WE. MUST. PRAY.

1 Timothy 2:1- First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people^[1] 

Paul wrote this to Timothy right after he discussed the purpose of his writing in verse 18 of the previous chapter. There, Paul writes:

 " I am giving you these instructions, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience"^[2]

 Paul is teaching Timothy how to fight, and the first weapon he mentions is prayer. Prayer is a weapon with divine power, able to destroy strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). Paul tells us to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, by praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Eph. 6:17-18). The prophet's prayer started a spiritual battle in Daniel chapter ten. We are in a war. If we want to succeed, we have to fight. If we want to fight, we must pray.

WE ARE IN A WAR. Our college campuses will not be won easily. Satan will not simply unhand the grasp he has on our universities. Our country will not see the fruits of national revival simply through praise music. We must pray.

Paul could have mentioned anything in 1 Timothy 2:1. He could have proclaimed the sufficiency of Scripture for life and godliness. He might have commanded Timothy to live holy and righteous before God and man. Verse one of this 2nd chapter would have been a perfect time to preach the importance of the grace of God, but he did not. He specifically, intentionally advocates prayer as the foremost weapon in this battle.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this present darkness (Eph. 6:10). We wrestle for the Kingdom of God, for the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on this earth. So pray.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (1 Ti 2:1). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (1 Ti 1:18–19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers...."

About the shooting in Connecticut

     On Friday, December 14,  Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut witnessed one of the most horrible tragedies in U.S. history as a gunman opened fire, killing 26 individuals, 20 of them being children. This was an absolutely heinous crime, one deserving of our attention and prayers. But is it the worst? Is there another crime that could possibly be more heinous than the murder of innocent children and traumatizing of many others? I believe there is.
     About 2000 years ago, a certain man was beaten, stripped naked, and crucified. Now this is by no means a surprise, for this was the execution for many individuals who opposed the Roman government. However, this man was different. This man lived a perfect life; one of sacrifice and purity. He never did, or even thought, anything wrong. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and taught people how they should act. There was one other thing that still set Him apart, however. He was (and still is) God. He was the creator of the universe (John 1:3) and everything was created for Him (Colossians 1:16). Without Him, absolutely nothing would exist. God, the loving and mighty creator, came down and lived a perfect, sinless life for 33 years and died the most humiliating, heinous, undeserved death that would ever take place. In this death, He bore the sins of the world, past, present, and future. Sins that He had nothing to do with. Sins that He did not have a hand in committing. This is truly evil, even more evil than the Connecticut shooting or 9/11 or the Holocaust or anything else that has ever happened. Why? Because the perfect, innocent Creator and Lord of the universe was killed for absolutely no reason. No one was more innocent than Him because He never sinned and if it were not for Him, no one and nothing would exist. Ever.
     In this moment of sadness, let us mourn and grieve on behalf of the lives lost in Newtown, Conn. But let us never lose sight of the incomparable evil that took place at Calvary, and the incomparable good that resulted in eternal life.

Thoughts from Decmber 14th

A journal entry

I just read a small portion of Ezekiel for the first time. I am floored/in awe of/ confused by the prophet's depiction of God's glory. In most (if not all) of the prophetic books and in Psalms, God is seen as the most beautiful, majestic, awesome, and terrifying Being that exists. God gives the prophets these visions and He speaks to them (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1&2, Daniel 10) and God is seen as transcendentally awesome. O that I might see Him this way! I am such an ungrateful, shortsighted, evil person. For God came to them [the prophets]  and then was quiet, the heavens would open and close, yet these times where God appeared and spoke was enough for them to say with the angels "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty!" Yet I, despite having Heaven's permanent opening and revelation in God's word and God's very presence living inside of me, must struggle to see Him as this awesome at all!

A Brief Study of Sanctification, Part 1

Sanctification is the process of a person or thing being sanctified. It simply means to be made holy, purified, or set apart for God’s use. A perfect example and picture of sanctification is God’s sanctification of Israel. This expression is evident especially in the book of Leviticus, where it is mentioned at least 10 times.

So what does it mean to “be sanctified?”The Greek word used for “sanctify” or “sanctification” comes from the word hágios, which means holy. The noun (sanctification) and verb (sanctify) forms therefore mean “the act or state of being holy” or “to make something or someone holy.” The root of this Greek word word is the root “hág-,” which refers to chastity or purity. So, the essence of the word “holy” (and therefore “sanctified”) is “to be pure and chaste.” In the Christian experience, this could more accurately be applied as “to be made pure and chaste before God” or “the activity of pursuing purity and chastity before God.” This is a theme that is rather prevalent and will be traced throughout Scripture.

