their fruitful multiplication that the Egyptians fear their strength. The new Pharaoh in power didn’t have the same relationship with Joseph as the last, so he decides to make all of Israel slaves to Egypt since he felt they were a threat if war came (1:8-14). Exodus is an accurate historical book with true stories. I believe that God ordained all of these events to bring about Christ through His people and to give us physical pictures of spiritual realities. Such as: just as Pharaoh enslaves Israel, Satan seeks to enslave God’s people in sin because he feels threatened. He is the evil power behind all of this. The Pharaoh then commands the Egyptian midwives to murder all the sons born to the Hebrew children, but out of their fear of God the midwives don’t obey the Pharaoh. So the Pharaoh steps it up a notch and commands all his people to cast every born Hebrew son into the Nile river (1:15-22). Isn’t this strangely familiar to the time of Christ’s birth when Herod ordered a similar command? Why? Behind the scenes you have Satan ultimately wanting to destroy Jesus, his greatest threat. Because we as Christians are in Christ, we must be prepared and expect Satan to seek to enslave and ultimately try to destroy our lives through sin because he desperately desires to steal the glory of Jesus Christ for himself.

This is a very special message in a special service for our student ministry because we are unveiling our new website (www.cbsm.net) which explains why we do what we do. In all of Exodus we will see God using Moses to lead and teach the Israelites, forming the Israelites into a covenant-community with each other, and charging them to be on a mission…His mission. Likewise, our new pastor has given our church a focused direction of coaching, community, and commission which our student ministry has also adopted. These three essential elements of every Christian’s involvement in church protect him from the slavery and destruction of sin. “Coaching”: Our Wednesday night worship service is designed to coach students to worship Christ through our student-led praise band and preaching through the stories of the Bible. “Community”: Our Sunday school is designed to grow students in their faith of Jesus Christ through the teaching of biblical truths and small group discussions with other students. “Commission”: Our Sunday night ministry teams are designed to give opportunities and train students to better serve their church, their community, and the world just as Jesus has called us to do. I pray that our churches will grow like the unstoppable and fruitful force of... hamsters!

Storyline Biblical Theology 10 - Genesis 35-50 - "Now and Later: How Suffering Brings Glory"

2008-04-07T16:22:00.008-05:00

Have you ever seen an episode of “Veggie Tales”? I heard one of my favorite preachers tell about an episode designed to teach children about Christian suffering. He explained the one where the deliriously-happy veggies come up against the gruesome garlic demon, Beelze-bulb and his henchmen, the Ginsu Warriors. When asked to renounce their faith in Jesus, the vegetables shook their heads and sang together “No, We are His Cheeseburgers.” Then the Ginsu Warriors sliced and diced the vegetables, as the episode ended with a cold-stiff-dead Larry the Cucumber lying lifelessly in a jar of vinegar reeking with the stench of the pickling process and Bob the Tomato splattered against a wall with only the remains of his seeds and ketchup. You’re right; you’ve never heard of this episode because Christian shows for children don’t deal with real suffering. They merely deal with moral truths such as how to have faith that God will work everything out to be good and how to be nice to everyone. Suffering is the silent subject.

In Genesis 35 – 50, God records the life of Joseph as it was filled with unjust suffering. Joseph, the great grandson of Abraham, is the favorite son (out of 11 others) of Jacob from his favorite wife Rachel. In a deep sleep, God gave Joseph dreams that his family would bow down to him someday. The burning jealousy of his older brothers led them to throw him in a hole with no water, to fake his death, and to sell him to a traveling band of Midianites for 20 pieces of silver. The nomads turned around and sold Joseph to Egypt where he served in the household of Potiphar who was one of the Egyptian empire’s most powerful men. God blessed Joseph with success, and that caught the wandering eye of Potiphar’s wife. She wanted a piece of the hot-Hebrew-hunk, but all she came away with was his coat as Joseph ran from her advances. He was punished by being thrown behind bars for sin he did not commit. In prison, God used him to interpret dreams of fellow inmates which God sovereignly used as his ticket out. Pharaoh woke up in a cold-sweat from a troubling dream, and Joseph was the only one around who could interpret it correctly. Pharaoh was so appreciative of Joseph saving the future of Egypt from the coming famine (theme of his dream) that he exalted Joseph as the highest ruler in the land, just under himself of course. This is a story of not only suffering to glory, but of suffering for glory.

The Spirit of God has recorded Joseph’s story to prepare His OT people for Jesus and to point His NT people (us) to Jesus. Like Joseph, but even more so, Jesus is hated by one of His own “brothers” who sells Him out for pieces of silver. He then is severely punished for sin that He did not commit, but His willingness to go through the suffering ordained by God was rewarded with a position of ruling over a kingdom. This time not merely the Egyptian Empire, but the entire created order: the cosmos. As we are in Christ, our story is the same. Peter says that Christians will suffer for doing right (1 Peter 3:14). This Christian life will be filled with suffering more so than glory. But our suffering now will bring glory later. If we are willing to suffer for the name of Jesus now, we will rule and reign with him for all eternity (2 Tim 2:12).

I want a heart like Paul who said that his ultimate desire is to, “know [Christ] and the power of His resurrection, and share in His sufferings.” We hear a lot of talk about relationship with Jesus today, but doesn’t it normally just sound like another friendship? Shouldn’t our relationship with Christ be one as a faithful patriot to a Kingdom, a servant to a King? The more we are willing to live for Christ with a willingness to suffer for Him, the more we deeply fellowship with Him. Because we are living in a sin-cursed, Satan-ruled world, Christians will especially endure suffering because we are the threat. In our suffering, we can’t forget Joseph’s words of faith saying that whatever is meant for our harm, God will use for His good (Gen 50:20). Whatever happens in the life of a believer works towards his or her good, and the good of God is that we might fellowship with Christ by being transformed into His glorious likeness as He was through faithful suffering. So even if you never turn into ketchup for Christ, be willing!

Storyline Biblical Theology 09 - Genesis 25-35 - "Wrastlin' with God: Hang on for your life!"

2008-03-28T13:44:00.010-05:00

I felt like I was hanging on for my life as I was being thrown around like a rag doll! A few summers ago, I had the opportunity to go tubing behind a very large boat on the waters of Lake Huron. Unlike normal lakes, this Great Lake is very choppy and wavy. With the boat pulling me and another rider on a tube at ridiculously high speeds, we were literally hitting the waves and being thrown at least 5 feet into the air. I wasn’t just hanging on to the tube to have more fun, but I was hanging on for the sake of my life. I knew that hitting the water tubeless could mean an injured body, severe eye damage, or the risk of being eaten by a sea creature!

In Genesis 32:22-32 (please read), Jacob is doing the very same thing: hanging on for his very life. Jacob’s life is found between the pages of Genesis chapters 25-35, and it is characterized by wrestling. In the womb of Rebekah, Jacob was struggling with his brother Esau (25:22). In the midst of his birth, Jacob hung on to the heel of his older brother (25:26). Some years later, Jacob struggled with Esau to gain his blessing and birthright (25:33). Jacob wrestled with Laban to marry the woman of his dreams (ch. 29). Jacob’s wives grappled with each other over who Jacob would love most (chs. 29-30). Also, Jacob struggled with his father-in-law once again for his wife, children, and due possessions (Gen 30-31). Now, Jacob fears that he is about to enter the most fierce wrestling match of his life as he draws near to Esau after many years, but Jacob is wrong. His greatest wrestling match will be with God Himself (Gen 32:22-32).

Because he fears Esau’s grudging wrath from decades before, Jacob divides up his family and possessions into different groups while they travel closer to where Esau lives. Jacob didn’t want to lose everything. Gen 32:22-24 tells us that Jacob stays the night alone away from his family and begins wrestling with a man all night long. This man is obviously stronger than him as he even dislocates Jacob’s hip by merely his touch. Jacob’s wrestling quickly turns into clinging. Jacob hangs on to the man with everything in him for one reason: he desperately wants the blessing of God! The covenant blessing of God has been driving Jacob his whole life. His opponent pleads Jacob to let go since daybreak is approaching. Who is Jacob wrestling, and why does the unknown figure not want to be seen? The man is no other than God Himself, and Jacob could not look upon His face or He would die (32:30). Jacob clinches his fist and fights back his painful tears to hold onto God as tight as possible because He knows God’s covenant blessing is his only hope for his life to amount to anything good, worthy, and purposeful.

In the life of Christ we also see struggle and wrestling. In the wilderness, Christ wrestles the Tempter, and He walks away pure in every way. During His ministry, Christ wrestles with the Jews over His “Messiah-ship,” and continues to preach the Gospel concerning Himself. But Jesus’ greatest wrestling match came in the garden with His own Father as He begged God to go about things another way (Matt 26:36-46). We know that Jesus went willingly to the cross in full submission to His Father as He passionately hung onto God’s promise for His own exaltation.

Just like Jacob here is going through a transition into which he is owning his faith in God, so must we. He may not even remember, but I had a close friend (Jason Wood) who challenged me when I was 19 to believe and think for myself rather than to just repeat answers and verses that I had been spoon fed by my pastor, teachers, and parents. God used that night to change my life as I personally pursued His Son by His Spirit through His Word! You see, Jacob had come to terms that not only was the covenant his grandfather’s (Abraham), and his father’s (Isaac), but it was now passed onto him as prophesied (Gen 25:23). We too must be willing to take on Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, believe the Truth, defend the Truth, think according to the Truth, live the Truth, struggle for the cause of the Truth, study the Truth, and discuss the Truth. By hanging on to the covenant for his very life, Jacob was clinging to Christ. We too must hang on to the Person of Jesus Christ for our very lives!

