What Are We Doing Here?

"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Psalm 110:1

"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Hebrews 10:12,13

 ^"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:18-20

What is the mission of the Church? What is our goal? What are we doing? 

The question has plagued me lately. Are we to just convert people? Are we to go street preaching? Are we supposed to separate from the world, like the Amish? Are we to be like the Hasidic Jews, forming our own urban neighborhoods to retreat into? How do we know? Well, if we profess to follow Christ, we start with his example.

Why did Christ come into the world? There are a lot of people with a lot of different answers to that question; some of them good answers, some of them terrible answers. Let's clear some answers up first of all. Christ didn't come into the world just to show you how to be a good person. Christ didn't come into the world just to show you how much God loves you. Make no mistake, he came to do those things, but if that's all you're getting from Jesus, then you aren't getting it. The big reason Christ came is found in Romans 5:6-11.

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Now, make no mistake, that's huge. That's something that has eternal consequences. But that isn't the whole story. If Christ came solely to die for our sins, he would have just gone straight to the cross. But he doesn't. Why not? What's he doing in the meantime? Well, the Holy Spirit descends on him at his baptism. If you've read Judges, you know that when the Holy Spirit descends on people, situations get violent really fast. People start making war. So when the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, he goes to war. He goes into the wilderness  and becomes the first human ever to resist the temptations of Satan. Repeat that again to fully understand what you just read. He starts healing cripples, the blind, lepers, casting out demons. He violently drives the money-changers out of the temple, twice. For three-or-so years of his life, Jesus goes into berserker mode against the kingdom of Satan. Colossians 2:15 says "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."

So what does that tell us about the Church and her mission? It's simple. We follow our Lord into the breach. We go forth with him to conquer. Christ has ascended and been seated at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the day when his enemies are made his footstool. That's our job. We go out with the Holy Spirit into the whole earth with the goal of conquest. Sometimes we hear that and we like the thought, but we limit it. We aren't called to just conquer our homes or our circle of friends or our families; we are called to conquer the whole world: colleges, marketplaces, laboratories, art galleries, grocery stores, banks, governments on and on until there remains no inch of ground over which the flag of Christ's Kingdom doesn't fly. 

And here's the real kicker: we are called to do all of this with nothing more than love and a Book. Sound stupid? That's because it is. It's foolish to even think victory possible. But it is not only possible, it is assured. Matthew 16:18 "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". Daniel 7:13,14 "and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came on like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed". 

It seems to me that right now our mission is summed up in one word: conquer. Conquer everything for the kingdom of Christ. 


At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee;
On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.

For the Lamb

"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" Ecclesiastes 11:13

I found myself in an inter-racial, gospel-music-playing, confessional Presbyterian church this past Sunday. It was boss. Who knew that you could take A Mighty Fortress and funkatize it into a gospel song! Anyway, I'll be attending this church, Christ Central, for the time being. Further down the road I will probably try to become an intern there as well.

We looked at the martyrs in my Church History course this past week. Talk about a punch to the gut! Here am I, just trying to have my own private pity party about how hard seminary is and about all the stuff I gave up to serve God, and then these martyrs come along, showing me their puncture wounds and claw marks and missing body parts! I'm like "Sheesh, guys! I'm really happy for you and your new robes and all, but quit rubbing it in my face!" And then I have to repent. Anyway, martyrs were pretty boss. If ever you need a pick-me-up, just think "At least I'm not being torn to shreds by wild animals while my former friends and neighbors watch and jeer".

Now, onward, to happier thoughts! Sweet home Chicago! I'll likely be coming back to the Land of Lincoln for a couple of days during the week of October 8. I hope to see all of you then!

In Christ's love

Psalm 103 and the Love of God

"Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name"

I have had numerous reasons to bless God over these past weeks. Firstly, because He is unchanging and glorious and majestic in all of His ways. He deserves to be blessed and praised simply because He is God, and there is none other like Him. Secondly, not only have I been able to visit the beautiful Olivia already, but she just came down and visited North Carolina this weekend! She truly is wonderful and I am so thankful for her presence in my life. I also recently accepted a position with Passages, a Bible and ancient manuscript exhibit that will be in NC until February. Get paid cash money to talk about the Bible, its preservation throughout the ages, AND get the chance to work and share the gospel with fellow sinners? What on earth could be better! 

In all of this, God definitely lived up to His description in Psalm 103:4-5 "Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's"

As if anticipating our modern tendency to think ourselves worthy of crowns and love and satisfaction, David goes into the next section of the psalm: 

"Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us". 

Considering the fact that I have three other housemates, I have the house to myself quite often. In high school, I thought I was an extreme introvert, but I now realize that I could not have been more wrong. I am the kind of person who tends to do a lot of self-examination when I am alone for long periods and I have a tendency to, for some reason, only remember the wrong that I've done and the ways that I have rebelled against God and His authority. I then take great comfort in the words of Psalm 103, because God will not keep His anger forever. He has not and will not deal with me according to my sins, because my sins have already been dealt with in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

PLEASE NOTE, dear Reader, that you and I both deserve the anger and holy wrath of God for our sins and rebellion. No matter how good, kind, nice, polite, loving or caring you might think yourself, you and I fall woefully short of God's righteous standard and have committed cosmic treason. It doesn't matter how hard you've tried, how much you've done, or how many times you've gone to church; you and I are sinners and need God's forgiveness if we are to have any hope in the Day of Judgment. That forgiveness is found in Christ Jesus alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. Repent, believe the gospel of Jesus, and experience the joy of the Christian faith.