The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament means “to consecrate” and also stems from a connotation of purity. It is used most frequently in the Pentateuch, as God commands for items to be purified for use in the tabernacle. He also says in Leviticus 21:8 that He, who is holy, sanctifies. It is closely related to the word used for “holy,” which has a connotation of separation.

Using the aforementioned information, sanctification can be defined as “the act or state of being purified and set apart for use by the Holy God.”

SANCTIFICATION: A THEOLOGICAL STUDY

Now that there is a working definition of sanctification, the theme can be traced throughout Scripture. Before doing that, however, the theme and command of sanctification will be explored in relation to the Triune God for whom, to whom, and through whom sanctification exists. Each person of the Trinity will be discussed in His role in sanctification.

Before going into the unique role that each person of the Trinity plays in sanctification, it would be beneficial to discuss the nature of God and how that nature relates to sanctification.

His Holiness: Of all of the magnificent characteristics of God, none plays a role more closely related to sanctification than His holiness. The holiness of God is the most important of all attributes when discussing or contemplating the character of God, for all His actions and motives are rooted in and shaped by His holiness. As A.W. Pink said, “God swears by His holiness because it is a fuller expression of His nature than anything else.” [1] It is most difficult to define God’s holiness in general because He is holiness. He embodies it. Outside of Him there is no picture or definition of holiness. Because of this, God’s holiness cannot be observed in a manner similar to any other being. Therefore, the topic of God’s holiness will be approached from 2 aspects of His holiness: the divinity and purity thereof.

On the subject of the divinity of God’s holiness, it is to be said that God’s holiness is divine in the sense that there has been, is not, and will never be any other being that shares this aspect with God. God’s angels are holy, but only because God is holy and they are preserved as His pure servants. The bride of Christ will be presented to God as holy, but only because God is holy and purified the Church through His Son Jesus. God is the definition and embodiment of holiness. In that aspect, no other being can possibly share this attribute with Him as if they had it in common. We see this holiness expressed in Isaiah 6 as the angels shout “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” These angels, having known all their existence nothing but the very presence of God, had become very intimately acquainted with this exclusivity of God’s awesome holiness, and it led them to proclaim it throughout the temple of Heaven. They limit this proclamation solely to God; for He is the only being worthy of such a proclamation.

As for purity, the same predicament as that of holiness can be stated, but it is a bit easier to define purity “outside” of God, meaning that although God is the ultimate, perfect picture of purity, he is not the definition of purity. Purity can be defined as “the state of being that is absent of all defilement.” Purity is similar to the color white or the presence of light, for if there be any speck of any hue in the midst of that white, then it is no longer white. Likewise, the presence of light is only experienced in its fullness when there is no shade or filter, nor any hindrance to that light. Using this definition, it should be stated that to say God is pure is to say His nature and character is absent of any defilement whatsoever. The purity of God’s holiness is amplified when considered in light of two of the most fundamental attributes of God’s being, His eternality or infinity, and His immutability. When viewed in light of these fundamental aspects of God’s nature; a proper statement of God’s purity says that God is eternally and infinitely pure in his holiness. This is an important observation, for it does not simply mean that God is pure; but that God has always been pure and will always be pure. His purity is infinitely resistant and immune to all contamination and therefore His holiness is resistant and immune as well. The purity of God’s holiness is displayed in Habakkuk 1:13, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.” This purity causes God to be so disgusted and angered by evil that He cannot bear to look at it. The relationship presented here between God and wrong is the reason God is pure; for if God cannot simply look at wrong, how could He exist as an impure being at all?

Holiness is like purity, except it is a more abstract and also grander term. Holiness is not simply a physical or scientific term, but one of moral and religious implication. To close the gap between the two terms, holiness is the absence of all moral and religious impurity. When meshed with God’s divinity, it can be understood that God is the only being infinitely and eternally devoid of any and all moral, religious, and material defilement. This is the definition of God’s holiness.

                His Sovereignty: As David prays to the Lord in the presence of all the officials of Israel in 1 Chronicles 29, he says this “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all (verse 11).” In this verse, David communicates the undeniable reality that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe. The particular result of God’s sovereignty discussed here in 1 Chronicles is that God is in control. He regulates and dictates everything that takes place in every realm of existence. A picture is being painted here in which all rulers and authorities are all in submission to God (not necessarily in will, but in that He works all things and uses all things in accordance with His plan), who stands above them all in a position of majesty, glory, and power.

