What Does Seeking the Glory of Christ Bring? And Where Do I See it?

Erik Raymond —  March 19, 2013

john-owen-irish-calvinist3We often talk about “seeking the glory of Christ” but why? What does this seeking bring?

The constant contemplation of the glory of Christ will give rest, satisfaction, and complacency unto the souls of them who are exercised therein. Our minds are apt to be filled with a multitude of perplexed thoughts; – fears, cares, dangers, distresses, passions, and lusts, do make various impressions on the minds of men, filling them with disorder, darkness, and confusion.

But where the soul is fixed in its thoughts and contemplations on this glorious object, it will be brought into and kept in a holy, serene, spiritual frame. For “to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.” And this it does by taking off our hearts from all undue regard unto all things below, in comparison of the great worth, beauty, and glory of what we are conversant withal. See Phil. 3.7-11. A defect herein makes many of us strangers unto a heavenly life, and to live beneath the spiritual refreshments and satisfactions that the Gospel does tender unto us. (John Owen, The Glory of Christ)

And where do you go to see it? Again Owen is helpful:

This is the sole foundation of all our meditations in this:

The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real actual possession of in heaven can be no otherwise seen or apprehended in this world, but in the light of faith fixing itself on divine revelation.

To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of fancy or imagination. It does not consist in framing to ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. But the steady exercise of faith on the revelation and description made of this glory of Christ in the Scripture, is the ground, rule, and measure, of all divine meditations upon that. —John Owen, The Glory of Christ, p. 129

I post these quotes because I know I need this reminder and trust that you do as well.

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What Does it Mean to Have Eternal Life?

Erik Raymond —  March 19, 2013

Eternal life is a term that Christians leisurely toss around like a Frisbee at the church picnic. But what does it mean? This is obviously an important question to answer. It is in fact one of the main implications of the gospel itself. Consider the famous words of John 3:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3.16)

If asked most people would say that eternal life is everlasting life. That is, it goes on forever.

Let me ask then, Live forever how? With whom? And why? 

Continue Reading…

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Beware of These Preaching Shortcuts

Erik Raymond —  March 18, 2013

We like shortcuts assuming that they get us to where we are trying to go. If they do not then they are dangerous, unproductive detours. In his book The Priority of Preaching, Christopher Ash argues that there are no shortcuts for preaching with authority. He writes, “The authority is a wonderful authority, but it is an authority borrowed only at great cost. This is why there are no shortcuts that work.”

Ash then helpfully warns preachers of three common shortcuts that preachers are tempted to take. I’ll state his points and briefly summarize them.

1. Beware of the shortcut of individual interpretation. This is the notion that we can just beaver away at the passage like we were the first person to ever read it. Many, many Christians have gone before us and wrestled with these same passages. No matter how trendy it is today to have our own interpretation of things Christians preachers must know that they we are accountable to God and one another to hear what the passage really means. “We must not be lazily idiosyncratic.”

2. Beware of the shortcut of second-hand interpretation. When listening to others we must not just copy others. Ash tells the story of how early in his ministry he heard a famous preacher nail a sermon and figured that he and his hearers would be better served if he just copied the sermon and delivered it as his own. The result was a true failure. Why? First the context was completely different, so the style didn’t translate well. Secondly, the sermon was terribly superficial. He had not been gripped and shaped by the passage. In short it wasn’t in them. You can’t expect to put the sermon in someone else if it is not in you first.

3. Beware of the shortcut of mystical authority.“We need desperately the fresh filling of God’s Holy Spirit when we preach, and can accomplish nothing without his sovereign power; but that power does not in general come upon preachers who have not bothered to prepare, and the filling of the Spirt is not a God-given compensation for willful idleness.” In short: Get to work bro, God will show up in your study too. Don’t presume upon God’s mercy and grace while serving your laziness.

Good reminders. More from Ash’s book here.

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Book Review- Theodore Roosevelt

Erik Raymond —  March 18, 2013

Like so many readers I am drawn to biographies. I recently picked up a biography on Teddy Roosevelt because I have been intrigued by his almost mythical status in American folklore. Upon seeing Lewis L. Gould’s shorter (100 page) biography on Roosevelt I knew I could not pass it up.