Framework Systematic Theology 07 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - His Resurrection

2008-03-26T14:40:00.004-05:00

Imagine you’re a missionary sharing the gospel with a village who has never heard about Jesus. You begin with creation, move through the sinful fall of man, and continue to the gospel of Christ. Just as you have finished teaching them about the death of Jesus that paid the penalty for their sin, a villager stands up, draws back his bow, and pierces an arrow through your heart, which leaves you dead on the ground. If this village never sees a Bible or hears the gospel again, can they be saved without knowing that Jesus rose from the dead? Hmmmm?

Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important? “Resurrection” is the act of coming back to life from the dead. I fear that many Christians don’t see the importance of resurrection in their Bibles, in the way they witness, or in their own daily living. Paul says that a person must believe that God raised Christ from the dead in order to be saved (Romans 10:9-10). He also says that Jesus’ resurrection is of “first importance” concerning the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Wow!

All of the promises God made throughout the Old Testament hinged on a resurrection to new life. After Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, God said He did that so that they could not eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in their sin (Gen 3:22). He had a better eternal life planned! Abraham was willing to stab and burn his promised son to death because he believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead to keep His promises (Heb 11:17-19). Ezekiel watched God reconnect bones to make skeletons and add muscle, tissue, and skin to make an army (Ezekiel 37). God said this was a sign of His promise to bring His people back to life from their sin. God started this promise with one Israelite, Jesus Christ, when He raised Him from the dead. The truthfulness and fulfillment of all the Bible is based on the resurrection of Jesus!

If that is true, what does the resurrection of Jesus really prove? It proves everything we have talked about in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ up to this point!
Jesus’ Deity – God raised Jesus from the dead because He found Him guiltless of His sin. Jesus’ Humanity – Jesus really is a man, not just a spirit. His human body was raised (Luke 24). Jesus’ Offices – He is the true Prophet. His Priestly sacrifice was accepted. He rules as King. The Covenants – All of the OT covenants were eternal promises fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ Atonement – Jesus truly paid the debt of sin by His death, and He was raised in glory.
The resurrection proves that all the Bible is true and everything Jesus claimed of Himself is right.

Jesus’ resurrection is important. His resurrection is the climax to the storyline of Scripture. His resurrection proved the truthfulness of God and Himself. If we say we believe something because it is true, the way we know we truly believe is the way we live by it. True belief always results in a changed life. So, how can we apply the resurrection to our lives?
1. The resurrection gives us power over sin and death. I know teenagers who are scared to death to die. I also know many who think they can’t overcome their sins of pride, lust, anger, etc. We have a more powerful resurrected Savior than any entangling sin with which we may struggle.
2. The resurrection gives us peace over guilt and shame. I remember sitting across from someone who was pounding their fists into the table wishing that “this sin” just wasn’t true of them. God’s forgiveness is total and absolute as all of our sin was paid for by Jesus’ blood.
3. The resurrection gives us purpose for our bodies. Our body isn’t just our shell that will waste away. We await our resurrection at the return of Christ when our present bodies will be glorified and rejoined with our souls. It matters what we do with our bodies. Cremation is neither respectable to the human body, nor does it picture the hope of that body rising from its grave.
4. The resurrection gives us perspective for eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection assures us that He will make all things new again. Our best life isn’t now. Our best life is later. Eternity isn’t the afterlife, but it’s the after-death. Live sacrificially now for your glory in Jesus to come.

Look down. There is no arrow piercing you. Share the gospel with His resurrection now.

Framework Systematic Theology 06 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - His Atonement

2008-03-16T13:42:00.003-05:00

Think back to when Jesus said: “You’re all evil. There’s no hope. That’s it. Thank you.” Well of course you don’t remember Him saying that in the Bible, but if you watched the video above this article you heard “Him” say it. Isn’t it amazing how many Christians don’t spread the gospel? Not sharing is just saying, “You’re all evil and there is no hope for you.” Many believe that Jesus just lists off sins to condemn the world rather than giving His life to save the world. How deeply do we believe in the Father’s forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice?

All throughout the Bible, there is a storyline told that drips with bloody deaths. After eating the fruit of the tree, God’s words pierce into Adam’s soul as He tells him, “You will surely die.” Also in Genesis, Able’s sacrifice of blood and death was accepted by God while Cain’s plant sacrifice was rejected. As soon as Noah steps off the ark, he sacrifices a life to God. Abraham believes and obeys God even to the point of being willing to sacrifice his son, his only son to God. Through the rest of the OT, God instructs Israel to make daily and annual animal sacrifices to Him as His treasured people. In the prophets, one writes of the Servant of God who was wounded and killed for the sin of humanity which He bore in Himself (Isaiah 53).

The Scriptures are constantly interwoven with stories of sacrifice because God is continuously pointing us to the need for the sacrifice of Jesus. When thinking on the sacrifice of Jesus, we must ask the question, “Why did God have Jesus die?” You may be amazed to know that there have been many different answers to this question throughout history. Some say that God sent Jesus to free sinners from Satan. Others hold that God sent Jesus to show sinners His love. God sent Jesus to show sinners how to love is the view of a few. Some others believe that God sent Jesus to show sinners His law. Many say that God sent Jesus to show sinners who He loves. And several believe that God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for sinners. Which statement out of the six would you say is the most true? In fact, if you take out the one, it makes all the rest false. The answer is the last one: “God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for sinner.” This is called the Penalty-Substitution View. The main purpose for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was both for God and for man. The sacrifice of Jesus paid for the penalty of sin which satisfied the wrath of God over sinners. Therefore, Jesus died as a substitute (in the place of) for sinners. A sinner must believe in the penalty-substitution sacrifice of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. To reject the penalty would be denying sinfulness, and rejecting substitution would be denying His perfection. After centralizing the penalty-substitution death of Christ, there is truth in the others.

The next question that begs to be answered throughout history is, “For whom did Jesus die?” Those holding to “Universalism” would say that Jesus died for the whole world, the whole world is forgiven by His death, and the whole world WILL be saved in Him. Others holding to “Limited Atonement” would say that Jesus died only for the elect, only the elect will be forgiven by His death, and only the elect will be saved in Him. Those holding to “Unlimited Atonement” would say that Jesus died for the world, only those who believe will be forgiven, and only those who believe will be saved in Him. Personally, I hold to “Unlimited Atonement” since 1 John 2:2-3 says that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, but only those who follow Him are saved. Therefore, Jesus died for everyone, but His death is only applied to genuine believers.

Lastly, how do we bring all of this into our daily lives now? First, make sure that you have placed your faith into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and turn away from your sin to receive salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. As a Christian, keep believing that! Secondly, practice forgiveness based on the death of Christ. Forgiving someone isn’t saying, “That’s okay.” Forgiving someone is saying, “Your sin has been freed from the wrath of God by Christ’s sacrifice.” Therefore we should always say, “I forgive you.” Praise God for the hope we have in the sacrifice of Christ even when we’re evil!

Storyline Biblical Theology 08 - Genesis 17-27 - "What's So Funny?: The Story of the Son of the Covenant"

2008-03-07T18:10:00.004-05:00

Talk about a laughing stock! As I was snow skiing in California this past weekend, I got onto the lift with my buddy, Justin. I felt some pressure on my feet, looked down, and my skis got caught and snapped off as we were going up. So, the operator stopped the lift as we were about 100 feet away going up the mountain. Everyone turned to see as to why the lift had stopped. He climbs up the the icy mountain to us with my skis, reaches up, and pops both of them into my boots. Everyone clapped as he was the hero and laughed at me as the idiot. Haha!

As we look at the story of Isaac, it is amazing to catch how much God recorded laughter. The story begins with God reaffirming and further explaining His covenant to Abraham as God was going to make Abraham’s name great, cause a great nation to come from him, and give them a place to dwell as His people (Gen 17:1-8). Abraham’s response was falling on his face in worship (17:3). Then God explained that these promises would come from Abraham’s 90-year-old wife, Sarah. Abraham’s response to that was falling on his face again, but not in worship this time…instead, in laughter (17:17). Abraham suggests to God that his son Ishmael by Hagar should be the son of the covenant since there is no way that Sarah could have a baby in her old age. God promises to bless Ishmael as well, but the son of Sarah would be the son through which His covenant continues (17:15-21). God’s covenant cannot be stopped!

The story continues as the Lord appeared to Abraham somehow in the form of three men. I’m not even going to pretend I know how to explain this…I just believe it! Abraham starts running around from the excitement of this visitation. He frantically tells Sarah to get some food together for their guests. While Sarah was at the door of the tent, Abraham was under the shade of the oaks with the three men. She heard them tell Abraham that she would have a son this time in the next year. Have you ever had a 90-year-old woman in your church stand up and say, “Please pray for me because I’m pregnant”? Well, if you have, you surely took her to the hospital. Not to the birthing wing, but to the mental ward! Even in the time of Abraham, that was impossible. After hearing the prophecy, Sarah laughs to herself thinking this has gone far enough. How am I supposed to have a baby at 90? My ability to give birth is long gone! Even though Abraham didn’t hear her, God heard her. He asks why she laughed. Then another pointed question comes straight from God, “Is anything too impossible for Me to do?” God affirms that Sarah will surely give birth by this time. Overhearing the whole conversation and trying to cover her skepticism, Sarah denies her doubtful laughing. There was no doubt on God’s part as He directly says to her, “No Sarah, but you did laugh” (Genesis 18:1-15).