A similar reality is communicated in Isaiah 46:10, where He says “My counsel shall stand and I shall accomplish all my purpose.” Here the sovereign God speaks of His dominion over everything that happens in the realm of time. His purpose and plan is seen here as ultimate, immutable, and inevitable. Whatever He has deemed to take place will take place and will accomplish its purpose for taking place.

Using the ideas communicated in these verses of Scripture, God’s sovereignty is defined as “the reality that everything is controlled by the independent, omnipotent authority of God.” The sovereignty of God has a specific relationship to sanctification in that God is sovereign over sanctification. God chooses what is holy and what makes something or someone holy. This is a necessary result of the aforementioned fact that God is the standard and embodiment of holiness. Therefore, only He knows what is truly holy and sanctified.

           His Supremacy: Romans 11:36 is the epitome of this doctrine. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” This verse is the connecting link between all of Romans chapters 1-11; which is essentially the most thorough explanation of the Gospel in all of Scripture, and the implications thereof in chapters 12-16. In this book Paul starts out explaining God’s case against humanity. He speaks of how His creation has suppressed the truth in unrighteousness and worshipped the creature instead of the creator (1:18-25). He speaks of how there is not one righteous individual on the planet (3:10-18, 23) and how God will repay everyone for their deeds (2:6) and that repayment is death (6:23). This is the plight of humanity. There is an infinitely righteous and just God who must judge the sinful corruption of humanity. To make matters worse, because of the reality discussed in chapter 3 (verses 10-18) and the beginning of chapter 8 (verses 5-8), there is absolutely no possible way man can reach God. 

The situation was hopeless, but then Paul reveals the beautiful reconciliation of man to God through Jesus Christ. He tells the Romans of the sacrifice Christ made and how through His resurrection there is life. He speaks about how in Christ there is righteousness and life in the Spirit. In the verses preceding 11:36, Paul had just shown how God, in His infinite wisdom, decreed a solution for wretched, filthy man to be reconciled and unified with an infinitely pure God; all while maintaining the infinitely high standard of His justice and righteousness. The only words that should be uttered after this presentation of the Gospel are those of Paul in the closing of chapter 11: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Because of God’s infinite beauty, wisdom, majesty, grace, power, and all of His other incredible attributes, He is to be praised! God is the generator, vehicle, and purpose of all creation. He is to be magnified in all things. This is the definition of His supremacy.

The relation of His supremacy to sanctification is simple. Sanctification is generated by God, accomplished through God, and exists solely for Him to be magnified.

God’s holiness, sovereignty, and supremacy are three of His fundamental attributes which are extremely relevant to sanctification.

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[1] Pink, Arthur Walkington. The Attributes of God. Chapter 8. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006.

The Humility of Christ

Philippians 2:8- “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

John 6:38- “For I have come down from Heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.”

I once read (in a book by Henry Scougal, I believe) that the key to Christ’s humility was that He was so focused on God that He forgot about Himself. In these two verses (and several others), we see how Mr. Scougal came to such a conclusion, as well as how this enamorment was manifested in the life of Christ through His unconditional obedience.

In order to understand Christ’s humility, we must first have a good understanding of what it means to humble oneself. In the Philippians 2 passage, the Greek word used for “humbled” is the past tense of the verb ταπεινόω (tah-pay-no), which means “to make small or low” or “to weaken.” In using this verb, Paul says that Christ made Himself low. This lowliness allowed Him to be under the authority of God. But how did this “self-lowering” take place? This is answered in the next portion of the verse, which says “by becoming obedient.” The phrase “by becoming” is a past participle (verbal adjective) which says that this is the way Christ humbled himself. He caused Himself to be in a particular state of being: that of obedience. This “obedient” state is from the Greek ὑπήκοοϛ (hūp-ā-kos), which refers to the position of man in relation to the dominant religious or moral powers. This refers to an attitude or heart condition, as opposed to carrying out a specific set of actions. After taking this language into consideration, this verse can be expanded slightly to say “Christ was made low by causing himself to be in a state of an attitude of obedience.” Christ caused himself to be in a position of submission to the authority of God. This attitude is more explicitly stated in the John 6 passage.