As Psalm 36:7-8 says, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures" Amen.

I know that at the start, I said there would be no theological musings on here, so consider this more of an application of God's word to life, for me and, I hope, for you. Plus it was raining today and I was feeling reflective. 

Much love in Christ to you all

Decaf Espresso and Midnight Driving

Decaf espresso...two words that should never, ever, EVER go together. For some reason, I have been having headaches on-and-off for the last few weeks. I couldn't put my finger on it until I looked at the bag of coffee beans in the kitchen the other day. My roommate orders lots of food off of Amazon (Yeah! Apparently you can do that!) and the coffee came in a relatively inconspicuous silver bag. But sure enough, right there on the side of the bag, the answer to all of my mysterious headaches: decaf espresso. What's the point of that? Who in God's earth decided that espresso needed to be decaffeinated? I remain to be convinced that this wasn't a secret plot from the devil to incur headaches in God's coffee-drinking servants. Or maybe it's a government conspiracy. I'll have to check the interweb.

In other news, I officially finished my first class of seminary. Greek 1 was hard and I am definitely not rejoicing at the prospect of more Greek in the Fall, but I know that the long-term benefits will outweigh the pains of study and learning. The only thing that remains for me to do for Greek 1 is finish our final paper, a paper on textual criticism. For those who don't know, textual criticism is the field of study that deals with how the New Testament was written and how it got into our hands today. It's really fascinating. The New Testament is by far the most well documented series of events from the ancient world. Nothing even comes close to it in terms of manuscript support in quantity or quality. To claim that the New Testament is an unreliable source of information is surely an exercise in futility.

In even MORE other news, I had the chance to drive up to Ohio this past weekend and visit the second-greatest love in my heart (behind the Triune God, of course!), Olivia! Picture this: it's 3pm Friday and me and my lovely lady are talking on the Skype. We were both sad at the prospect of not seeing each other for another month, so we hastily threw together some driving directions and I set out on a 10-hour drive through Real and Fake Virginia up to northern Ohio. There's nothing like driving through mountains straight through the night, pounding Starbucks energy drinks to stay awake, to give you that ol' romantic feeling. We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend together and I came back after church on Sunday.

Three things that I miss about Illinois so far...

1. My family
I'm definitely missing being around home. Elmhurst was never that far from home, so I saw my family on a pretty regular basis. Now, that's changed, and I'm definitely missing all of my kin.
2. Elmhurst College
I can't lie, I am thoroughly missing Campus Crusade. For anyone reading this who is still in Elmhurst, cherish the time you have with your brothers and sisters. Grow with them, learn with them, love with them. I am getting involved with the community in my seminary and my church down here, but it's slow-going compared to the relative ease of community in college. Enjoy it while you can.
3. Baseball
Everyone likes basketball down here. It's absurd. I'm still trying to find a place that will beam in a White Sox game.

Thanks for reading. God be with you. Much love in Christ.

Genesis

In the beginning there was Greek...and the Greek was insanely difficult and induced for me several crises of faith. It's been just over two weeks and I've had at least 6 times so far where I just didn't want to be a pastor anymore. "Please, God! Let me just do something where I won't have to learn Greek!" But, after many encouraging talks with Olivia, and, as always, by the grace of God, I stuck with it and am nearing the end of my first seminary class. It's actually getting pretty exciting, because we're able to translate some of the New Testament now. It really is incredible to read God's word in its original inspired language.

Charlotte is beautiful so far. I am living in the neighborhood of McCrorey Heights, which is basically just north of downtown (or uptown, as the locals want to call it...bunch of goobers). My neighborhood is pretty nice, but the areas around us are rougher. It'll be nice to see what opportunities God sends to get involved in the community.

So far I've met several of my fellow classmates and am getting on fine with my housemates. My life has (globviously) been pretty consumed with Greek for the last two weeks, but I've still had ample opportunity to get out on the town and have fun. I've discovered something truly amazing. They've a restaurant down here called Taco Mac, and at they equipped every high-rise table with its own beer tap. Absolutely mind-bottling. I've also been introduced and am already addicted to sweet tea. Seriously, this stuff is to beverages what bacon is to food. By that I mean that I'm pretty sure that when Jesus said "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" he was talking about sweet tea. I'll probably have so much diabetes by the end of my stay here,

Basically what this blog is going to look like is just that. I'm not going to try to be hip, artsy, or cool. And I will definitely not be trying to post grand theological musings because, let's face it, I'm just not as wise as I might sometimes think I am. Unless some cool thought comes to my mind and I really feel like sharing it, or I get hit by a bus and die, expect some pretty basic updates about life. I'll try to keep it fun, though.

Much love in Christ. Peace be with you.