Isaac is the chosen son through which God’s covenant will continue with God’s people. But remember, all Scripture points to Christ. Through the story of Isaac, God is preparing His people for the true Son of the covenant. The unity between the stories is remarkable. When the angel, Gabriel, comes to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, Mary doesn’t laugh. Instead, she mutters in bewilderment, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” Gabriel gives her a familiar answer, “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:34-38). Like Mary, Sarah is filled with amazement when Isaac is born. She laughs again, but this time in faithful joy (Genesis 21:6-7).

We cannot escape from the theme of laughter in this story. Are you one who may think the ways and people of God are silly, and so you laugh? Please know, nothing is impossible with God! Could you be reading this and you lack laughter in your life because you are void of joy from focusing on life’s troubles over God’s works? Find your joy in Christ once again! It is possible that you are reading this and your greatest fear as a Christian is people laughing at you for your faith, so you live avoiding humiliation. Even if it brings laughter, live in such a way that you are serving Christ to bring Him joy even though it may seem silly to an unbelieving world. The glory of Jesus, the Son of the Covenant, will spread through our joyful faithfulness!

Storyline Biblical Theology 07 - Genesis 12-25 - "You Must Be Trippin: Calling, Blessing, and Struggling

2008-03-07T18:01:00.003-05:00

I often like to think back on the journey God has taken me through to get to where I am now. I grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. From there I spent time in Pensacola for college, back in Tuscaloosa for more college, northeast Pennsylvania to graduate college, northwest Michigan for three summers of camps, Detroit for a year long youth ministry internship, Louisville for the masters degree, southeast Indiana for my first full-time youth pastorate, and now I live in the Huntsville area of Alabama for my dream job. God certainly did not tell me at the beginning that I would end up here, and I’m glad He didn’t. If He had, I may have been tempted to skip a few stops along the way which would mean I wouldn’t have met all the wonderful people in my life. Ultimately, I would have not grown from every experience He took me through.

As we study the life of Abraham, we see that God did tell him the future. He would bless Abraham by making his name great and giving him a great nation of descendants, but God didn’t tell Abraham where He would be taking him (Gen 12:1-3). Abraham is said to be the second most important man in all the Bible. Throughout all the Scriptures, God constantly refers back to Abraham, his faith, and His covenant-promises to Abraham. Abraham (called Abram at this time), is approached by God whom he did not know. Many say that Abram was worshipping false gods at this time. When God calls Abram to leave for a land He’ll show him later, Abram went (Gen 12:4). What was God promising this 75 year old man? Everything! Just as God had promised Adam and later Noah rulership over the earth and fruitfulness of children, He is continuing this covenant thru Abram. God is telling Abram that if he will trust Him, He is going to make him a great nation through which He’ll bless all other believing nations, give Abram land for his nation to live, and make Abram’s name great throughout all the earth and all history. God is bringing the blessing of salvation through this one man.

This means we have to understand what blessing means as well. We are often told to live right so that God will grant us blessings. When we think about this passage, we aren’t to connect with Abraham but with his descendants. The reason his descendants are blessed is because God had promised Abraham these covenant-blessings. God’s blessing comes through one man. Abraham isn’t the ultimate receiver of God’s blessing. Everything God promised to Abraham was just a small picture of how God would bless an entire universe through the final Man, Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3). God is giving to Jesus an earth full of followers, an entire planet for a land to rule, and a name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9-11). Does God bless us for the good things we do? I think it is safe to say that He does, as long as we understand that the good we do is Christ’s righteousness being worked out in our lives and not our own. Therefore, God always blesses through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and not our own.

Isn’t it frustrating how faithless our lives for Christ can be? Our struggle of faith can often leave us in seasons of doubting our salvation. “How can I be a Christian and do this and think that,” we ask ourselves. It is comforting to see how God repeatedly brings up the name of Abraham in the Bible when referring to faithfulness. It is comforting because we see that Abraham’s faith goes up and down more than a Six Flags rollercoaster. He follows God, then he calls his gorgeous wife his sister! He believes God, then has a baby by another woman! The life of faith is no picture of perfection, but rather it is a repetition of always coming back to God in belief of His covenant-promises. When Abraham asks God how he can know for sure if He is going to be faithful to His promises, God made a blood-covenant by having many animals torn in two and walking in the midst of them which signifies, “If I break My covenant, may this be done to Me.” God of course never breaks His covenant, but there was a greater final covenant to come. The sacrifice of His own Son was to seal the deal for eternity. As we struggle with doubt, we must remember our assurance isn’t found within us, but in the work of Christ (Prov. 24:16).

Storyline Biblical Theology 06 - Genesis 10-11 - Tearing the Tower Down...Brick by Brick

2008-02-21T09:41:00.003-05:00

Dubai is one of the most amazing cities ever designed on our planet. They have developed islands that are shaped like the 7 continents of the world and islands that are shaped like a palm tree. Dubai has the tallest hotel in the world, an indoor ski slope (since they are in the desert), and much more. They are also in the process of building the tallest building in the world. It is unfinished, but apparently it will be over a half-mile high when they are done.

Why does it seem throughout history that nations want to build the largest and greatest cities in existence? It is because every nation is looking to make a name for itself – greatness! In Genesis 11, mankind is on the move out of direct orders from God to spread throughout the earth. It seems they stop and decide to develop a city with a tower in order to “make a name” for themselves. It’s amazing how many people have been taught that the tower was built to somehow reach heaven and get to God. But that is not what the passage says! The passage is saying that the people built the tower because they want to stop migrating, build a city, and make a name for themselves in rebellion to God. Their tower was to be a monument to themselves and a sign of their unmovable preservation. They even coated the tower with the same substance that made Noah’s ark waterproof. They were planning to withstand another flood of judgment from God. They were saying, “God, we ain’t going nowhere!”

As tall as their tower was supposed to be…in the heavens…Moses makes a little joke by saying, “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower” (11:5). God’s greatness is so lofty that He has to come down in order to be present for our tallest of endeavors! The text says that God shows His grace to the people by halting their wicked efforts so that they wouldn’t continue to ruin themselves with their rebellion. He also judges them by confusing their one known language and somehow spreads them throughout the earth. God judges us out of His grace so that we will not stay in our sinful lifestyles. His commands are always for our good.

It’s interesting to think a little about God confusing their languages. Their rebellious unity was motivated by making a name for themselves and resulted in a confusion of languages. In Acts 2 right after the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father (when He gives Jesus the name that is above every name), the Holy Spirit indwells the apostles and enables them to speak other languages so that foreigners can be united in the Gospel of Christ. Pentecost is a reversal of the judgment at Babel! That reversal will continue for all eternity. John’s vision from God of the eternal throne of Christ is filled with images of multitudes of people from every tribe, peoples, and languages (Rev 7:9-11). God seems to glorify Himself now in the difference of languages that are all used to exalt the name of Jesus!

Moses tells us that they left the city before it was finished (11:8), but I’m afraid that we help build on to this tower daily. We add to the tower brick by brick every time we seek to make a name for ourselves rather than Christ. We all live in temptation to do this. When I was a teenager, I can remember shooting half-court shots after basketball practice. Chanting “3 – 2 – 1” and then shooting an imaginary game winning shot in order for the crowd to go wild.

Could we be guilty of building a kingdom for ourselves by not praying to God and asking Him what He would like for us to do and where He would like for us to go? Would it be possible that God could be calling us to do something different or more useful with our lives but we never ask Him? Could it be that God may even be calling some of us to spread throughout the earth for the purpose of missions and telling the world of the great name of Jesus Christ? So often we just keep thinking of a comfortable life for ourselves, what will make us happy, and whatever may give us the most money. I want to challenge us for the remainder of February to physically submit ourselves to the Kingdom of Christ by literally bowing our knee at the name of Jesus and confessing that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

Framework Systematic Theology 05 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - The Covenants

2008-02-18T16:36:00.003-05:00

Hebrews 9:15 Therefore [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

I got an iPod touch for my birthday. I don’t need a bulky cassette walkman, an awkward portable CD player, a huge portable DVD player, or any holders to carry around all my music. All of that has been combined and is able to fit into my pocket with my all-in-one device – the iPod touch. We appreciate these new technologies more as we understand everything they are designed to take the place of. The same is true with the New Covenant. We love Christ and His work of salvation so much more as we understand how He fulfills the Old Covenant in His death.

A biblical “covenant” is an eternal promise made by God to His representative at that time in history about His Kingdom for Christ. How are we supposed to think about the Old Covenant as it was promised to so many different OT people? Some say the Old Covenants are now completely meaningless to us. Others say that the Old Covenants will be used again in a time like the millennium. I don’t think either of those views are true. We must understand the Old Covenants and how they were fulfilled in Christ to better understand Him and His Gospel!

What are these Old Covenants I speak of? First, the Covenant of Creation is God creating a kingdom and giving it to Adam and Eve. God is telling them to look around the garden. What they see is theirs! Now they are to be fruitful in the garden but multiplying themselves through childbirth, have everything submitting to them since they are the king and queen created in the image of God, and to practice dominion over all the creation (Gen 1:28). Adam fails to keep the covenant by not exercising dominion but being dominated by the serpent.

Second, in the Covenant of Noah we see God destroying and renewing the earth with Noah as the pioneer. God gives Noah similar commands of being fruitful and multiplying over the earth. Then, with a covenant-rainbow, He promises Noah to never destroy the earth again with water (Gen 9:8-17). God keeps His covenant, but Noah proves he is a drunken sinner.