The book is a brisk walk through cavernous museum that is Roosevelt’s life. In this sense it serves to whet your appetite for more while providing a solid introduction to the man who seemed almost larger than life.

It is hard to imagine Roosevelt standing on the public stage in our day. His personality and celebrity status would be magnified even greater than it was in the early 1900′s. Consider the images of him riding with the cowboys in the Midwest or training for the Spanish-American War with his rough-riders! Imagine his opposition to Presidents Taft and Wilson in the day of social media? But Roosevelt was a man for his time and a man for the nation. His shrewdness matched with his celebrity status to keep him in the national spotlight and impact change in our quickly developing industrial country.

Continue Reading…

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There is a Point Here. And It’s Not Pity.

Erik Raymond —  March 15, 2013

And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’ (Mt. 8.20)

I would confidently guess that if you are reading this then you awoke this morning on a pillow in your home. There is of course nothing unusual about this. The majority of people have homes. They are settled and reasonable comfortable. But this is the point: When Jesus walked among people in this word, he had no such comforts. His entire life was uncomfortably committed to his mission of saving comfortable people.

Consider the staggering condescension of Jesus. He goes from the eternal residence of the Trinity to wandering about the villages of Israel without a home. He goes from heaven to homeless! And why? Because he wanted to bring lost people home to God. His homelessness was motivated by love.

The one who made the birds and foxes, giving them the instincts to even find and build a home, was now homeless. His whole life was a continual episode of humility and abandonment.

It is the sharp passages like this from within the satin of the narratives that get me. I can rightly impugn bogus books like Your Best Life Now, but regrettably recline into coziness of thinking my life is about comfort. It is not. Just as Jesus life was calibrated by his work in the gospel so must I be. Jesus was about his mission. I am to be about his mission. As a Christian I have been called, commissioned, and empowered to represent the King. As he went making and training disciples, so must I (Mt. 28.19-21).

See, there is a point here. And it’s not pity. This is something to remember when lifting our heads up from our pillows each morning.

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A Grammatical Historical Exercise in Missing the Point

Byron Yawn —  March 14, 2013

This is a guest post by Byron Yawn

I recently encountered a blog post discussing the hazards of a “redemptive historical hermeneutic” (RH). The author, a dispensationalist (and friend of mine), was contrasting RH with that of a grammatical historical method (GHI) of interpretation. The post was dealing with Jesus’ dialogue as he walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)   

This particular passage is somewhat of an exegetical battleground in the discussion regarding the redemptive view of biblical interpretation and biblical theology.

As I am currently preaching through the historic books of the Old Testament, hold to a Christo-centric view of the Bible, practice grammatical historical interpretation, am a committed five point Calvinist and a premillennialist to boot (in the tradition of S. Lewis Johnson), I was intrigued. With the current push away from pietism/fundamentalism and the resurgence of law/gospel distinction underway in the church – the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament is back up as a hot topic.

Continue Reading…

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Strange Birds.

Erik Raymond —  March 13, 2013

This morning as I looked out the window I encountered something very unique. In fact, I cannot recall ever noticing this before. I looked out upon my snow covered front yard I heard the persistent chirping of birds. This is strange because that ever present soundtrack of Spring and Summer is muted during the Winter months. (as the birds repudiate the insult “bird-brain” by leaving the freezing temperatures in favor of those warmer areas south of us) But now as I look upon my snow covered street I hear the birds defiantly resisting the bonds of Winter by singing the celebratory ballards of warmer days.

As I thought of their certainty in song proclaiming a season of change forthcoming, I was reminded of how odd the Christian must appear in the world. We sing amid the cold blanket of sin, brokenness, corruption, and tears. We sing of love, forgiveness, righteousness, and a conquering King bringing a perfect kingdom. We are strange birds indeed.

As I listen even now to their confident song amid the frigid temperatures, I am reminded of my own certainty amid this blistering air of sin. God will indeed cause his sun to rise upon his people in the kingdom of his beloved Jesus!

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