Resurrection

Those that know me know that I do not have a 20 year history as a Christian. I do not have the contextual or historical knowledge and have to work hard (not to earn, but to understand) to grasp what seems to come easy for some. I was not raised studying catechisms, but have discovered just how wonderful, helpful and illuminating they can be.

I had to start with a definition. A catechism is a summary or exposition of doctrine usually in a question and answer format. Jerry Bridges says; “A Catechism is simply a means of instruction by posting a series of questions about God, humankind, and answering those questions from the Bible. A catechism is never out of date as it seeks to teach us the eternal truths of scripture.”

I have recently been spending a little time in the Heidelberg Catechism. It is a wonderful, heartfelt commentary covering the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. I am using Kevin DeYoung’s book; “The Good News We Almost Forgot” as additional commentary on this Catechism. DeYoung points out that; “Heidelberg’s structure is unique in two ways. First, the overall structure fits into the pattern of salvation found in the book of Romans. ..the Catechism deals with man’s misery, man’s deliverance, and finally man’s response – or to put it more memorably; guilt, grace and gratitude.”

I just came across a question that has just touch my heart. Question 45 of the catechism asks; How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us? Something we may know but should be able to articulate. I must admit I struggled with this. DeYoung points out there has been no more important event in history than the resurrection of the Son of God. Amen!

But why? What is the benefit? The catechism points out three distinct benefits. First, by his resurrection He has overcome death, so that He might make us share in the righteousness He won for us by His death. Can you see that without the resurrection nothing was truly conquered; not death, not sin, not evil. That by His wonderful resurrection He satisfied divine justice, His offering was acceptable to God and the work of salvation is complete. By His resurrection we can now share in His righteousness.

Second, by His power we too are already now resurrected to a new life. DeYoung points out “that our hope of new life is not just a future goal; it is a present reality.” Isn’t that so encouraging? This new life points us to the personal relationship believers have with Christ, but there is even more.

Third, Christ Resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection. His resurrection is the first step toward a glorious and eternal transformation. The resurrection of our Lord and Savior points us toward that eternal hope.

I will end with Philippians 3:20-21; But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Wow!

Grace and Peace!

Fleeing

A friend and I have just started a study of the book of Jonah. Neither of us has ever really studied this rich book. I must admit that I am getting so much from this book and was amazed as I dug into the first three verses.

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

In these first three verses we can see so much. Sinclair Ferguson points out that right from the start we see Jonah turning from the word of God and fleeing from the very presence of God. And when you stop to think about it, don’t we all do that? As we sin, aren’t we turning from God, fleeing from God? Tullian Tchividjian says “to flee from God is to rise against God. It is stand-up, straight-out, in-your-face defiance against the One to whom we owe all loyalty and Love. It means insisting that our way of doing things is better than God’s way”. Ouch!

Tullian also uses Moby Dick and the chaplain Mapple to illustrate and summarize. Mapple in his sermon says; “If we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in the disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.” Isn’t that so true, but so hard to admit.

Our broken natures, our human nature just point to the fact that we are rebels. We are self sufficient, self-centered beings. Abraham Kuyper once wrote; “Our heart is continually inclined to rebel, against the Lord our God. So ready to rebel, that O, so gladly, were it but for a single day, we would take from His hands the reins of His supreme rule, imagining that we would manage things far better and direct them far more effectively than God.”

When we stop and reflect, when we come to terms with our nature, then and only then can we see just how desperate we are, how low, how broken, how in need of saving we are. As we stop and recognize our need, as we begin to turn back toward God there is hope. In Luke 15, we read:

20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

How comforting to know that as we recognize our broken ways we can turn back to God through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can turn back and know our Father in Heaven is there with Open arms. That as we turn our Father will run to us and we can celebrate!

Father, forgive us as we sin against you. Thank you that although we are dead in our sins, we can be alive in Christ; that though we are lost we can be found! Father, thank you for your grace and your marvelous plan of redemption. Amen!

Grace and Peace!