Third, the Covenant of Abraham is the second most important covenant in all the Bible. God promises to Abraham that He will make His name great in all the earth, that He will make Him the father of the greatest nation on earth, and that He will give him land for his kingdom to dwell (Gen 12:1-3). Abraham struggles with sin and proves not to be the eternal covenant focus.

Fourth, the Covenant of Moses is when God establishes His promises through Moses and to His nation of Israelites. He commands sacrifices to be made, His law to be kept, and explains the curses and blessings for obedience and disobedience (Exodus). The Israelites continually sin.

Fifth, with the Covenant of David God is promising that this famous king’s throne and kingdom will last forever. And to go even further, God says that He will make David’s offspring a Son to Him and He will be His Father (2 Sam 7:12-17). Solomon’s sin proves he’s not the son.

Jesus said that He didn’t come to abolish the Old Covenant. In other words, God is not saying “Oops, sorry about the Old Covenant. It didn’t work. Here, try Jesus.” Instead, Jesus came to fulfill each broken Old Covenant in order to make a New Covenant that is eternally written in His blood (Matt 5:17, Heb 9:15). Jesus proves to be fruitful as He calls sinners to Himself, He will judge the earth and bring in the New Creation, He inherits all the promises of God, He obeys the law of God perfectly and becomes the sacrifices by taking on the curses of Israel and inheriting the blessings, and His Kingdom is everlasting as His throne endures forever!

When we look at the covenants of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, we are able to even more clearly understand who Jesus is, what He has done, and what He receives by becoming the New Covenant for us. Far better than any iPod, are you glorying in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as you understand what Christ has received by fulfilling the Covenants of the OT?

Storyline Biblical Theology 05 - Genesis 5-9 - "When God Pressed Reset: Corruption, Destruction, and Reconstruction"

2008-02-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

“Whatever you do, don’t press that button!” Think way back with me and remember the original Nintendo Entertainment System. You teenagers today have it so easy with your memory cards and hard-drives which save your games for later play! On the NES, we had to pause it and leave the system on when we left the house. But the worst was when someone would press the “reset” button when you were in the middle of an important game.

Have you ever wanted to press reset on your own life? Maybe after you just made a dumb decision, or at a time you really rebelled against God…you wish you could do it all over again. Please read Genesis 5 – 9 and learn how God pressed reset with all of creation, and how the flood, Noah, and the entire narrative is written by God to point us to His Son, Jesus Christ.

This story begins with God telling us that Adam had a third son, Seth, who was very important because he would be in the line of the coming Seed who would crush Satan’s head (Gen 3:15). In the midst of the curse and sinfulness of Cain, God is showing us His powerful grace as His plan is unstoppable. I don’t know if you’re like me, but the following section is a genealogy which often bores me to tears. But then I look closer and see the repetition of “and he died” which is pointing us to the awfulness of the curse that brings not only sin but also death. This is pointing to our need of the Seed who will conquer death. God then tells us about the rebellion of all the earth and describes it as “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). So God decides to wipe out His creation and press reset by restarting it with a righteous, blameless man in the generation: Noah. We must remember that just like Abraham, Noah’s work didn’t make him righteous. It was his faithful walk with God.

God explains to Noah how to make an ark, how to waterproof it, and how to carry all the pioneers of His new world once the flood was over. These pioneers include a male and female of each kind of animal, seven of each kind of clean animal for sacrifice, Noah’s wife, his sons, and their wives. By the way, I can’t find anywhere in the Bible where Noah was persuading others to come with him into the ark. If you know where it is, please point me to it! It is an important detail to note that as the flood rose, the waters covered the highest of mountains and the tallest of trees. The flood is an act of God’s wrathful judgment on all of his creation. The waters covering everything is a picture of God’s wrath over all that is cursed. It is unfortunate that the ark is used as names for children’s preschools since all we think about is Noah as a Dr. Doolittle with all the furry animals. The ark wasn’t a zoo, it was the life-boat during a holocaust!

When the flood waters receded and God commanded Noah to leave the ark and make sacrifices to Him, God does something very interesting that should jog our memory. He blesses Noah and commands him to be fruitful, to fill the earth, and to have dominion over all the animals (Gen 9:1-2). He tells Noah that he is continuing his covenant (promise) with him, his descendants, and the animals he brought with him. What is God doing? He is restarting the new creation with His new pioneer, His new Adam – Noah! We have got to remember that God’s desires are about His plan being accomplished on earth. He wants us as a part of His plan rather than He merely blessing our own plans. God is all about His will, His gospel, His covenant. God then writes something we’d all probably leave out…Noah Gone Wild. He gets drunk and naked. This is all to point out that Noah isn’t the final Seed, but rather he too is under the curse.

But the One to come is not under the curse. The One this true story is pointing to is perfectly righteous and walking with God at all points. In fact, Jesus even says that His coming will be like the days of Noah in that He will sweep away those who aren’t walking with Him (Matt 24:37-51). Just as God sees rebellion, destroys the earth, and resets it with a new pioneer in Genesis, He will do the same thing with the final Pioneer Jesus, sweeping away the wicked, saving the faithful, and dawning the New Creation which will never be cursed again.

(I have to admit, I really enjoyed this movie "Evan Almighty." It was very entertaining and very funny. I even know some teenagers that were encouraged to read their Bible more through this movie. But I do have a BIG BONE to pick with this movie. This is a perfect example of our culture even taking spiritual stories and truthes, yet ripping God's purposes in Jesus Christ right out of them. Yes, the name of Jesus is not found in the Genesis 5 - 9 flood narrative, but now that we have the New Testament, we see that the flood was a foreshadow of the coming of Christ that would sweep away the wicked and rescue the righteous. The flood is not a story that is only about God's wrath and love, Noah's righteousness, and furry animals...utimately God uses this narraive to encourage us to serve Christ as we are awaiting Him, our Master, to return. Now, enjoy the hilarious preview, and remember that our Christ is coming!)

Framework Systematic Theology 04 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - His Offices

2008-02-04T11:49:00.000-05:00

(Discernment from the Spirit of God is prompting me for a disclaimer here (haha)! Please understand that I realize this opening video is very controversial. In no way do I mean it to minimize the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ. A youth ministry put this video together as an example of how people today stereotype Jesus' life on earth. I'm using it for both humor, but also as a wake-up call for us to view Jesus rightly! Also, the picture I placed on here is our fill-out sheet (filled in for you), and the weekly quiz I give to my students. If you are brave enough, take the quiz, email me for the answers, and I'll respond. Sounds like fun. Just click the picture to enlarge it. Disclaimer closed.)

What happens when people just sit around? The majority of the time what happens is storytelling. We enjoy recounting stories from our lives with others, and we also love hearing the stories of what others have gone through. God has created us that way in His image. As for the Bible, God is not giving us a bunch of ideas and then illustrating them with stories. Rather, God is architecting and narrating the storyline of all history (His story), and then interpreting that storyline with concepts. As we are seeking to understand who Jesus Christ was, is, and will be; and what He has done, is doing, and will do…it is easiest and most biblical to understand all of this in story. We are about to take a look at the offices of Jesus Christ. The offices of Jesus Christ wrap up who He is, what He does, and how He fulfills the narrative of all OT history (2 Kings 23:2). So let us take a look at Jesus Christ as The Prophet, The Priest, and The King.

First, Jesus Christ is The Prophet. Notice I didn’t just say that Jesus was a prophet but He is The Prophet. Personally, I think it would rock to live in the OT times and to hear the prophets speak for God. The prophets of the OT were literally God’s “mouthpieces” as God would speak His Word through them to His people. It would be so awesome to sit before a man who has literally heard from God a Word to communicate to me and to fellow followers of God. I think it is very important to understand that the office of prophet is closed today to all humans except for one Man. For those who may call themselves a prophet whether preachers, teachers, pastors, evangelists, etc…they are either mistaken, deceived, or deceivers. Even from the very first book of the Bible, God told Moses that there would be one final prophet to come to whom everyone would listen (Deuteronomy 18:15). That prophet finally came and eternally fulfilled the office of prophet as He replaced every prophet who existed throughout history. Jesus is The Prophet of God whom we listen to by going to the Word of God and realizing that every word of Scripture is ultimately coming with the authority of the Word Himself, Jesus Christ. Believe Him!

Second, Jesus Christ is The Priest. Like prophets, there were many priests throughout the OT, and the priests had many functions. The functions of the priests included making sacrifices for individuals, entering into the tabernacle, and praying for the people. How sweet would it be to lay our eyes on a man called by God to make sacrifices for all your sins and to watch them be washed away as a symbol of a greater sacrifice to come? No matter what people may tell you, the office of priest does not continue today except in one Man. In fact, our eternal priest is the final High Priest which means He can enter the Most Holy Places, and He can make a sacrifice for all the people. His sacrifice is one and done. Jesus is our ultimate High Priests that wipes away the need for any other priests today. His one-perfect sacrifice is enough for our forgiveness. He alone brings us to God. He is constantly interceding for us before the Father. In fact, Jesus as our High Priest isn’t even in the lineage of OT priests who were in the tribe of Levi. Our High Priest was in the order of Melchizedek. Why was Melchizedek the priest who pre-pictured God’s Christ to come? It is because he was both priest and king (Genesis 14:18).

