A Good Friday Prayer

The following is taken in its entirety from The Valley of Vision.

My Father,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips

     supply words that proclaim 'Love lustres at Calvary.'

There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,

     made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;

There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;

     and infinite atonement was made;

There infinite punishment was due,

     and infinite punishment was endured.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,

          cast off that I might be brought in,

          trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,

          surrendered to hell's worst that I might attain heaven's best,

          stripped that I might be clothed,

          wounded that I might be healed,

          athirst that I might drink,

          tormented that I might be comforted,

          made a shame that I might inherit glory,

          entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes

          groaned that I might have endless song,

          endured all pain that I might have unfading health,

          bore a thorny crown that I might have a glory-diadem,

          bowed his head that I might uplift mine,

          experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,

          closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,

          expired that I might forever live.

O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mighest spare me,

All this transfer they love designed and accomplished;

Help me to adore thee by lips and life.

O that my breath might be ecstatic praise,

          my every step buoyant with delight as I see

               my enemies crushed,

               Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,

               sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,

               hell's gates closed,

               heaven's portal open.

Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross,

     mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

God is with Joseph--and with us

There’s an incredibly remarkable phrase in Genesis 39:2. The Bible says, “The Lord was with Joseph…” Taken on its own, with no context at all, that doesn’t seem to be too special. What makes it remarkable is the story that surrounds it. Back in chapter 37 we’re introduced to Joseph; he’s 17 at this time. We’re told that Joseph was his father’s favorite son and as a symbol of favored status his father gives him a very expensive, very ornately designed robe. This does not help Joseph’s standing with his brothers. In fact we’re told that they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Next we see that Joseph is a dreamer. In his dreams he’s the main character and everyone else plays a supporting role. Best of all his dreams follow a simple theme. He is exalted above his family and they bow down to him. To the surprise of no one at all, this makes his brothers hate him even more. They decide that the best course of action is to sell their brother into slavery—initially they wanted to kill him but one of his brothers convinced them to just throw him in a pit.
Now let’s just stop for a minute and consider where we are at this point—how messed up is your family if this is what happens? You’re the favorite son and you can’t shut up about how you think you’re going to run the show. Your dad makes no secret that you’re the favorite and this drives your brothers so crazy that they are ready to end your life and only the intervention of an older brother saves you. However, you’re still sold into slavery. Best of all, this is how they spin it to dad-they kill a goat and dip Joseph’s fancy robe in the blood and take it back to Jacob and say, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” Pretty heartless isn’t it?
That’s what makes 39:2 so remarkable. We’re supposed to believe that God is with him even after all he’s gone through? Surely he’s been abandoned by God, right? Or, if this is what it means to have God ‘with you’ then maybe its best to ride solo. Hang on, it gets worse. Joseph is sold to a man named Potiphar, an important official. Everything is going great until his wife notices that Joseph is pretty handsome. She begins to try and seduce him. Day after day, scripture says, she offered herself to him. Finally she accuses him of rape and he’s thrown in prison. And then we see that remarkable phrase again in 39:21, “But the Lord was with Joseph…” Again we might ask, ‘How can scripture say this? How can we say that God is with Joseph when he’s obviously not living his best life now?’ Here’s a couple things I think Joseph’s story reminds us of, very important things to keep in mind when we face the inevitable hardships of life.
