Cruciformity ✞

Internalizing the Word

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:57:25 -0500

The challenge had been laid down. My dad said he wanted us to memorize one hundred verses over the year. I was 11. One hundred verses seemed daunting, and I wondered how I’d ever do it. But since our church was celebrating 100 years, part of the challenge to the congregation was to take in and memorize 100 verses.

One of the great privileges of growing up in a Christian home was the modeling, encouragement, and practice of spiritual disciplines as a family. It was a simple routine: after supper, dad would pull out his Bible and get us to repeat one phrase at a time.

The simple modeling of how to memorize Scripture helped me. Waking up early, I’d find my father shaving in front of the bathroom mirror with 3x5 cards, typed verses on them which he’d recite in the flowery old English of the King James Version.

For memorizing Scripture, Dad would give a financial reward - a future reward: Canada Savings Bonds.

I learned from my father’s example that the Word of Christ needs to dwell in us richly (Col 3:16). Either the Book would keep us from sin, or sin would keep us from the Book. Hiding God’s Word in our hearts was one of the key tools to help us not sin against the Lord (Ps. 119:11). Meditating primarily happened through the memorization of the Word, and meditation would bring about delight in the Lord (Ps. 1:2).

I learned the practical value of memorizing Scripture. I found verses coming to my mind throughout my life when I was faced with temptation. Verses provided wisdom, direction, and counsel. Even when I sinned, the Word came to mind, convicting me. There is immense value in memorizing Scripture. It’s a long-term investment that provides counsel (Ps. 119:24), gives you weapons to fight the fight of faith (Eph. 6:17), and may just reward you in ways you never expected!

For me, the rewards of Scripture memory paid off in a way I never expected. Those mature Canada Savings Bonds were cashed in when I purchased a ring and asked a young woman to be my wife!!!

So pick up your Bible. Go phrase by phrase through a passage. And let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you!

Great quotes from Luther's Commentary on Galatians

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:22:41 -0500

The world bears the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the religious wisdom of the world. Jealous for its own religious views, the world in turn charges the Gospel with being a subversive and licentious doctrine, offensive to God and man, a doctrine to be persecuted as the worst plague on earth. As a result we have this paradoxical situation: The Gospel supplies the world with the salvation of Jesus Christ, peace of conscience, and every blessing. Just for that the world abhors the Gospel.Read more at location 43

We exalt our calling, not to gain glory among men, or money, or satisfaction, or favor, but because people need to be assured that the words we speak are the words of God. This is no sinful pride. It is holy pride.Read more at location 83

By His resurrection Christ won the victory over law, sin, flesh, world, devil, death, hell, and every evil. And this His victory He donated unto us. These many tyrants and enemies of ours may accuse and frighten us, but they dare not condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father has raised from the dead is our righteousness and our victory.Read more at location 90

The article of justification must be sounded in our ears incessantly because the frailty of our flesh will not permit us to take hold of it perfectly and to believe it with all our heart.Read more at location 115

Grace remits sin, and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever. Only Christians possess this victorious knowledge given from above. These two terms, grace and peace, constitute Christianity. Grace involves the remission of sins, peace, and a happy conscience. Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the Law. The Law reveals guilt, fills the conscience with terror, and drives men to despair. Much less is sin taken away by man-invented endeavors. The fact is, the more a person seeks credit for himself by his own efforts, the deeper he goes into debt.Read more at location 117

We find no rest for our weary bones unless we cling to the word of grace.Read more at location 126

Worldly peace provides quiet enjoyment of life and possessions. But in affliction, particularly in the hour of death, the grace and peace of the world will not deliver us. However, the grace and peace of God will. They make a person strong and courageous to bear and to overcome all difficulties, even death itself, because we have the victory of Christ’s death and the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.Read more at location 128

The Essentials of Christianity

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:30:06 -0500

Being a Christian doesn’t only mean that you subscribe to a certain set of doctrines. There are other equally important things that must be true. Jonathan Edwards explains.