Third, Jesus Christ is The King. There were many, many kings throughout the OT. Some were good, many were bad, some were righteous, many were unrighteous, some were respected, and many were untrustworthy. I’m afraid that as we think of the kingly office in the OT, we may see it as a big mistake. The people asked for a king, God warned them, and then allowed Saul to become king. Was God’s plan to have a king for his people? Yes! God had already told Abraham that kings would be a blessed part of his descendants (Genesis 17:6). Having a human king is good and part of God’s eternal plan because God had already purposed the kingship of His people to be passed on and fulfilled in His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the final King who rules over God’s people in perfect justice, wisdom, righteousness, love, etc. And I can’t wait for the day of glorification when I will be like Him and serve Him perfectly!

Storyline Biblical Theology 04 - Genesis 4 - "Murder One: Murder, Lies, and Life in Christ"

2008-01-30T22:03:00.000-05:00

When the call came through the police scanner, I immediately knew our joyride turned into a very serious matter of life or death. I had a close friend who was a Tuscaloosa Police sergeant when I was in my mid-twenties (which was longer ago than I like to admit!). After signing some releases, I rode around in his cruiser with him during the 11pm – 7am shift. The kicker – it was January 1, 2001. The call came in that a murder had just taken place somewhere deep in the ghetto. My friend told me I could either stay in the police car and risk getting shot, or come investigate the crime scene with him and…risk getting shot. Since I wouldn’t get a gun either way, I went with him to investigate the 1st murder of the millennium in T-town.

Genesis 4 records the first murder in history. We must understand the storyline here. God has created everything for Christ and all humanity in His image to rule over the creation. Adam and Eve submit to the serpent rather than to God and they become cursed with sinfulness. Immediately, we see the effects of the curse being displayed in a dramatic way – murder. The sons of Adam and Eve are also born in God’s image but with the curse as well. As the Bible jumps later into their lives, we see Cain as a crop farmer offering a sacrifice to God and Able as a shepherd offering his sacrifice to God. Cain nor his crop offering were acceptable to God, but God was pleased with Abel and his blood offering. Cain thinks, “I am the older brother with the inheritance of my father, but my little brother is accepted by God over me?!” Cain is ticked-off! God warns him by saying that if he won’t be a man (God-imager) and rule over his sin, then his sin will rule over him. But filled with anger from the curse welling up within him, Cain takes his little brother out into the field and kills him. Later on in this passage, there is a distant descendent of Cain who sings a song (and remarkably sounding like a gangster rapper of today) that boasts to his two wives (he got girls) about how he kills anyone who merely wounds him (ain’t nobody messin with him). Why is the curse so strong right off the bat? It’s because of the source behind the curse – Satan. A younger brother triumphing over a sinful older brother, sons being killed to stop the bloodline (Pharaoh and Herod), God only accepting a blood sacrifice with a sincere heart…these aren’t just coincidences here in Genesis 4. Rather, this is proof that there is a specific personality and purpose behind the evil rebellion throughout human history.

Jesus speaks about this person who is behind it all from the very beginning (John 8:42-45). He is telling the Jews here that, from the very beginning, Satan is a murderer and liar who opposes the Truth. We certainly saw the lying and murdering of Satan in Genesis 3 and 4! Why does Satan do this? Because he opposes the Truth of God, and the Truth of God is Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus says that if you don’t believe in Him and follow His commands, then God is not your Father. Your father is the Devil, and you obey his will. Satan is the father who gives scorpions to his children who asks for eggs and serpents to his children who ask for fish (Luke 11:11-12). He is not out for our good, but for our harm. He is filled with deceit and death. Jesus says that if we don’t love living His Word, then we know who our father really is – the Devil.

Satan has a very specific rule over people: his reign of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). His “power of death” gives every human being a “fear of death” which controls them do what he wants. This is much like this group in Uganda who call themselves the Lord’s Resistance Arm. They kidnap small boys from their village homes and command them to kill their family on the spot…or be killed. This “army” rebelling against their government uses death as their power of persuasion. If we’re not careful, we may think that as long as we’re not killing anyone then we’re okay with Genesis 4. But Jesus says that people who hate others are just as liable to His judgment as murderers. Hate and murder have the same power behind the scene – Satan. Who do you hate? Through hate, we may be witnessing the power of death we practice over each other without even entering a ghetto, but Jesus is offering us a life of love through faith in Him!

Framework Systematic Theology 03 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - His Humanity

2008-01-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

Some may see the opening video as sacrilegious, but that’s the point! From what I understand, a youth ministry made that voice-over video to show the stereotype of how we often picture Jesus as a human. “The little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.” Did Jesus cry when He was a baby? Or when laying in the manger was He thinking to Himself, “Okay, this hay feels a little rough, but soon the shepherds will be here. Later on, the wise-men will arrive, and we’ll be headin’ over to Egypt. Then, I have to get my game on for the temple when they’ll leave me”?

There are several of these false ideas about Jesus being human. First, “Docetism” says that because all matter is evil and God is holy, Jesus only really appeared to be human…like a ghost. “Apollinarianism” says that Jesus has a real human body but with a Divine mind. Therefore, He is really just “God in a bod.” Eutychianism says that Jesus’ deity is so vast that it swallows up the human side of Jesus like a drop of coke in the Pacific Ocean. Jesus didn’t just appear to be human; He was fully human! He had both a human mind and body! Jesus was both fully human and fully God! We must believe those facts to understand His humanity.

It’s not just that Jesus was fully man, but Jesus IS fully man. Luke tells us, “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (2:52). Jesus learned when He was growing up, but He learned as a boy who was not under the curse of sin. Jesus learned Hebrew, He grew in wisdom in the Scriptures, and I believe He even learned who He was from reading the OT probably early on. When thinking about Jesus being human, we can’t view it as He put off some of His Divine qualities like some say from Philippians 2. “Pouring Himself out” or “making Himself nothing” isn’t speaking of Jesus losing any attributes of Deity, rather those phrases are speaking of His death on the cross. If Jesus can lose His omniscience, then could He also lose His holiness? Rather than losing any Deity, Jesus gained a human nature. It’s like a brand-new, shimmering Corvette being taken on a test drive through a mud field. The glory of the ‘Vette is still there, just underneath all the mud. This explains passages like Jesus being fully God and omniscient but yet not knowing when the 2nd coming would happen.

Jesus relived the life of Old Testament humanity. This is one significant aspect of Jesus’ humanity that I missed as I was growing up. To reverse the curse and become a proper sacrifice for humanity, its not just that Jesus had to stay out of sin. Jesus also had to obey the commands and covenant of God where it was broken...everywhere! Jesus relived the life of Adam by being fruitful and multiplying with all those God had given Him, by exercising dominion over all aspects of creation, by imaging God perfectly, and by crushing the head of the serpent (Gen 1:26-28, 3:15). Jesus also relived the life of Israel by such things like being led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God, being tempted by Satan in the wilderness with food, and going through the Jordan river in baptism. He was the covenant-keeper of God. Also, Jesus relived the life of David as He was the Shepherd-King who was anointed with the Holy Spirit and led into the wilderness to fight against God’s arch-enemy in order to save His people.

Even Jesus’ names point to His humanity. The name Jesus means that He would “save His people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). Only through a righteous-human sacrifice could God justly save the sin-cursed world which came through humanity. The name Christ means “the One anointed with the Spirit of God” (Acts 10:38). There were many christs (anointed ones) before Jesus, but Jesus was the final Anointed One who would be forever Anointed with the Holy Spirit. Jesus claimed to do all of His miraculous works through the power of the Holy Spirit and for the will of God. Therefore, Jesus brings meaning to our humanity. To be human doesn’t mean to be sinful, that’s what it means to be cursed. To be human means to be created in the image of God, to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to look to the perfect human – Jesus. I am longing for the day that I will be even more human than I am now (Philippians 3:21).

Biblical Theology 03 - Genesis 3 - Reverse the Curse!

2008-01-24T11:06:00.000-05:00

Something I’ve always wanted is a talking pet. Have you seen those cats and dogs that can talk by mimicking their owners by saying something like “I love you.” That is really cool to me…but it also freaks me out! Their voices sound so different than their normal pet noises.

When thinking about the scene in Genesis 3, we can’t imagine this speaking serpent as simply some “copy cat” (pun intended!). Rather, this snake is slithering right past Adam towards Eve with an evil mission. Queen Eve carries on a conversation with the coiling serpent who twists the Word of God which Adam had communicated to her. The serpent was hissing false claims about God’s commands and doubtfulness regarding God’s goodness in them. In fact, the serpent was following his method of temptation (3:6) that He later tried on Jesus at His temptation, and that also was exposed in 1 John 2:16: good for food (lust of the flesh), delight to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and to be desired to make one wise (pride of life). The woman not only listened, but she also submitted to the serpent. The man submitted to the woman. And no one submitted to God. When Adam was to be exercising headship over his wife, and both of them were to be exercising dominion over the creation, they disobeyed every command of God.

Something instantly changed when they rebelled. They felt very different. And worse yet, they heard God walking towards them (3:8). Never before feeling shame, they tried to hide among the garden’s tree from the all-seeing God. What had drastically changed was the one thing that everything depended upon…their unity with God. The sin-curse damaged the relationship between God and man. We no longer are born into a natural relationship with God, but because of the curse we are born separated from Him and in need of a Unifier.

When God began to ask them questions about what had happened (much like a parent watching their child take a cookie and allowing their child to fess up), Adam blamed it on the woman and worse yet – God, and the woman blamed the serpent. It was obvious to them that their relationship together had changed as well. The sin-curse damaged the relationship between humans. Humans no longer naturally and continuously love each other. We fight and argue.

