The Son of God, Our Lord (Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 13)

The Son of God, Our Lord

33. Question: Why is He called God’s only begotten Son, since we also are children of God?

Answer: Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.[1] We, however, are children of God by adoption, through grace, for Christ’s sake.[2]

[1] John 1:1-3, 14, 18; 3:16; Rom. 8:32; Heb. 1; I John 4:9. [2] John 1:12; Rom. 8:14-17; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:5, 6.

34. Question: Why do you call Him our Lord?

Answer: Because He has ransomed us, body and soul,[1] from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood,[2] and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession.[3]

[1] I Cor. 6:20; I Tim. 2:5, 6. [2] I Peter 1:18, 19. [3] Col. 1:13, 14; Heb. 2:14, 15.

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Thoughts on Discipleship During Advent

Verse four of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” says,

See how the shepherds, summoned to his cradle,
leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
we too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

A disciple is a follower and a learner. A disciple of Jesus Christ learns from the Person, Works, and Words of Jesus. But they do more than learn from him; they follow him. This can be costly. Perhaps that is why Jesus taught such things as:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33)

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. (John 12:26)

The shepherds were the first to see Jesus. At the bidding of the angels the shepherds dropped everything so that they might welcome the Savior of the world.

The words of the hymn beckon us to come and adore Christ the Lord. “Lord” is a very important name, not to be passed over. The title “Lord” was given to Jesus by his heavenly Father to signify that his name was above all names and that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to him. Thus, “Christ the Lord” has the right to our allegiance and an expectation that we will follow him. It makes no sense to call him Lord, or to call yourself his disciple, if you do not follow him.

And yet our commitment to Christ the Lord should not be a dry, lifeless obedience. As countless Christmas hymns remind us, there should be radiant rejoicing, life-transforming heralding, awe-inspiring worship, exuberant gratitude, and humble self-forgetfulness as we take our focus off ourselves and turn our gaze upon the babe in the manger. For it was that tender infant, lying in the straw, who was born to take away the sins of the world. And it was that Savior whom God named Lord of heaven and earth. O come, let us adore him.

Come Lord Jesus,
Dale

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His Life for Ours

Hebrews 9:26b-28

Hebrews 9:26b-28 – But now [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, [28] so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

At the end of the ages, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared once and for all to do away with sin by offering himself as a sacrifice – a lamb without blemish. In so doing he ushered in the beginning of the end – the eschaton – the last days. We foolishly think to ourselves that because it is now 2,000 years later, that Christ’s day could not possibly have been part of the last days. But what’s a thousand years to an eternal God? Make no mistake about it, Christ ushered in the last days indeed!

And how did he do so? As a once-for-all sacrificial atonement for sin. No longer did a high priest have to offer animal sacrifices for the temporary appeasement of God. God’s own Son, our High Priest, settled the issue once and for all by offering himself in our stead.

Because of this, those who are in Christ no longer face condemnation. We all will die. We all will face God’s judgment. But for those who are in Christ, our sin has been covered and our punishment has been taken by Another. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Christ will come again. Even so, come Lord Jesus. This has been part of the liturgy of the Church for two millennia. At the end of all things, Christ will appear yet again, and with him will come a new heaven and a new earth for those who are new creatures in Christ. He will not return as a Lamb but a Lion. He will not come in humiliation but glory. He will come and claim the victory he won at the cross and gather those who have waited on him, are waiting on him, and those who will wait on him. And he knows each of them by name.

As followers of Christ, and heirs of his covenant, there is a sense in which we have been saved, and a sense in which we are daily being saved as we become more and more conformed to his likeness. But when our Lord and King appears we will be saved in glory and will rule with him in his Kingdom that knows no end. Isn’t this incredible news more than enough to bring us to our knees in humble adoration, gratitude, and submission in the here and now? Where is our boasting? We boast only in our King.

Finally, if Christ ushered in his Kingdom two thousand years ago, and the spoils of his victory belong to those who are in Christ, then doesn’t it make urgent sense that we who are his joint-heirs should labor, as long as it is called today, to extend our Lord’s Kingdom into every sphere of life – so that those who do not presently know him – and the goodness, truth, and beauty of his rule and reign – might have the opportunity to bow before him and call him their Lord?

Let us make great haste, for no man knows the time of our Lord’s reappearing.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 13 (The Son of God, Our Lord)

The Son of God, Our Lord

33. Question: Why is He called God’s only begotten Son, since we also are children of God?

Answer: Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.[1] We, however, are children of God by adoption, through grace, for Christ’s sake.[2]

[1] John 1:1-3, 14, 18; 3:16; Rom. 8:32; Heb. 1; I John 4:9. [2] John 1:12; Rom. 8:14-17; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:5, 6.

34. Question: Why do you call Him our Lord?

Answer: Because He has ransomed us, body and soul,[1] from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood,[2] and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession.[3]

[1] I Cor. 6:20; I Tim. 2:5, 6. [2] I Peter 1:18, 19. [3] Col. 1:13, 14; Heb. 2:14, 15.

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Are You A Practical Atheist?