It is essential to Christianity

that we repent of our sins,

that we be convinced of our own sinfulness,

that we are sensible we have justly exposed ourselves to God’s wrath,

that our hearts do renounce all sin,

that we do with our whole hearts embrace Christ as our only Saviour;

that we love him above all, and

are willing for his sake to forsake all, and

that we do give up ourselves to be entirely and forever his.

Religious Affections, 334; bullets added.

The Grace of Adoption

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:54:54 -0500

From Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity:

“We have enough in us to move God to correct us, but nothing to
move him to adopt us, therefore exalt free grace, begin the work
of angels here; bless him with your praises who hath blessed
you in making you his sons and daughters.”

Me Worship?

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:08:06 -0500

There’s nothing quite like taking a child through the check-out line at the grocery store. After spending a long time walking along or sitting in the shopping cart, marketers know that a well-placed chocolate bar, pack of gum, or a colourful candy wrapper will grab the child’s attention as they wait for the clerk to scan each item. And that eye-catching item becomes more than appealing - it becomes a must have. And every adult has had to address this challenge of wants. “But I neeeeed it!” the child will cry.

As adults, we think that we learn to be self-controlled. But in many cases, we just mask this child-like impulse of having everything now with more sophistication. “Buy now, pay later!” Credit cards, rewards programs, even drive-thru restaurants tell us that we can have instant gratification: “Have it your way, right away!!!”

But the cross work of Christ points us in a different direction. Christ teaches us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him to the place of crucifixion, the place of denying our wants and wanting what our Father wants (Luke 9:23). And for the rest of our lives, we battle against self-fulfillment. It’s a daily battle. It’s killing sin before sin kills your soul (Romans 8:12-17).

We wrestle with our desires on a daily basis, and we want to desire what our Father longs for. We are called to wrestle with these questions from Monday to Saturday. What about Sunday? When it comes to the church gathered, do we come on Sundays so that our needs might be met? Do we judge Sunday on what I get out of it? Do we seek fellowship where there are the programs that I want or what make my kids happy and include the kind of people I like? Are we teaching our children and teens that church is about them? Or i, or s Sunday another day of daily denial, taking up the cross, and following Christ? In other words, have we made the church all about me, or is it all about God?

We gather each Sunday to remember that we have been united to Christ in his death and resurrection. Old desires crucified, new desires given by God.

So as you come on Sunday, what’s it all about?

Patience in Controversy

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:14 -0500

John Newton:

“In controversy, commend your opponent by earnest prayer to the Lord’s blessing. If a believer, deal gently with him for Christ’s sake. The Lord loves him and bears with him; therefore, you must not despise him or treat him harshly. The Lord bears with you and expects you to show tenderness from a sense of the much forgiveness you need yourself. Soon you will meet in heaven; he will then be dearer to you than your nearest friend on earth. Though you may find it necessary to oppose his errors, view him personally as a kindred soul with whom you are to be happy in Christ forever.”

The Dangerous Side of Being an Encourager

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:11:05 -0500

People like Barnabas are always needed in the church. They are peacemakers, the go-betweens who seek no glory for themselves but only seek to bring out the best in others. But “would-be” Barnabases of today need to hear a further lesson from this outstanding biblical figure. Barnabases want everyone to be happy, but sometimes it simply is not possible to please everyone without serious compromise of one’s basic convictions. Barnabas found that out later at Antioch when, in order to placate the conservative Jewish Christians “from James” (Jerusalem), he withdrew from table fellowship with those very Gentile-Christian converts we see him witnessing to so enthusiastically (Gal 2:11-13).

—John Polhill, Acts in NAC Commentary, p 272.

The Anti-Trinitarian, Anti-Gospel, Anti-Incarnational Enemy of Marriage

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:07:05 -0500

Russell Moore:

Pornography is a universal temptation precisely because it does exactly what the satanic powers wish to do. It lashes out at the Trinitarian nature of reality, a loving communion of persons, replacing it with a masturbatory Unitarianism.