After the blame game finally ended, God began to spell out the consequences of the curse which came with their rebellion. Notice it wasn’t God punishing them and saying if you rebel against me then I’m going to make life hell (literally) for you. Rather, God is announcing what has happened now that they have chosen to separate themselves from the life-source: Himself.

First, God says to the serpent that he is cursed above all beasts, he will be on his belly, and he will eat dust. But the most important part of this curse is the fact that God puts hatred between the children of Eve and the serpent. In fact, so much so that a Son of the woman will come who will crush the head of the serpent while all the serpent will be able to do is bruise His heel. This is the first mention of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ in Scripture (Genesis 3:15).

Second, God announces to Eve that the curse of her rebellion will be specifically applied to what she was created to find pleasure in most: being a mother and a wife. The reason women today are opting out of having children is not so much because of a change of culture but more so because they are listening to the ancient serpent and acting out of the original curse. Likewise, women who seek to control and manipulate their husbands don’t simply suffer from a stronger personality, but they are seeing the female curse act itself out right before their eyes.

Third, God describes to Adam the curse he and his male offspring will experience. The sin-curse damaged the relationship between humanity and creation. By Adam’s rebellion, all creation was cursed to rebel against him rather be under his dominion. The ground became hard, and work became difficult. The reason men today suffer from laziness is not merely because they are bored, but it is because they are not working to reverse the sin-curse in their lives. Christ has become the curse for us (Galatians 3:13). We must live as men and women for Christ!

Biblical Theology 02 - Genesis 1-2 - Being Human Rules!

2008-01-17T14:36:00.000-05:00

Humanity rules! Napoleon Dynamite is a fictional movie character that is known for his jeans tucked into his ski boots, teased and curly red hair, and hilarious movie lines that were adored and quoted by teenagers across our entertainment riddled country. When Napoleon took a liking to something, he brought back one of the ever popular retro sayings by exclaiming something like, “Tater tots rule!” The same can be said for humanity by looking at Genesis.

Is humanity something far more than we’ve thought if we’ve used phrases like: “I can’t help that I’m forgetful, or sinful, or full of mistakes. I’m only human. Gosh!” What does it really mean to be human? How did God originally intend humanity to be and live? If we want to live for God in our skin, bones, eye balls, etc, then we must know what God has commanded from us from the beginning! Please read Genesis 1:26-2:25.

Previously, we’ve seen that God created everything out of nothing ultimately for the glory of Christ. How does humanity fit into this key storyline of Scripture? First, humanity was created as the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). The “Let us” there is not God speaking to the surrounding angels or God talking like the Queen of England…“We will have our tea now.” God is talking with Himself as our one God is three Persons. We must remember that God has created us to project His image and not our own. Clothes, exercise, talents and humor are a few ways that we can live to point people to our own image and not the Image we were created for.

Second, humanity was given very specific tasks – to rule over all of the earth, to make all things fruitful, to fill the earth with more images of God, and to exercise kingly dominion over it all (Gen 1:26, 28). God is ultimately Sovereign King over all things, but His plan from the beginning has been to rule over His creation through a human mediator who was Adam in the beginning. Adam was to rule over all the earth in order to bring glory to God.

Third, all humanity was created as either male or female (Gen 1:27). Genesis 2 certainly goes into greater detail as God parades all of the land beasts, flying creatures, and sea monsters before Adam to name them and exercise his dominion. After naming them, Adam was a bit depressed for not having anything on earth quite like him. God fixed that problem and made woman out of Adam’s rib. Adam was overjoyed and announced that she was just like him. Edmund Clowney writes that God was establishing His pattern and pleasure for exclusive love.

Watch how Adam, his life, and his calling ultimately points to Christ! First, God creates Adam in His own image so that Jesus Christ would be THE image of God (Col 1:15). Why do we normally assume that God created humanity and then decided that Jesus would become human? Isn’t God sovereign? Couldn’t God have first purposed Christ to be in His image and human, and that be why God created Adam to be human -- His image? Second, God created Adam with specific tasks of ruling so that Jesus Christ could ultimately be the human being Who would rule under God as Mediator-Human-King over the cosmos (Col 1:16-17). Third, God created Adam to have an exclusive love with Eve as a pre-picture that pointed to the mysterious perfect union of flesh between Jesus Christ and His bride, the church (Gen 2:23-24, Col 1:18).

Where Adam failed to obey God in each of these areas, Jesus perfectly fulfilled them as the perfect human. In fact, Jesus Christ is what it really means to be human! Want to be more human? Seek to grow more in God’s image, to rule over sin more in this world, and to be more exclusive in your love as you grow in the knowledge in the image of our Creator, Jesus Christ (Col 3:10). Not only images and loves, but also…humanity rules – through Jesus Christ!

Systematic Theology 01 - Doctrine of Jesus Christ - The Storyline

2008-01-17T14:05:00.000-05:00

Have you ever thought to yourself that what you learn in church is difficult to remember? If you worship with the church in Sunday school, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, Sunday evening Discipleship Training, and Wednesday evening worship, then you may feel like its impossible to really remember everything you hear. If you think that, I’m with you! That is why there needs to be one central, overarching point to every message, sermon, and lesson just like there is one central theme in the Bible.

What is the Bible really all about? What is its central theme? Some would say it is a story that ultimately points to God and how God is working everything out for His own glory. This is a God-centered theology. The 15th century John Calvin said the central theme of the Bible is the glory of God. Others would say that the Bible ultimately points to God’s love for man. God created the world because He loves us, He sent Jesus to die for us, and He’s waiting for us in heaven. This is a man-centered theology. I don’t think we need to choose between the two. If we have a Christ-centered theology which the Bible is pointing to, then we have both a God and Man-centered theology! The point of Scripture is the Kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13-14).

Is Jesus really God’s point for all Scripture and all time? Let’s move through the storyline of Christ and see! First of all, the creation of the universe was all about the glory of Christ. When God created everything, He created it all through Jesus and for Jesus (Col 1:15-17). That is to mean that His purpose was for Christ to have dominion and rule over it all. Everything was originally put under Adam’s dominion, but he gave it all up to Satan when he fell into sin. It was given to Adam so that Christ would ultimately have it all in the end. This is why all of the stories, the people, the positions, the purposes, and the covenant in the OT point to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Christ’s Kingship was God’s purpose for creating everything.

Secondly, the incarnation (Jesus becoming human) was all about His glory (Col 1:18-19). Jesus took on human flesh to be the second Adam and overturn the curse. We see His dominion over creation through things like His miracles, His healings, raising people from the dead, etc. His incarnation was also necessary to be a proper human sacrifice for human sin against God.

Which brings us to the third section of Christ’s storyline: the cross of Christ was all about His glory (Col 1:18-19). We normally hear messages about how Jesus died for us and how He “thought of me above all.” It is true that Jesus died for us and that He thought of us, but God’s ultimate reason for the cross of Christ was so that He would be the firstborn (greatest) from the dead…resurrection! The cross is about Jesus getting the glory from His own victorious death.

Fourth, the church is all about the glory of Christ (Col 1:18). Paul says that Jesus is the head of His body. Well no duh! Then it also should be a no-brainer to us that He is the Head (the point) of the church as well. When we come to church, we should definitely think about worshipping God. We should definitely think about fellowshipping with each other. But those and everything else is for God’s glory: His Son being glorified by His people of faith.

Lastly, the consummation (eternity) is all about the glory of Christ. What will eternity be like? Will we be staring into a bright light? Will we be singing in choir rows every second? Will we be cloud hopping? Or is eternity a fulfillment of all history? Will eternity be us enjoying a renewed earth creation with a human Jesus Christ, worshipping Him through His death, together with all of His people (the bride), under His rule and reign forever and ever?

If we’re looking for a common theme in everything we’re learning with our church, we must look no further than the completed storyline within the Scriptures. The Kingdom of Christ is our focus as we must learn how to submit to Christ as our King, serve other Christians as our brothers and sisters, fight the enemy, and await the coming fullness of this Kingdom when Christ returns. Our view of the eternal Kingdom gives us insight as to how we are to live today.

Biblical Theology 01 - Genesis 1 - The Secret God Kept For Thousands of Years

2008-01-15T15:50:00.000-05:00

If I wanted you to know more about me, I’d take you to my home. Not my house here, but I would take you to my old home in Tuscaloosa. I’d show you my house, where I used to shoot basketball for hours and hours during the summer. I’d show you my room where I played video games with friends all night long. Taking you to my home, my church, and my school where I grew up would give you a better understanding of why I am the way that I am. Moses is doing the exact same thing with the Israelites in Genesis. Genesis was written during the Exodus as God is revealing who He is as the Creator-Covenant God and who they are as His people.

Genesis is a book that is ultimately about God. As this series stemming from Luke 24:12-49 seeks to understand how all the Scriptures are speaking about Christ (specifically Luke 24:27, 44), we must never lose our understanding of God as Trinity. God the Father is always spoken of as Creator and Authority within the Trinity. The Son of God is not only spoken of as submissive to the Father, but also the very glory of the Father (John 17:24). The Spirit is spoken of as submissive to the Father and the Son (John 16:12-15). When we seek to understand Christ’s central place in all of Scripture, we should only do so in a Trinitarian framework.