--God Has a Plan. We’re going to come out of the gate with a cliché. I can hear the eyes rolling as you read that statement. But while that sounds tired and trite there’s something we have to acknowledge—God does indeed have a plan. Not necessarily a plan that involves everything going easy for you, which we’ll get to momentarily. But God isn’t up in heaven wondering how things are going to turn out. He is working out all things according  to the mystery of His good and sovereign plan. Joseph is in Egypt so that he can one day save his family from a famine; which will preserve the nation of Israel; which will one day produce Jesus. The point is that God is at work, even when our hearts are broken.
--Your Circumstances don’t Affect your Standing with God.  God is with Joseph when he’s home with his father. God is with Joseph when he’s sold into slavery. God is with Joseph when he’s in prison. I think the point God wants us to get is that He is with us. No matter what we face in life, no matter what we’re going through, God is with us. The great thing about grace is that it’s undeserved—and that’s great because if I didn’t do anything to earn it, I can’t do anything to lose it. My standing with God is not based on what I do (or don’t do). My standing with God was settled when I repented of my sins and placed my faith in the finished work of Jesus. All my sin was placed on Christ and all His righteousness was given to me. My standing before the Father, then, is as secure as Christ’s standing before the Father. So when things are good God is with me and I rejoice. When things are bad God is with me and I rejoice. What I’m going through has no bearing on where I stand with God. “But if God is with me”, we might ask, “why am I suffering?” Great question. Here’s the answer.
--God May Want You to Suffer. If there’s anything we don’t want to hear, it’s this isn’t it? Nobody likes to suffer, nobody likes to face hardship. But the reality is that God may want you to suffer. God may bring things into your life that are unpleasant. Why? The short version is that sometimes it’s correction for sin. Sometimes God is using that hardship to shape us and mold us into the image of Jesus. Sometimes it’s just because we live in a world that has been broken by sin. Scripture doesn’t always make plain why God allows suffering—look at Job’s life. Nobody ever told Job why he lost everything. The point is that the suffering we face doesn’t mean we’ve been abandoned by God. We simply must learn to accept that there is no guarantee of east in God’s kingdom. That’s a hard word. How do we learn to embrace that truth?
--God Uses Your Suffering. Now I know this sounds like a cliché but here’s the thing—God actually does use our suffering. He uses our suffering to further conform us to image of Christ. God uses our suffering to help us demonstrate to others that Jesus is greater and more glorious than anything else we face. Sometimes He uses our suffering to advance the gospel. None of those things take away the pain that we feel when we suffer. But being reminded helps us to hold fast and continue to trust even through these times. Joseph had no way of knowing it but God was using the suffering he was facing to prepare him for the place of leadership He would one day bring him to. But He had to prepare Joseph for that place. Now I know there are tons of objections to this. I imagine someone asking, “So you’re saying God allowed my heart to be broken, my family member to die, my job to be taken away from me for my good?” I would say that the answer isn’t that simplistic, and I’m certainly not insinuating that we ought to jump up and down and be happy when our hearts break. I’m saying that we have to keep in mind that God is so great and good and sovereign that even in the midst of pain and heartache and loss He is still at work in our lives, still bringing things around to a conclusion that will be for our good and His glory.
So what do we do? How do we face these times of suffering? I think Joseph shows us the answer—we continue to serve and continue to trust. Now that’s not easy to hear is it? We want something else. But here’s the reality-what else are we going to do? As I see it we have two choices-we can abandon our faith or we can cling to our faith. That’s pretty much it. We can trust in the one who loved us and gave Himself for us; we can believe that even if we don’t know what’s going on, He does. We can believe and hope and trust that He’s going to work it out for our good and His glory.
Or we can turn our back on Him. We can decide that the cost is too high and the pain too much to bear. Those are our choices. So I think it's crucial that devote ourselves to a careful meditation of the goodness of God, that we ask God to continue to reveal to us His matchless splendor so that we'll see that no matter what we face, Jesus is worth it. God has never turned His back on us, and I pray that we’ll never turn our backs on Him.  