And pornography strikes out against the picture of Christ and his church by disrupting the one-flesh union, leaving couples like our prehistoric ancestors, hiding from one another and from God in the darkness of shame.

And pornography rages, as Satan always does, against Incarnation (1 Jn. 4:2-3), replacing flesh-to-flesh intimacy with the illusion of fleshless intimacy.

Moral Relativism and the Ability to Drawing Lines

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:38:52 -0500

Last week for his Breakpoint program, Chuck Colson told about the recent experience of a member of our church, Dr. Stephen Anderson, who teaches philosophy at A.B. Lucas Secondary School in London, Ontario. His students had just finished a unit on metaphysics and were about to start one on ethics. Colson writes about Anderson’s plan for getting the conversation about ethics going.

To jump start the discussion and to “form a baseline from which they could begin to ask questions about the legitimacy of moral judgments of all kinds,” Anderson shared with them a gruesome photo of Bibi Aisha, a teenage wife of a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan. When Bibi tried to get away from her abusive husband, her family caught her, cut off her nose and ears, and left her to die in the mountains. Only Bibi didn’t die. Somehow she crawled to her grandfather’s house, and was saved in an American hospital.

Writing in Education Journal magazine, Anderson relates how he was sure that his students, “seeing the suffering of this poor girl of their own age, [they] would have a clear ethical reaction,” one they could talk about “more difficult cases.”

But their response shocked Anderson. “[He] expected strong aversion [to it], … but that’s not what I got. Instead, they became confused … afraid to make any moral judgment at all. They were unwilling to criticize,” as he said, “any situation originating in a different culture. They said, ‘Well, we might not like it, but maybe over there it’s okay.’”

Anderson calls their confusion and refusal to judge such child mutilation a moment of startling clarity, and indeed it is. He wonders if it stems not from too little education, but from too much multiculturalism and so-called “values education,” which is really just an excuse for moral relativism.

Anderson writes, “While we may hope some [students] are capable of bridging the gap between principled morality and this ethically vacuous relativism, it is evident that a good many are not. For them, the overriding message is ‘never judge, never criticize, never take a position.’” Anderson wonders whether in our current educational system, we’re not producing ethical paralytics? Well, if the horrifying example of the students’ reaction in this case is any indication, Anderson already knows the answer.

God's Empowering Presence

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:00:05 -0500

There’s something freeing about a fresh start. We hope that a new year, a new job, a new town, or school will make things work out differently. We’ll have a different routine, work harder, get better grades, have better relationships, improved eating, sleeping, and exercising.

But it only takes a short while to realize that old patterns have resurfaced. The laziness that affected us last year returns. The compulsion to overwork bings like a blackberry. The desire to get up 15 minutes earlier to read and pray dies when you hit snooze for the 3^rdtime.

Fresh starts are great. But fresh starts don’t bring the change. Why?

The problem is a wrong diagnosis: we think the problem is out there: Circumstances. People. Situations. So change the external factors, dig down a little deeper within, and “Voilà!” It’s fixed!

The problem isn’t the law, commands, circumstances, or situations – it’s not out there. It’s a heart problem. The reason you touch wet paint when the sign says, “Wet Paint; Do Not Touch,” isn’t because there’s a problem with the sign. It’s in you.

The solution is found in Romans 8:3-4:

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and sending of the Spirit is the help for the weak and powerless. The Spirit applies all of the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to us (Rom 8:11)! The old poem says it well:

Run and run, the law demands, but gives us neither feet nor hands;

Better news the gospel brings: it bids me fly and gives me wings.

The Holy Spirit is the power for you to obey and fulfill the law. No law opposes the fruit of the Spirit, because love fulfills all of the requirements of the law (Gal. 5:22)!

So next time you’re feeling weak, powerless, and despairing, plead with God for a fresh filling of his Spirit’s empowering (Eph 5:18) and be amazed at God’s empowering Presence!