The sovereign God is creating everything out of nothing. Moses repeats himself over and over by saying “And God said” (Gen 1:3, 6, 9, etc). Everything started with God’s authoritative Word. In order to understand anything about the universe, we first must understand God as Sovereign Lord over all. As God creates everything out of nothing, He has a specific system to it. He creates and divides in the first three days, and then He creates by filling on the second three days. Such as, on day 1 God divides the light from the dark, and on day 4 he fills with the sun, moon and stars. On day 2, God divides the waters from above and below, and on day 5 he fills them with birds and fish. On day 3 God divides the waters from land, and on day 6 He fills with land-animals and man. This theme is not uncommon to Scripture either. God divides humanity at the Tower of Babel in order to fill the earth. Jesus divides the bread and fish in order to fill the 5,000 listeners. God may even divide you from your church or your pastor from your church in order to fill another church to be used to glorify Christ. God’s dividing is to fill!

Genesis 1 tells us everything we need to know in order to understand Who created (God), what was created (everything), and how it was created (Word). But there is something very important that is missing. Moses didn’t know it. God kept His secret for thousands of years. In the midst of the many “And God said,” there was something God didn’t say! Listen closely.

It is crucially important to understand that God spoke creation into existence instead of blinking, twitching his nose, or even merely thinking. God created through His Word! Not until around 4,000 years after God created the universe does He reveal His purpose for doing so. After 33 A.D., John picks up the exact language of Gen 1 when he writes, “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). John writes on to say that God created everything through His Word, Jesus Christ. Further, the writer of Hebrews says that God created the universe through Jesus Christ so that Christ would inherit all of the cosmos that was made. This is exactly why Andrew created our CBSM logo the way it is. It is to represent how Jesus is the exact image of God, how everything revolves around Him as He is the nucleus of God’s purposes (Christocentrism), and how the entire universe is created so that He upholds it and rules over it as Lord and King.

John says that Jesus is the “Word” (John 1:1). Jesus calls Himself THE Truth (John 14:6). If God creates everything through His Word who is Christ, then we as Christians must be careful to continually listen to the Word, Message, and Truth of God…the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many competing messages (worldviews) in the world that we allow into our lives through education, books, movies, the media, and music. I wonder if we hear the Word of Christ as much as we hear the world’s words? What are the words of your music teaching you?

Biblical Theology - 5 - "Christocentricism: Jesus Christ is the Center of the Church"

2007-12-20T09:26:00.000-05:00

I wasn’t able to sleep. I couldn’t get the images out of my head, and the anticipation was building daily. That’s what happened the time I watched the show “LOST” on NBC. I only watched it once. Because the suspense of waiting for the next’s week episode was killing me, I never watched it again. Shows like this are a huge hit because everyone connects with a conspiracy. Conspiracy theories are even filling our country about the AIDS virus, the 1969 moon landing, and many more. Everyone connects with an idea of conspiracy because deep down they know conspiracies are true. The reason why movies like “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Golden Compass” attract so much attention is because of their plots of conspiracy.

In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul is walking the local church of Ephesus through the climaxing chapter of the true-cosmic conspiracy. This conspiracy started with Adam as God created him, placed all things under his feet, and charged him to rule the cosmos. Adam failed by rebelling against God, and Satan became the ruler of the world (2 Cor 4:4) much like Jacob stole Esau’s birthright. Paul says that the conspiracy of Satan ruling over God’s creation is being overturned by the death and resurrection of Christ through which God placed all the cosmos under Christ’s feet. We understand this language as we have watched boys play King of the Hill…pushing and shoving their enemies beneath them so that they have the top position of triumph. We understand this language of God giving Christ as the head over all things in nearly every area of life. Teams have their captains, militaries have their generals, and corporations have their CEO’s. The world may be rebelling against God, but it is also reflecting His kingdom design. God has given Christ as King over the cosmos! This means we ought not to think of Jesus as a hippy who is just apathetic to sin. Jesus is a loving-victorious King which means we have power over sin, we have boldness to preach Him, and we have nothing to fear…not death or anyone. Yet I must say, the reason we don’t follow Christ, is because we love our sin more than Him.

If it’s amazing to think that God has placed all of the cosmos under Christ’s feet and He has given Christ as the head over everything. It’s ever more amazing to realize to whom God has given Christ. Not to the “world” and not even to “Christians,” but God has given Christ to the CHURCH! What is the church? Later, Paul speaks of the church as being gifted by God with pastors, teachers, etc. Paul is talking about the local church (Eph. 4): the committed group of believers who have pastors, deacons, and people serving each other daily as the body of Christ. Each local church is to fully represent God’s kingdom. Paul says that the church is the body of Christ (Eph 1:23). Is that an important image? Head-body imagery is very common to us. If I showed you a picture of three famous men dressed up in a suit but with their heads blanked out, you couldn’t tell me who they were. But if I showed you a picture with the faces of three men, you could tell they were Lebron James, Tim McGraw, or Will Smith. Have you ever heard someone say that they love Jesus but they hate the church? That would be like a man whispering to you how much he loves his wife but he’s just disgusted with her body. You would gasp at such an offense and suggest counseling…or a beat down. Love the church as Christ’s body!

Paul lastly says that God has made the church the fullness of Christ (Eph 1:23). Christ filling the church is very important to understand. Just as God filled the OT temple with His Spirit, so is Christ filling the church with His Spirit (Acts 2:33). We shouldn’t think of ourselves as individuals who are filled, but the church filled as the temple. This has great significance when thinking about how involved we should be with our local church. We should join our local church. We should heavily participate in our local church. We should find a place of service in our local church. If the church is the fullness of Christ, then it only makes sense that we experience Christ most fully in the church. We only love Christ as much as we love our church. Jesus, be the center of our lives as we worship You with Your body, Your bride, Your fullness.

Biblical Theology - 4 - "Christocentricism: Jesus Christ is the Center of our Sanctification"

2007-12-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

He was one of the coolest guys I ever knew. This dude totally had it all together. He was a great athlete, all of the girls swarmed him, his intelligence was stellar, and he just had that laid back attitude that everyone enjoyed. During the prime of his life, this close friend of mine was in a tragic car accident. From the accident, he no longer had the physical agility to play sports, he no longer had the attractive look, his intelligence was severely altered, and his personality had changed drastically. He was still the same person God had created him to be but very distorted.

This story is also true about every one of us - every human being. It all started at the beginning of time when God created humanity in His own image to reflect Him (Genesis 1:26-28). What does it mean for Adam and Eve to be created in the image of God? It means that God has shared everything about Himself with us. God is righteous, so humanity could choose right over wrong. God is rational, so humanity could make decisions and solve problems. God’s role was to rule over the cosmos, so He set up man to have dominion over all the earth (Gen 1:28). God can see, hear, etc. all things, so He created man with a body to reflect His attributes. You may be reading this and despising the way you were born, but you must remember that you are made in God’s image. Others may be reading this with great pride in the way that they were made. We must be reminded that God didn’t create you for our image…but for His. God created humanity in His own image by sharing with us everything that He is. God commands us to reflect Him.

So are we still perfectly imaging God as He originally created us? Unfortunately, that is not the case. God’s image in humanity has been distorted by sin (Genesis 3:6). In the Garden of Eden, Satan the serpent slithered up to Eve the woman to deceive her into eating the forbidden fruit. That cataclysmic event infected all humanity with the curse of sin. Before the curse, all humanity imaged God faultlessly. After the curse, humanity continues to exist in the image of God, but His image is distorted in us because of sin. It is as if looking into a clear mirror in the morning. The mirror reflects the exact image that stands before it. If that mirror is struck in the middle and cracks spread in every direction, the reflection is still there but greatly distorted. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and rebelled against God, His image in them was distorted. Many people feel so broken because of this. Praise God there is a remedy, a fix!

How does God put us back on the road of growing in His image again? God renews His image within believers by their becoming like Christ (Rom 8:29). We must understand that Jesus is the exact image of God (Colossians 1:15-18). He is not the next best thing to God or God junior. Jesus is fully God, exactly God, perfectly God. He is also what it means to be fully human. We often think that Jesus wasn’t fully human because He didn’t sin. Aren’t we fully human because to be human means to be sinful? Actually, it’s the other way around. To be human means to be fully in God’s image as He originally created us. Therefore, Jesus is more human than we are because He is exactly imaging God. He resisted temptation after temptation when we usually give in after the first few tugs of our sin. Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God. Jesus is what it means to be human. God restores us into His image as we are growing and becoming like Christ (Col 3:10). Jesus is God’s goal for our salvation, for our spiritual growth, and for all of our lives.

When it comes to understanding our sanctification (spiritual growth into Christ-likeness), we have to know that God didn’t intend for us to see a “quiet time” as the primary means. Instead, the number one way we become like Christ the most is through the church. Through preaching, teaching, fellowship, praying, ministering, discipling, worshipping, and evangelizing with other believers as a local church we become most like Christ (Eph 1:23). Is your life goal to become like Christ? If so, does your participation in your church reflect that?

Biblical Theology - 3 - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Christocentricism: Jesus Christ is the Center of the Gospel"

2007-11-28T10:55:00.000-05:00

It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life! After putting the gas nozzle into my tank, I stepped inside the gas station to use their always-lustrous bathroom and then to buy a drink. I came back out to my car, got in, started it up, and drove away. I heard a loud “POP” and realized something had just hit my car. I looked back and saw that I had driven off with the nozzle still in my tank. The nozzle had been ripped from the gas pump. When I went back into the store to confess my stupidity, all the attendant could muster from her mouth was, “Whaaaat were you thinking?” The problem was that I wasn’t thinking at all. I was performing the same fill-up routine I had done for the last 12 years of my driving life.

I’m afraid that we as Christians often fall into a routine when it comes to the gospel. We thoughtlessly live our Christian lives without much thought of what the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ is accomplishing through us. We don’t really think much about the importance of continuing to repent of our sin. Paul wrote to a church about this same problem.