#POTUS, #SOTU, & other acronyms

After spending some time reading twitter updates & facebook statuses (stati?) about last night’s State of the Union speech I’ve got a couple observations of my own. 
If President Obama’s speech left you in the throes of despair, if you’re certain that we’ve finally stepped over the edge and that we are, in fact, heading to hell in a handbasket—take heart. King Jesus is greater than any President, any Premier and any King. He rules and reigns in sovereign splendor over all things. He holds the hearts of kings in His hand and can turn them in whatever direction He so chooses. The nations of the earth are but a drop in the bucket compared to His greatness. Take heart, fellow believer—our King outranks and supersedes all others and He is bringing all things to a conclusion that will brilliantly shine the light of His glory for all eternity. There is nothing—and no one—who can stop that. Rest in the power and rule of Jesus.
If President Obama’s speech left you enraptured and enthralled, if you’re filled with joy at the clear leadership, the obvious compassion and the measured, wise response to the crises that are faced by our nation and by the world—look to King Jesus. Our greatest joy and highest hope is found not in a man but in the Son of Man. Give God thanks and glory for the leader he’s given to our nation but give Him greater thanks and glory for His divine leadership over every area of our lives. Rejoice that in His sovereign goodness and grace He’s blessed us with a compassionate leader, but let your heart swell to the bursting point as you meditate the greater goodness and eternal compassion found in Jesus. Give thanks that God has given us a Solomon—but rejoice that in Jesus a greater than Solomon has come. No matter where you fall in the political spectrum, you can know with confident assurance that Jesus is Lord over all. You can rest in His sovereign care and rule. And you can rejoice knowing that no matter who is in the Oval Office, King Jesus is on the throne. Pray for our leaders, but trust in Jesus. Thank God for good leaders, and thank Him even more for His perfect leadership.

Reading in Psalm 5 this morning, and verse 7 really jumped out. David says, "But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you." David has just spoken of God's judgment of those who live in rebellion against God. In contrast to that, David maps out a different path for himself. 3 things stand out about this path.
First, David Knew Where He Was Going. David had a clearly defined path for his life. Now before you think that this is a post about having a strategy for where you're going in life, complete with 5 year plans and flow charts, understand that if I can plan something two weeks ahead I call it long-term planning. The point isn't having a specific time frame in mind-the point is having a specific destination. For David, that destination was the presence of God. His goal, his aim, his plan was to get into the presence of God. In Psalm 16:11 he would write, "You make known to me the path of life;  in your presence there is fullness of joy;  at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." David's path was set towards the presence of God because he realized that his highest joy and greatest fulfillment would be found not in sin but in God. His joy, his treasure was Christ! Do I recognize Jesus as the treasure of my life? Am I willing to sell everything to gain Him (Matt. 13:44)? Or do I chase after the passing pleasures of sin? As my friend Dylan Watson preached last night, "The fleeting pleasures of sin give us no lasting benefit." Am I wasting my life in the pursuit of that which won't last? Or am I chasing after the only thing, the only One who can offer true fulfillment?
Second, David Knew How He Would Get There. David's heart was to be in God's presence. But there was something that would keep him from God. In verse 4 he says, "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you." This is extraordinarily bad news for people who are guilty of wickedness, who are condemned by their sin as evil people. No matter how badly we want to be with God, our sin keeps us from Him. That's what makes what David says in verse 7 so incredible: 'But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.' David's path was set towards the presence of God-but he acknowledged that the only way he would get there would be the abundance of God's steadfast love. The Bible makes two facts abundantly clear--we are great sinners, and Jesus is a great savior! There is no way we can bridge the gap between our sinfulness and God's holiness. The astoundingly good news of the gospel is that God bridges the gap for us. Jesus has taken our sin on Himself , borne the wrath that our sins deserve, and granted us His righteousness. God's holiness is satisfied and I am forgiven. I can enter God's presence, and I can do so by through the abundance of God's steadfast love to me in Christ.
Thirds, David Knew Why He Was Going. David's desire was to enter God's presence-why? Verse 7 says, "I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you." David's desire to see God was for the purpose of worshipping God. This is a crucially important truth for us. God's desire is not to make much of me! I'm not the aim of the Bible. God is. All of history is being brought to an ordained end. And when that end arrives I will not be at the front of the victory parade. All things are being brought to the end that God has ordained, and that end is the praise of His name for all eternity. As I chase hard after Jesus, may it always be for His glory and not for my own.