Preparing for Sunday

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:49:36 -0500

“In the name of God, brethren, labor to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners. Remember they must be awakened or damned, and … a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners. Though you give the holy things of God the highest praise in words, yet, if you do it coldly, you will seem by your manner to unsay what you said in the matter… . Speak to your people as to men that must be awakened, either here or in hell. Look around upon them with the eye of faith, and with compassion, and think in what a state of joy or torment they must all be for ever; and then, methinks, it will make you earnest, and melt your heart to a sense of their condition.”

Richard Baxter, quoted in J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, 1990), 279.

Trusting God in Adversity

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:34:05 -0500

“It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an
affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his
hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his
arrangement of their weight and quantity”

- Charles Spurgeon, as quoted in Darrel W. Amundsen, “The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon,” in: Christian History, Issue 29, Volume X, No. 1, p. 25.

Crucifying the Technological Interrupter in Me

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:01:12 -0500

I was standing in line at the store, talking on my cell phone, when it was my turn to complete my transaction at the till. I had a moment of awkwardness - what do I do? Keep talking? Hang up? Ask the person to hold on for a minute?

Technology - especially smart phones - have created an interesting social experience out in public. The most important person often becomes the person who is least present! Whether texting, phoning, or emailing, smart phones have become a convenient way to stay in touch with the people you care about…but often at the expense of those who are physically present. Some companies have replaced tables with glass tops so that the “under the table” texts are eliminated.

Social media and technology has had a profound influence of democratizing everything. Everyone is always equal: equal access to me, equal time, equal in their demands. But it has an incredulous way of making me feel like the world revolves around me.

And yet, there’s nothing like scheduling an appointment with someone in order to get their full attention, only to feel like they’re not fully there. The call, the text, the email ping…someone’s always grabbing their attention. And it’s grabbing it away from YOU.

Elder John knew that was a problem. He wrote to a dear church, “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete” (2 Jn 12). He recognized the benefits of technology - he could write them, encourage them, challenge them. But he also saw it’s limits - the face to face contact would complete his joy.

And that’s the danger of technology and social media. Your relationships are only partial. There full joy isn’t there. Because nothing says, “I love you” like one’s undivided attention.

When our Lord came to earth, he left his Father’s throne above. Jesus emptied himself. He denied himself. He came to earth and was fully here as the God-man, not distracted nor deterred from his mission - setting his face toward Jerusalem like flint to be crucified for us and for our salvation. And those who follow Christ have crucified their sinful passions and desires (Gal 5:24).

Are you fully there? Or are you a technological interrupter? Ask yourself these questions:

1. If I am at the dinner table, socializing, or engaged in a conversation, do I reach for my smart phone to check what’s going on?

2. Do my friends/family members feel I fully engage them and hear their point of view?

3. Am I having to conceal my use of my phone to communicate?

4. Does my need to be in constant contact suggest that I think the world cannot survive without me?

Don’t be a technological interrupter by interrupting conversations with another one. Wherever you are, be all there. You died with Christ and were raised with him. He is the One who holds all things together. You? You might find your joy complete by being all there…wherever you are.

Crucifying The Interrupter in Me

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:10:35 -0500

You’ve done it. I’ve done it. Someone starts talking and you’re ready to finish their sentence. You’ve heard it before. Maybe it’s subconscious. Maybe it’s intentional. Maybe it’s a pattern that’s developed because of thoughtlessness.

Interrupting is an incredible form of pride. Interrupting says, “I know what you’regoing to say” or “What I have to say is more important than what you’re saying.” In any case, interrupting is an act that is not filled with the love that comes from being filled with the fruit of the gospel.

In Romans 12:10, Paul is in the midst of discussing the fruits of what the gospel does in those who have been transformed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - it builds love. He says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” The parallel of loving one another with brotherly affection is outdoing one another in showing honour. In other words, prefer the other, just as Christ did by laying aside his glory and considered others better than himself (Philip 2:3).

Being quick to listen to another rather than interrupting is a powerful gospel fruit. By not interrupting, we’re saying, “I prefer to listen to you and hear you out rather thanmaking you listen to me. What you have to say is important and allows me to hear your heart, your struggles, your joys.”

How do you know if you’re “The Interrupter”? A few good questions to ask:

1. Am I formulating my response and not listening to the heart of the personspeaking?

2. Am I stuttering to get a word in edge-wise?

3. Am I saying “Uh huh” or “Yeah” to try to get into the conversation?

4. Ask a few trusted friends: “Do I have a habit of interrupting? Do you feel like I hear you out when you speak?”

Interrupting isn’t merely a problem of feeling like you’re not going to be heard - it’s a heart of pride that needs to be shaped by the gospel of a Savior who gave up his rights, who was silent before his accusers, and trusted his Father to vindicate him.

So stop. Confess. And listen to your Father in his Word. And find the power of the cross more ready to help you than you are ready to interrupt!

The Fuel of Marriage - Keller

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:28:31 -0500

Tim Keller on how satisfaction with Jesus fuels marriage:

The simple fact is that only if I love Jesus more than my wife will i be able to serve her needs ahead of my own. Only if my emotional tank is filled with love from God will I be able to be patient, faithful, tender, and open with my wife when things are not going well in life or in the relationship. And the more joy I get from my relationship with Christ, the more I can share that joy with my wife and family.

- The Meaning of Marriage, p. 124.

Great Reads in 2011

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:01:59 -0500

Nothing stimulates the mind like a couple of good books. In 2011, four books stand out:

1. The Meaning of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller. Keller examines Ephesians 5 and shows how the biblical view of marriage gives us the power, mission, and fortitude for a strong marriage. Deconstructing the cultural ideals, the Kellers show that God’s design for marriage is grounded in the good news of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.

2. Resolving Everyday Conflict by Ken Sande. This little book is the simplified version of The Peacemaker. Sande runs through the 4 G’s to resolving conflict: Glorify God, Get the log out of Your eye, Gently restore, and Go and be reconciled. A great primer for conflict resolution and a great read that our church staff found helpful.

3. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. While some areas of this biography may be historically questionable (i.e.: Mexatas’ failure to adequately deal with Bonhoeffer’s “Religiousless Christianity”), the book was inspiring, challenging, and refreshing. I had a hard time putting this one down.

4. What is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. Our elders read and discussed this book, and it provoked a lot of good discussion. This book helped answer a lot of questions and raised a lot more for us in the process. A refreshing read!

For 2012, there are a few books that I’m looking foward to:

Jared Wilson, Gospel Wakefulness and his follow up book Gospel Deeps

Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything

Now - time to finish a few leftovers from 2011! What will you be reading in 2012?

Cruciformity - Shaped by the Cross

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:05:05 -0500

Cruciformity. It’s a strange word. When something is cruciform, it’s in the shape of the cross.

In many places, church buildings are designed in the shape of a cross. In the dark ages, soldiers had their swords shaped like a cross to remind them who they fought for. And for Christians throughout the ages, the cross became the definitive symbol woven into fabric, imprinted on shields, and placed in prominence for worship.

But I’ll never forget seeing Michael Gorman’s book entitled Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. The title intrigued me: a spirituality shaped by the cross. I had been thinking about what would shape my spirituality. Working hard? Good deeds? Asceticism? The pursuit of pleasure?

And then I read 1 Corinthians 2. For Paul, he said it well: “For I desired to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Paul was shaped by the cross. It wasn’t merely a symbol to replicate. It was the very instrument by which his life would be conformed into the image of Christ.

For Paul, all of life was shaped by the cross. Nothing was left untouched. A crucified Messiah changed everything. Consider a few examples:

Marriage - when appealing to believers to show Spirit-filled lives, he describes marriage as husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the Church, giving himself for her.

Generosity - when encouraging the Corinthians to follow through in caring for those in need, he reminded them of God’s greatest gift in Christ - he who was rich became poor so that by his poverty, we might become rich.

And the examples could go on. From hospitality to forgiveness, Paul was shaped by the cross.

Cruciformity, then, is an acknowledgement that the atoning work of Jesus Christ must be the defining shape of our lives. And that’s what this blog is all about.