Paul writes to remind this church of the gospel that he preached to them while he was in their city, and that they had received it (1 Cor 15:1a). Before they clearly received the Gospel, Paul had previously preached in the city-synagogue, but was rejected there (Acts 18). He then went to the house next door to the synagogue; and many people got saved including the ruler of the synagogue. Paul knew that the ruler truly received Christ because his life had completely changed. True salvation is a real reception of the gospel (1 Cor 15:3-4), a bona fide belief, a lifestyle of following Jesus Christ as one’s Lord (Acts 16:31). We must RECEIVE the Gospel. The Gospel of the life, death, and resurrected LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ isn’t just something to merely know or grasp. It must be received. Receive Christ as your Lord and Savior by turning from your sinful lifestyle and toward following Him personally.

Paul also wrote the church to encourage them to stand in the gospel (1 Cor 15:1b). Back in those days, to “stand” in something meant to remain in a condition or state of life. The Gospel is often spoken of as something we believe at salvation and then leave behind in order to grow, as if it is merely a hoop to jump through or a ticket for a ride. Here Paul says that the Gospel is something that we remain in to grow from for the rest of our lives. If we learn something spiritually new with depth, it is connected to and grounded in the Gospel. There was a time this Alabama boy (me) lived in Michigan and was taken on a sled ride which was pulled by a snow mobile. Since my so-called friend was driving me through the woods as fast as 50mph, I was afraid to fall off for the sake of my limbs and my life. To his shock and frustration, I didn’t fall off for the two entire runs he took me around his property. I remained on the toboggan for my life! Likewise, we must REMAIN in the Gospel. Remain in the Gospel by living a LIFE that flows out of the Gospel: continuously repenting of sin and following after Jesus Christ.

Lastly, Paul wrote to the church to challenge them to hold fast to the Gospel (1 Cor 15:2). Biblically, to “hold fast” means to keep your mind in that way of thinking. Notice Paul says that we are being saved IF we hold fast. Honestly, I don’t much care for the phrase “once saved, always saved” anymore. I think it gives too many lost sinners a false assurance of salvation just because they said a “salvation prayer” in the past, and their pastor told them to not doubt it. Paul is saying that we know we truly have been saved if we currently are being saved, and we know that we currently are being saved if we are holding fast to the Gospel through repentance of sin and faithfully following Jesus Christ. I prefer the phrase: IF saved, ALWAYS saved. We must REMEMBER the Gospel. Endeavor to remember the Gospel of Jesus Christ daily by reading the Scriptures filled with the Gospel, PRAYING the Gospel from your salvation, and faithfully gathering with the church to worship Christ with the hope of the Gospel.

Biblical Theology - 2 - 1 Cor. 3:10-15 "Christocentrism: Jesus Christ is our Motivation"

2007-11-15T10:53:00.000-05:00

When I went to Africa on a mission trip, it wasn’t the differences of Africans from Americans that shocked me. It was their similarities. Just like American teenagers, the Ugandan senior high boys seemed “too cool” to get involved, the senior high girls sat around giggling about the guys, and all the junior highers were enjoying the games shamelessly. I had to keep reminding myself, “Chip, your not in Kansas (USA) anymore!” Watching how teenage guys are prone to video games, wrestling, and grunting while teenage girls naturally love giggling, discussions, and frequent bathroom trips together…I’m convinced that both genders operate off different motivations. Teenage guys are motivated by action while teenage girls are motivated by affection.

Since we’re on the subject of motivation, it’s important to crack our chests open, and examine our hearts… spiritually! What is the central motivation of our lives? Why do we do what we do? I believe if we’re honest, we’ll all admit that sometimes we just get tired of doing the “Christian thing” whether it be church, singing, witnessing, studying, etc. Paul is addressing a church in the same condition that we often find ourselves. He points them back to the right motivation for life in 1 Corinthians 3:10 – 15.

Paul is writing his little heart out to the church in the city of Corinth saying that life isn’t about him or anyone else in ministry, but it’s about the foundation that every ministry should be built on. That foundation is Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is the motivation for our salvation (vs. 10-11). The foundational motivation that God uses to bring everyone to faith in Christ is the desire to know and follow Christ. When I played high school basketball, the number one reason I played was for glory – the glory of the team and the glory of me. Glory is the reason I ran sprints, practiced until near exhaustion, shot more than a hundred times a day, and wore the embarrassingly tight hand-me-down uniform. God’s goal for salvation is that Jesus Christ would get the glory from our lives. God works in the heart of a sinner in a way that they see their sin, they see their need for Christ, and they want to be united to Him.

Not only salvation, but Paul also says that Jesus Christ is the motivation of our sanctification (vs. 12-15). Sanctification is a word talkin’ bout our spiritual growth. Paul rushes his readers way ahead to the Day of Judgment as he tells them that all of their works will be tested with fire. In the next chapter, Paul tells them that their works are being tested for the motivation - why they are done (1 Cor 4:5). So the motivation is crucial! All of this is a picture of our good works being put on a conveyor belt and passing through a fire. If they were done for the glory of Christ, they will come out the other side proven as valuable as gold, silver, and jewels. If even the best of someone’s good works weren’t done with the motivation of glorifying Christ (if done for self or someone else), then the worth will be proven by ashes of incinerated wood, hay, and straw. God’s desire is that we do everything for the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. Change your mind to make Jesus’ glory the reason for everything you do. Decide to grow spiritually as a Christian because you want to glorify Christ with your life!

As I’m writing this right now, you may be just as bothered as I am about the past. “What about all of those Christian, religious, great things I’ve done in my life? Are you saying they don’t count to God unless Jesus is first in my mind?” That’s not what I’m saying at all. I would never come up with anyone like that because I’m a sinner. But that is what God is saying through the Apostle Paul. If we find ourselves doing things not for Christ’s glory, we must stop, pray, and set our hearts on Him. Just like guys and girls, the motivation of Christians must be different from the world – Jesus Christ!

Biblical Theology - 1 - Luke 24 "Series Twenty Four: Through the Bible in 7 Miles"

2007-11-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

It raised the phrase “a walk to remember” to a new level. When I was a youth leader in Tuscaloosa, the youth pastor and I took a group of graduated senior guys to the beach. The youth pastor warned them of my love to walk the beach for miles and hours, but they still joined me. We began our journey at 10am with the sun to our backs, and at high noon we headed back as the sun had crossed over the sky and was at our backs again. One not-so-lucky walker started feeling really hot later that night and found that he was severely sunburned. After being confined to a couch with a near-by fan, food, and a videogame controller for the rest of the week at the beach house, one of the guys found a strong pain reliever in his bag on the last night of the trip. It sure made my friend feel better, but he was ticked it wasn’t found until the last day!

I’m sure it’s hard to believe, but there is an even greater walk to remember in history. Three days after His death (ring a bell?), Jesus’ disciples were on a seven-mile walk of their own from Jerusalem to Emmaus when a stranger appears out of nowhere and joins them on their journey. Shhhh! It was Jesus in stealth-mode. Jesus asks the disciples what the topic of conversation for the day is. They thought surely he was some ignorant tourist with a camera around his neck since he hadn’t heard of the recent crucifixion and robbery of Jesus of Nazareth’s body. Jesus scolds them a bit by calling them foolish for their unbelief in the resurrection as He personally takes them through the OT to show them how Genesis through Malachi foretold the glorious resurrection He entered through His suffering of the cross. As night fell, they asked the strange traveler if he would stay with them. He did. He even broke bread with them and blessed it (ringing another bell?). At that very moment, they recognized who it was all this time! But then Jesus vanished. They both agreed that their hearts burned within them as He walked them through all the OT and interpreted it to be about Himself.

These disciples went running to the others to tell them that Jesus’ body wasn’t stolen, but He truly had been raised from the dead. Again, He appears in their midst. Jesus has got some great timing! He wanted to show them that He’s not a ghost, but He’s a real, risen human being with flesh, bones, blood, hair, and ear wax. And then to really show he’s a real human being, Jesus sits down and eats with them. I can only imagine how hungry He was after being dead 3 days. For a second time (but this time over dinner), Jesus takes them all back through the whole OT. He shows them how He fulfilled all of the prophecies, curses, and promises. He teaches them that His death provides forgiveness of sins through personal repentance, and that this great news (Gospel) must be told to all the nations through His witnesses…His disciples.

Side note - I walked into my bank one day. One of their cheesy drink coasters jumped off the counter at me (not quite literally). The bank was doing a promotion where every transaction would give the customer a point, and points could buy certain things. The coaster read: “Finally, it all has a point.” “Wow!” (That was me thinking loudly to myself) The world is sending a message that they all really are looking for the point of all life. What brings all of life together? What is the one point that makes sense of everything? It is Jesus Christ!

I think how teenagers are learning so many different subjects, sports, social skills, etc. They are begging with the question, “Yeah, but what’s the point?” Churched teens are learning so many different verses, doctrines, truths, stories, spiritual disciplines, etc. If they don’t get the point to it all, everything will just be a big disconnected jumbled mess in their lives. Jesus tells us how to interpret all of life, all of Scripture, and all of all things. The answer is Himself – Jesus Christ! God has created and designed all things to find their goal in Jesus (Eph 1:10-11), He finds His glory in Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:10-11), His will for our lives is that we are transformed into Christ’s image (Rom 8:29), and He wants us to experience our joy in Jesus. As you walk with Jesus through His Word, remember, He is the point to everything written there!