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

Much has been made over the last few years about the emergence of militant atheism’s evangelistic crusade to rid the world of ignorance. Specifically, these crusaders want to enlighten the minds of the masses who still believe that God exists. For these spokesmen for atheism, belief in God is intellectually unsustainable and should by all means be abandoned. Not only that, these atheistic evangelists believe that a person’s commitment to belief in God is actually harmful to children as well as to civilization as a whole.

Thankfully, their charges have been more than sufficiently answered at every turn by faithful Christian apologists. The atheists are getting all the press, but their arguments are unable to stand up to the Light of Truth.

Yet there is a more prevalent form of atheism that lurks in our land. Indeed, it can even be found in the church. It is what Cornelius Van Til called, “practical atheism.” A practical atheist is a person who professes to believe in God, and yet the God whose existence is professed does not seem to make any meaningful difference in that person’s daily life. His beliefs, values, morals, etc., are not prioritized by his supposed belief in the existence of God. Put another way: If this person was to wake up one day and decide that he no longer believed in the existence of God, his life would change very little. This is practical atheism.

In Romans 1:21, Paul describes the person who has suppressed the truth he knows about God. Paul says that in truth, all people know God exists. In fact, they even know things about his power and majesty. Yet, in order to maintain a certain way of living, they alter their belief system to accommodate their lifestyle. Like the hard atheist who formally declares that there is no God, the practical atheist denies God by the way in which he leads his life. Paul teaches us that “although they know God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him…”

We glorify God when we seek to live purposefully and intentionally for him each day. We glorify God when we live to please him, honor him, obey him, love him, seek to be like him, and tell others about him. That’s what a God-glorifying life looks like. It’s also a life that is grateful to God for his goodness. However, this is more than tossing out a “thank you” every now and then at the beginning of a meal. Instead, it’s more of an all-encompassing attitude of gratitude. It becomes pervasive in one’s personality. This attitude glorifies God because it exalts God as the One who is worthy of such affection and appreciation.

How are you doing with this? Are you seeking to glorify God and be thankful to him in all things? Of course, none of us is perfect at this. We can all get fairly self-absorbed and self-centered in the goings on of our lives. We all, from time to time, become too preoccupied with lesser interests.

Yet the One who should be our greatest interest has told us that we are to have no other gods before him. We are called to seek him first and foremost. We are instructed and encouraged to be holy because God is holy. His existence, in other words, should play a profound role in the lives of those who profess to believe in and follow him. He should be our ultimate Influence and his influence should saturate every sphere of our lives…for his glory and for our good.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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Jesus is Lord… and Why it Matters

Augustine supposedly once said that if Christ is not Lord of all, then Christ is not Lord at all.  To understand Christ as the Lord of all the universe, and not merely of the religious spheres of life, has been a revolutionary idea in my life. I believe this truth has profound implications for Christians and the Kingdom of God.

At the very least it means that followers of the Lord Jesus Christ must understand that their faith is not only for Sunday mornings but for the rest of their lives as well. The Christian faith is a complete world and life view. There is no area of one’s life about which Christ is unconcerned. Therefore, Christians need completely overhauled or renovated lives.

Becoming a Christian, and then living out that life, means far more than a morally cleaned up personal life. Of course, that’s included, but it means so much more. Understanding Christ as Lord means that we must learn to think Christianly about every aspect of our lives… how we behave toward our family, how we handle our checkbook, how we think about current events, how we exercise integrity at work, how we respond to injustice or immorality – all of these things, and more, radically and naturally flow out of our understanding of Christ’s Lordship. Such things are (or should be) the fruit of a kingdom disciple. (Keep in mind that I am presupposing a person who has come to genuine faith in Christ and who is now living in the power of God’s Spirit.)

If Christ is Lord of all, then that also means that Christians need to expand their spheres of influence. We must not be content with isolated Christianity. We, as Christians, are a community who lives in a broader community. Christ is not only concerned about our Christian circles, but is also passionately interested about those outside our circle. The church which believes in and embraces the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the church which seeks to invade the world with the good news of the Kingdom of God. And this Kingdom changes everything.

I think of John Wesley’s England that was so thoroughly transformed by the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. It is said, even by secular historians, that were it not for Wesley’s influence, England would have experienced the same bloody revolution as France. Wesley, however, influenced by the Lordship of Jesus Christ, preached the gospel and turned England upside down through the lives of transformed men and women marching under the orders of their Savior and King.

The Lordship of Jesus Christ is fundamental to Kingdom Discipleship.

My understanding of Christ’s Lordship has been broadened and, yet, more keenly focused. I no longer teach a secular/sacred distinction. I do not teach a Christ who is unconcerned about our culture or our world. I do not tell people about a Jesus who makes no demands upon every sphere of their lives. Jesus is certainly my precious Savior, full of grace and mercy, but as Lord, he beckons me to submit all of my life to him so that I may become more fully a new creature in Christ. And because I love him… what else can I do (John 14:15, 21, 23)?

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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Justice and the Gospel, Part 2

I posted the first part of this video back in July when it came out on YouTube. I apparently fell asleep between then and now as I forgot to post the second part when it came out. (and since I was so delinquent with this, I’ve included parts 3 and 4 as well.) But, better late then never… so here it is. Once again, this video features Mark Dever and Jim Wallis being interviewed by Skye Jathani (thanks to Out of Ur for this great interview).

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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