I Peter Outline

Last Sunday we began a study through I Peter. Here's the outline of the letter, sort of the map we'll follow as we work our way through this epistle.

I Peter
Peter's first letter can be broken down into five major sections. Each of these sections point to a specific topic that we must properly understand if we are to rightly handle the suffering that is inevitable in the life of every follower of Jesus.
Theme of the letter: The greatness of our salvation and our Savior allows us to endure and overcome suffering. We do this by understanding the following truths
I. Our Salvation 1:1-1:12
Section Theme: Our salvation is of inestimable value and must be the focus of our lives
Our salvation is praiseworthy 1:3
Is due to God's mercy and sovereignty 1:3b
Offers living hope 1:3c
Is eternal and sure 1:4-5
Is greater than our suffering 1:6-7
Causes us to love Jesus 1:8-9
Was prophesied about 1:10-12
Amazes the angels 1:12b
II. Our Sanctification 1:13-2:12
Section Theme: God's work in sanctification is setting us aside for lives that bring Him glory. Our work in sanctification is to live lives that bring Him glory, i.e., living out the truths of our salvation's greatness.
Living the truth individually 1:13-21
Living the truth corporately 1:22-2:12
III. Our Submission 2:13-3:12
Section Theme: We demonstrate the truths of our salvation and our sanctification by walking in submission to others.
To government 2:13-17
In our jobs 2:18-25
In the home 3:1-7
In all of life 3:8-12
IV. Our Suffering 3:13-4:19
Section Theme: As followers of Christ we are called to suffer and are shown how we are to suffer to the glory of God.
Our conduct in suffering 3:13-17
Christ's example in suffering 3:18-4:6
The commands we follow while suffering 4:7-19
V. Our Service 5:1-14
Section Theme: Followers of Christ live within the context and framework of the local church.
For the elders 5:1-4
For others 5:5
For all 5:6-11

Let's pray for God's blessing on this study!

Because of Grace

In I Samuel 12 we see a spectacular reminder of the grace of God. Samuel is reminding the people that they asked for a king so they could be like the other nations. What's the problem with that? They already had a king. The Lord was their king but they rejected him and asked for a man to rule over them. The people realized their sin and asked Samuel to pray for them. Verse 19 says, "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king." Samuel replies in verse 20, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart." Samuel doesn't play down their sin; he acknowledges it and the sinfulness of it. At the same time he points them to God's grace. "Yes you've sinned. But keep serving God." Got me thinking about how grace daily impacts my life.
Because of God's grace, I don't die. If there's one result of grace that I rarely consider, it's this one. And to be honest it does sound a bit strange. But that's just evidence of my presuming on God's grace. Isn't God's word pretty clear about the results of our sin? Look at this verse. And this one. And of course Romans 6:23. We focus so much on the end of the verse that we ignore the first. Isn't scripture clear that sin is deserving of death? Isn't the focal point of our faith the cross and the empty tomb? Jesus was born to die for our sins. That's the whole deal. The people understood that. In verse 19 they asked Samuel to pray on their behalf, that God wouldn't strike them down. But how many times a day do I sin and never give it a second thought? The reality is that we've all committed, and continue to commit, capital crimes against the holy nature of God. But in His great grace and mercy we are not consumed. Rather, because Jesus bore the wrath of God on Himself we can walk in God's love.
Because of God's grace I can be honest before God. Isn't it exhausting to try and be something you're not? You try to be one person at work and another person at home. One person at school, another a church, another on the weekends-gets hard to keep track of which one you're supposed to be. And sometimes we even try this with God. We try to sort of mask our failures, put on a veneer of righteousness because we think, "What if He finds out who I really am?" We need to be reminded that He already knows. The people didn't try to run from their sin, they confessed it before God. Because of God's grace I can stop trying to fool Him (which is ridiculous anyway). I can come before Him bare and honest. I don't have to worry about God finding out who I really am because He already knows. Who I really am--sinful, wretched, unholy, selfish, etc.--is who Jesus died for.
Because of God's grace I can keep serving Him. Samuel acknowledged the people's sin. But then he told them to keep following the Lord, to serve Him with all their heart. Because of grace I can continue to serve. I don't have to get discouraged or overwhelmed by my failures. I confess them to God, forsake them, and then get back to serving Him. My sin doesn't disqualify me from serving Jesus. It doesn't mean I lose my place as a member of His family. It reminds me that I need a Savior and that in Jesus I have a perfect Savior. It pushes me back to my knees in repentance and towards the cross in thankfulness. I confess my sins and God is faithful and just to forgive me of sins. He picks me up, dusts me off and puts me back to serving Him.
God never ignores our sin. But in Jesus' death on the cross He has made provision for my sin--grace instead of wrath, mercy instead of condemnation. Let me encourage you today, and everyday, to rest in the grace of God. Glory in the grace of God. And never take God's grace for granted.