John 6:38 explicitly presents to us a very prevalent theme throughout the life of Christ in the Gospel of John; the theme of Christ's focus on God's will. This theme is also explicitly seen in John 4:34 and also John 5:30. Here in this passage, Christ gives us a look into the state of obedience that Paul would eventually mention to the Philippian church. Through using a particular flow of thought, Christ shows the how and why of His humility and this state of obedience. In the first part of the verse, Christ makes known to us that He knows where He comes from, saying, “For I have come down from Heaven.” In knowing where He comes from, Christ shows us that He is aware of who He is. Christ’s self-awareness as Son of God (and fellow Person of the Trinity) is another theme found in the book of John. Christ knew He was God (seen in Philippians 2:6-7), but this keen sense of identity also came with an undeniable sense of purpose and an understanding of that purpose. It is reasonable for this sense of purpose to be present; for God would most assuredly not leave Heaven and lay aside His splendor without cause. In this passage, there would be no continuing of Christ’s statement after saying that He came from Heaven if He has no sense of purpose.

The second portion of this flow of thought shows that Jesus knew what His mission/ purpose was not. Jesus says (after revealing His original abode) He came “not to do My own will.” This is a rather interesting claim; considering that He came down from Heaven, which means He has a good deal authority on the earth, to say the least. As the Son of God who descended from Heaven, one would think He came to do the exact opposite and carry out his desires. As the Sovereign Son of the Divine, Christ would have been perfectly reasonable and blameless if He simply lived out whatever He wanted. After all, “all things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). However, despite all of this, Christ says He came not to do His own will. He truly did not consider equality with God a thing to be taken advantage of. He completely disregarded His own will, bringing it to a point so low it became irrelevant. Another intriguing thing in this passage is that Christ chose this specific thing (His own will) to reject in this passage. He could have just as easily said He came “not to do the will of man” or “not to establish a physical kingdom,” but instead chose to say “not to do My own will.” Why did He say that? Well first, let us do a brief word study of the word “will.” The Greek word used is from the word θελημα (the-lay-ma), which refers to an expression or inclination that comes from the will. Simply put, Christ is speaking of willful desires. Here, Christ says “I have come not to perform my own willful inclinations.” The most pressing reason Christ chose to reject this particular attitude is because it is one of the most tempting desires that Christ could be tempted with. The strength of this temptation is due to the aforementioned factors (His divine nature, coming down from Heaven with authority) and the fact that he is fully man. It is as if Christ had to battle a double dosage of temptation in this situation, for His flesh would be using His divine nature and authority to tempt Him to perform His willful desires. Satan was undoubtedly working to strengthen the temptation even more, knowing that the entire fate of eternity depended on the life (and death) of Christ. If Christ just performed His own desires, He would have had a much easier, more fun life. He would have been fine in the long run. He would still enjoy eternal, infinitely sweet communion with the Father and the Spirit. These are just a few of the things Satan must have used to tempt Him, but because of these factors, Christ absolutely had to deflate the opportunity for His willful desires to motivate His purpose in life. So in telling the Jews in John 6 that He came not to carry out His own purposes and desires, He shows them (and us) that He knew what His purpose was not.

The third portion of this flow of thought (that resulted in Philippians 2:8 taking place) is communicated when He finishes His statement. He says “For I have come down from Heaven… to do the will of Him who sent me.”  This was the driving force behind the negation of the desire to do His own will. The reason He did not come to do His own will is because He knew His purpose, or τελοϛ.  This was the singularity of Christ’s focus, for He was solely focused on the will of His Father and how He should go about carrying it out. The word θελημα is used again when referring to the “will” of the one who sent Him. So we can now expand this verse to hear Jesus say “For I have come down from Heaven not for the purpose of performing my willful inclinations, but to carry out the desires of Him who sent me.” Notice “the desires.” Christ does not speak of a decree or law, but merely the desires of His father. Christ was motivated by the fulfillment of His Father’s desires, and no one would know them better.  

It is because of the attitude communicated in this verse that Christ sincerely teaches the disciples to pray, saying “Your kingdom come” and “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Out of this condition of the heart, Christ asks that the cup of God’s wrath be removed from Him, but then prays that God’s will would ultimately be done, and indeed it was. Because of this condition, Christ preached with the utmost power and confidence, knowing that He would not speak one word out of line, for His desires were flushed out by placing Himself in the state of obedience. In doing this, Christ disregarded Himself and placed Himself under the authority of His master.