Father Heart of God

J. R. Cobb was a guitarist and song writer; and he wrote a big hit called Spooky, went on to be in a band that meant a lot to me in the 70’s – when I was just an infant – the Atlanta Rhythm Section who had such songs as So into You, Oh, Atlanta, Doraville, Homesick and Dog Days – Anyway, in 1994, J.R. wrote a song recorded by Wynonna called Rock Bottom and in that song there is this lyric – “Rock Bottom is solid ground, and a dead end street is just a place to turn around.” Although, at difficult and trying times it may appears as if we have hit rock bottom; as believers we are far from rock bottom, as believers we are on solid ground, in life we may hit a few dead end streets, but as we turn around we can rest assured Our Father in heaven is there for us.

For me that is so reassuring, it also helps me to understand that when we hit those dead end roads that there is a process for turning around. In business, we are trained to understand human reaction to bad news, to dead ends and it is something called the SARA model. Heard of it? I have had to go through this many times when I found out about certain decisions or circumstances. The S stands for Shocked and as these dead ends occur I am shocked and I just can’t believe this is happening.

Next, the A stands for Anger and I usually go thru this period of Anger – not really anger more like extreme disappointment thinking all that work, all this time for what?

Then I hit the R or the rejection mode – I say to myself; no this can’t be, there must be a reason that I can turn around, there must be something I can do to convince or change the decision or circumstance. And then and only then did I hit the final A – acceptance saying ok it is real, now what.

You know Sara can be spelled another way with a H at the end and for me after I accept I can then move to the H’s of Help, Healing and Hope and as believers aren’t we blessed to have the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit? As I was recently going through this process I found myself in the book of Philippians, a book that many people call the book of encouragement, as Boice says “no book in the Bible is so filled with joy as Philippians – a joyful book of only 104 verses that also covers major Christian doctrines such as Christian love, hope, aspiration, joy and confidence.” As I was reading I found myself dwelling in Philippians 3:12-14; There is not time to really break this passage down, but a little context we should consider is that Philippians was written by Paul while in prison and most agree around AD 60 and Paul was Martyred in around AD62, so while Paul had every reason to be down, give up, be distressed, he wasn’t any of those things and he wrote his most confident joyful letter. There is so much in these 3 verses that we could talk for hours, but I will just highlight a couple of things that just shook me to the core.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


So as I come to terms with where I am, where we are my encouragement is to press on no matter the circumstance – whatever that means, I am to press on in faith, I am to press on in humble confidence, I am to press on in Christ, I am to forget what is behind and strain (straining must indicate it might be tough) toward what is ahead; my focus is Christ. As I come to feel that way I am reminded and overwhelmed by the promises of God that he is with us and will not forsake us, that he loves us – oh how he loves us that as we turn around from our dead ends he is there with the arms of a father wide open, that he is our Father in heaven and we are his Children, that we can trust and rest in the father heart of God.

One final illustration, anyone know who Derek Redmond is? He was a world-class track athlete from Great Britain; a world champion in the 400 meters; he held the British record in the 400 meters and won gold medals in the world championships which lead up to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. This was a man who had trained almost his entire life to compete for a medal in the Olympics. I don’t know if Derek Redmond is a Christian or not, but his story gives me a clear picture, great encouragement and blessed assurance of the Father heart of God.

Derek Redmond in the semi-final of the 400 meter event was off to a great start and as he was into the first turn he tore his hamstring going down in great pain. Imagine the disappointment a lifetime of work gone in a blink. He sits crushed for what seems like forever, and then something happens. He picks himself up; he presses on determined to finish the race! He presses on forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. He struggles, limps, hops toward the finish line. As he struggles forward you see a commotion in the crowd when a man burst through security, it is his father. His father runs along side and wraps his arm around his son and together they finish the race.

Abba Father, we thank you for your heart for us your children. That no matter what is going on in our lives you are there as we press on. We thank you for your great love, your grace and mercy. Amen!

Press on everyone; we have a Father in Heaven there for us.

Grace and Peace!