Of Shaving and Sin. Or, Why I Shouldn't Shave.

Look at that rugged brute in the photo above. Go ahead, look. Just drink it in. Looks like he's spent the morning chopping down trees using only his fists. This was me back in December. No shave November spilled over into the next month and I heartily embraced my Decem-beard. And for good reason. When I have no whiskers on my ugly mug I look like a fat-faced 12 year old (apologies to any fat-faced 12 year olds out there-you look fine, but I'm 34 and that makes it way less acceptable). But here's the strange thing-even though I much prefer facial hair, even though I'm a rugged brute with it and a kid whose voice still cracks without it (apologies to the boys who have voices that crack-I promise, nobody notices)-even though all these things are true I still sometimes shave. About once a year I decide, "Hey, you know what would be great? If I shaved off all my facial hair and went back to how I looked in middle school. Except with an older face and less hair on my head." And so I do it. And after the cutting is done I rinse my face off, look into the mirror and see this:

Go on, look. Let that image burn itself into your brain. Print it off and use it to keep the birds out of your garden. Post it on the bathroom mirror when you go to bed so the next morning, when your spouse stumbles into the bathroom, half asleep and still dreaming, you can scare the bejeebers out of them. Seriously, compare those two mugs. What was I thinking? The good thing is that it will in fact grow back. I'll only have to sport this look for about a week. So to those who have to deal with this for that time--my bad, guys. My bad.
Now what's the point of my self-deprecation? Glad you asked. As I watched the remnants of my face crown wash down the drain and was confronted with an older, "fuller" version of my middle school face I couldn't help but think about how often I allow sin into my life, with the exact same results.
Think about it, aren't we so stupid for continuing to chase after sins that we know won't satisfy, that we know won't fulfill, that we know are displeasing to Jesus? We know before we sin that it won't satisfy, we know while we are sinning that it won't satisfy and after the sin has been committed, in that moment of clear conviction we are confronted with the inescapable truth that what we've just done was wicked and vile in the sight of our Great King.
Proverbs 26:11 says, "Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly." Pretty disgusting image isn't it? Yet this is what it looks like when we continue to return to our sin. It's just as disgusting, just as revolting to our holy God.
Now the good news is that God doesn't accept us on the basis of what we do. We're accepted on the basis of what Jesus has done. His perfect life, His substitutionary death, and His victorious resurrection are applied to us when we repent and believe in the great exchange we call salvation. He gets all our wickedness and we get all His goodness. We are clothed in His righteousness and stand faultless before the throne. So even when I sin I'm still His child. His grace covers my sin and doesn't separate me from Him.
That's the good news of the gospel. The lesson for me is to put legs on this good news, to apply it to my life. If this is the life I was saved for, called to, recreated to live--then by God's grace may I live that life. May I learn that sin never satisfies, may God stamp eternity on my eyes and help me see that only what's done for Jesus will last. And may I find my fulfillment, my joy and satisfaction not in the passing pleasures of sin but in the one in whose presence is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore.