FIRE UP FIGHT CLUB

The Glory of God

The following is a guest post from Pastor David Holt.  David id the Pastor of Discipleship at WFBC.   I thought this fit well with some of the major themes that have emerged in the book of Exodus. Take a few minutes to read through it and reflect on the glory and greatness of our God.  

1.    A Study of The Glory of God

Pastor David Holt

1.     What is the glory of God?

“God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of Himself.”  Dr. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 220.

“God’s glory is the beauty of His manifold perfections.  It can refer to the bright and awesome radiance that sometimes breaks forth in visible manifestations. Or it can refer to the infinite moral excellence of His character.”  John Piper, Desiring God, p. 31.

Try substituting this phrase for the word “glory” when you read Scripture:  “to fully reveal the character and likeness of God.”

The Hebrew word translated glory is the word “kabed” and it literally means “be heavy.”  When God’s presence is heavy and strong, he is glorified because we see Him for who He is.  His brightness, holiness, immutability, grace, goodness, faithfulness, judgment, etc. is heavy when it is being manifested. 

Glory is the essence of His being and desire to be known:

1Chr. 16:24 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

1Chr. 16:28 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength,

1Chr. 16:29 ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

1Chr. 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.

Psa. 24:7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Psa. 29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

Glory and His immutability (never changes)

1Sam. 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”

Glory and brightness/light:

Is. 58:8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Is. 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

Is. 60:2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

Is. 60:19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

Ezek. 1:28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Ezek. 10:4 Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD.

Luke 2:9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Luke 2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

2Cor. 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2Cor. 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Rev. 21:11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Rev. 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Rev. 21:24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

Glory and God’s perfection

Is. 6:3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Glory and the heavens/creation

Psa. 8:1  O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Psa. 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psa. 97:6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

Psa. 113:4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.

Is. 6:3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Glory and clouds

Ex. 16:10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.

Num. 16:42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

Matt. 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

Glory and Moses

Ex. 33:18  Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

Ex. 33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Ex. 40:34  Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Ex. 40:35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Glory and human response

1Kings 8:11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.

Ezek. 3:23 So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.

Ezek. 44:4 Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.

Glory and fire

Ex. 24:17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

Deut. 5:24 And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him.

2Chr. 7:3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”

Zech. 2:5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’

Glory of the Lord fills the earth, but obviously not in its fullness.

Num. 14:21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,

Glory and its movement

1Sam. 4:22 She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

Ezek. 10:4 Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD.

Ezek. 43:2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.

Glory and heaven 

Psa. 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

2.     God’s pure desire for His glory.

“My conclusion is that God’s own glory is uppermost in His own affections….God’s ultimate goal therefore is to preserve and display His infinite and awesome greatness and worth, that is, His glory…God’s overwhelming passion is to exalt the value of His glory.  To that end He seeks to display it, to oppose those who belittle it, and to vindicate it from all contempt.  It is clearly the uppermost reality in His affections. He loves His glory infinitely.”  John Piper, Desiring God, p. 31-32.

Because He wants to be known. He wants to reveal Himself to us.  He wants relationship!!!  He wants to display His glory to us.

Ex. 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

Hab. 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Hag. 2:7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.

Judgment can show His glory:

Ezek. 39:21 “I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them.

God will share His glory with no one.

Is. 42:8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

Is. 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.

God is the only being who can be jealous and protective of his glory and it not be inappropriate or selfish.

3.     Jesus and the glory of God.

Jesus reveals the glory of God in who He is and what He did:

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 2:11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

John 11:4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

John 11:40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

John 12:41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

John 17:22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:

John 17:24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Heb. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Heb. 2:7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor.

Heb. 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Luke 24:26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

1Tim. 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

Jesus returning in glory

Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Jesus illuminating heaven

Rev. 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

4.     The cross and the glory of God.

John 17:1  After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:  “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 12:16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

John 12:23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

John 12:28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

John 13:31 When he (Judas) was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.

Jesus declared that His death would not only be for the glory of God, but also be the glory of God in that it fully reveals the character and likeness of God.  The cross reveals the character and likeness of God in that God in flesh shows forth His holiness and judgment for sin while also displaying His love and grace in paying for that sin Himself!  If we want to see the glory of God, look to the cross of Jesus Christ!

5.     The glory of God and His jealousy.

Ex. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Ex. 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Num. 25:13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

Deut. 4:24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deut. 5:9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Deut. 6:15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.

Deut. 32:21 They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

Josh. 24:19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

James 4:5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

“God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy, and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a  (literally) praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.”  J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 153

“His jealousy, in all its manifestations, is precisely ‘the zeal of the Lord of hosts’”  (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 155).

“As the purer and chaster a husband is, the more grievously he is offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to Himself in truth, declares that He burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of his holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts ….”  (John Calvin, Institutes, II, viii, 18).

Since God is so much after His glory, He is appropriately jealous of anything that gets in the way of His glory and of our relationship with Him.

6.     The glory of God and the believer.

We are created for God’s glory (to reveal to others who He is):

Is. 43:7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Eph. 1:12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Eph. 1:14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.

Col. 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Matt. 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Christian means “little Christ.”

1Cor. 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

2Pet. 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

We should want God’s glory to be everywhere – for Him to be glorified (seen for who He is):

Psa. 57:11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

Psa. 72:19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.

Psa. 85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

Psa. 96:3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Psa. 102:15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

Psa. 104:31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works —

Study 2 Cor. 3:7-18 in relation to the glory of God and Moses, and the glory of God for us New Testament believers.

Suffering and glory

John 11:4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Rom. 8:18  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

2Cor. 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

“Suffering with joy proves to the world that our treasure is in heaven and not on the earth, and that this treasure is greater than anything the world has to offer. The supremacy of God's worth shines through the pain that his people will gladly bear for his name.”  John Piper

Challenge:  Ask God to reveal to you His glory by revealing to you who He is.  Submit to His glory.  Seek to live for the glory of God.  Fight jealously for His glory.  Glorify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! 

The 10 Commandments, the Gospel and You

         The Ten Commandments or the Decalogue are perhaps some of the best known teachings in the Bible.  Probably more material has been written on this subject than almost any other topic in Scripture.  The interpretation of the Ten Commandments consists of the extremes from offering a good moral compass to God’s absolute code of conduct for his people.  Additionally, the public display of the “Law” continues to be a lightening rod dividing believers and un-believers as the “separation of church and state” issue is debated on the court-house steps and in society at large.

            As Christians, they serve as a charter of conduct for a people already redeemed, who already participate in God’s redemptive plan by being walking and talking examples of what it means to be created in God’s image.  They are a picture of righteousness and point to the Righteous One who alone was able to keep the law, “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).  So, the Decalogue are commands of God to be understood in a redemptive context, a context that defines the deliverance of God’s people in Exodus and the reiteration of that redemption in the New Covenant through the blood of Jesus.

            As we get ready to share our testimonies for the Great Exchange on UGA campus on Wednesday, September 28^th, this event heralds 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  This is the same redemptive thread that began with the “Passover” and continues throughout Scripture until Jesus’ cry from the cross, “It is finished.”  Just as the LORD passed over the Hebrew mud huts stained with the blood of the lamb to judge sin, the LORD made his only Son to be sin so that the sin which was ours could be judged on the cross and atoned for by the blood of Jesus for all times.  As our substitute, Jesus kept the Law perfectly and then gave us his righteousness and took our iniquities and nailed them to the cross as he completed the Great Exchange transaction.

            In a similar way, the Ten Commandments serve as a bridge between the two covenants.  The LORD gave the Law as a means for his people to relate to him and to each other as well as to differentiate between the pagan cultures of the world.  In the NT, Paul tells us that, “The Law also served as a guardian until Christ came so that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).  Because of the Law we were under a curse; for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not “abide by all things written in the law and do them” (Galatians 3:10).  Galatians reminds us that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us”... (Galatians 3:13).

            The writer of Hebrews continues to expand this bridge between the covenants, “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.  For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second” (Hebrews 8:6-7).  The church must, therefore, view the Law from a Christological perspective rather than as a treasure chest of moral principles.  Since believers in Christ are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we should view the Law as reflecting the perfect righteousness of Christ and our ideal for Christian living.

            We must be careful to remember that the Ten Commandments are not primarily concerned with personal, private morality.  Our individual righteousness is not so much at stake, but rather a corporate dimension, whereby the people of God live in community and harmony as a testimony to the glory of God.  This was God’s intention in the OT, but even more so in the NT, as the people of God are not trying to earn or secure their salvation, but rather living as that “shining city on a hill” for the entire world to see.

            Unfortunately, we often use the Ten Commandments today as a basis by which to judge the “personal morality” of others rather than as a reminder of our own depravity.  It is bad enough to use this barometer in the church, but when we subject this treatment to those outside the family of God, we send the wrong gospel message, that being right with God is primarily a matter of proper conduct.  To single out the Ten Commandments and set them up as a standard of conduct for unbelievers or American society in general indicates not only a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Decalogue, but of the good news itself.  Christ died and rose to provide another way.  We should do nothing to obscure or confuse that message.

Papa Fred

September 26, 2011

           

           

            

The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

Chapter 9 of Romans contains some of the most difficult passages in Scripture regarding the Sovereignty of God, particularly regarding the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and God’s role in that choice.  In fact, Exodus contains four uses of the word harden and fifteen uses of the word hardened all pertaining to Pharaoh.  Before we look at this issue, Hebrews 3:13 suggest a stern warning about hardening: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

            As we emerge on the other side of the Sea of Reeds, don’t forget that the book of Exodus is one magnificent oracle about the Sovereignty of God and his judgment against sin.  Each of the ten plagues is a specific judgment directed against specific Egyptian god(s) that Yahweh may be glorified and “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” (Exodus 7:5).  The plagues have provided a horrible picture of the wrath of God juxtaposed against the mercy and grace of God towards the children of Israel;  “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13).

            We cannot presume on God’s grace and just like the Hebrew 3 verse quoted above, sin is a heart hardener.  Romans 1:24-25 is clear that, “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a “lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”  Pharaoh has to be included in this crowd because the Egyptian pantheon was well defined with the king himself considered to be the son of Ra, the sun god.

            As Christians, we often fall into the snare of cheap grace.  Because we know that the heart of the gospel is forgiveness and redemption, we presume upon God’s grace and begin to act as though God is obligated to show us favor.  We forget that God does not owe it to anyone to stop justice from taking its course.  He is not obliged to pity and to pardon.  If he does so, it is an act of his own sovereign will, and nobody can object.  He is the potter and we are the clay.

            Paul’s message in Romans 9:14-18 specifically addresses this very issue and includes Pharaoh as the poster-child through which God has chosen to reveal his power and declare his name in all the earth.  This idea is further developed in Romans 9:22, “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepare for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.”  Pharaoh is clearly a vessel of wrath that God has chosen to reveal his glory.  Scripture is replete with other biblical and historical examples, including the Chaldeans, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Ahasuerus, Darius and many other leaders through which God choose to use to reveal his glory.

            So, does this mean that Pharaoh had no choice but to be God’s pawn?  The same sovereign God that appears to harden Pharaoh’s heart has given us some degree of freedom in our decision making.  To label this as “free will” can be misleading.  John Calvin recognized a freedom in our will and choices but qualified this liberty, “free will is not sufficient to enable man to do good works, unless he is helped by grace.”  In fact, Calvin avoided using the term “free will” altogether because it is subject to misunderstanding. 

            He qualifies this caution as follows in the Institutes; “But how few men are there, I ask, who when they hear free will attributed to man do not immediately conceive him to be the master of both his own mind and will, able of his own power to turn himself  toward either good or evil....If anyone, then, can use this word without misunderstanding it in a bad sense, I shall not trouble him on this account...I’d prefer not to use it myself, and I should like others, if they seek my advice, to avoid it.”

            To be sure, in God’s hands we are as clay in the hand of the potter, but God has given us the ability to make willing choices, choices that have real effects.  That freedom is ours in the context of a sovereign God whose will is always going to prevail.  Scripture nowhere says that we are “free” in the sense of being outside of God’s control or of being able to make decisions that are not caused by anything.  Nor does it say we are “free” in the sense of being able to do right on our own apart from God’s power.  An absolute “freedom,” totally free of God’s control, is simply not possible in a world providentially sustained and directed by God himself.

            That is why the “All things” of Romans 8:28-30 ultimately work together for our good and God’s glory.  God can and does use our sin and work it together for our good and his sovereign will for our lives and his Providence in history.  That is the great theme throughout the story of Joseph in Genesis and continuing in the book of Exodus.

            Wayne Grudem, in Systematic Theology, distinguishes between God’s moral will (sometimes called his revealed will) and his providential government of all things (sometimes called his “secret will”).  Examples of God’s moral will include the Ten Commandments and the moral commands of the New Testament while all the events of history testify to God’s “secret will” if they occur.  This includes the fact that Christ would be crucified by “lawless men” (Acts 2:23) as well as all the evil events that have transpired in Exodus.

            Therefore, Pharaoh was free to act as he would, to harden his heart, or to have his heart hardened by his actions.  But he was not free to thwart completely God’s will to deliver his people out of bondage.  God was providently controlling all the events in Egypt in order to accomplish all of his “I will” statements in Exodus 6.  So, even when Pharaoh hardens his own heart, that is not inconsistent with saying that God is causing Pharaoh to do this and thereby God is hardening the heart of Pharaoh. 

            While we do not understand how God can ordain that Pharaoh can carry out evil deeds and yet hold him accountable for them and not be blamed himself, “The blame for evil is always on the responsible creature, whether man or demon, who does it, and the creature who does evil is always worthy of punishment.”  Paul’s own response to this question is found in Romans 9:19-20: “You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault?  Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me thus?”  The Providence of God is a mystery that should result in Doxology.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Papa Fred

September 20, 2011

UGA and the Gospel

Over the past year and a half students in our ministry have been interviewing students on the campus of UGA in an effort to share the gospel.  What we have discovered is sobering.  Almost 90% of the students we interview have no clear understanding of who Jesus is or about the great news of the Gospel.  The overwhelming number of them we have interviewed (a little over 1500 students ) believe that in order to have a relationship with God you have to "be good".  This is a lost generation.  They either have a wrong view of the gospel or they simply have never heard it.  That's the reason we go on campus.  That's the reason an event like The Great Exchange needs to happen.  Below you will find a video that has excerpts from some of those interviews.  Watch it and then pray about how you can help get the message of Jesus onto the campus of UGA.  

The Great Exchange

Watch this short video about next week's campus event - The Great Exchange

One Word: PLAGUES

I hope you guys are enjoying our journey through Exodus as much as I am.  What a crazy story! The most amazing thing is that it's all true.  This week God declares war on Pharaoh and the false gods of Egypt through a series of plagues.  Fred has written a great article on how the plagues attack specific gods that were present in Egypt at the time. It's a fascinating piece and well worth your time to read it.  CLICK HERE to get the article.

The Name

“This Is My Name Forever”: God’s Self-disclosure (Exodus 3:15)

August 24, 2011

In our modern world, a person’s name can be merely a label of identification; it does not reveal anything about the person.  Biblical names, however, have their background in the widespread tradition that the personal name gives significant information about the one who bears it.  The Old Testament consistently celebrates God’s making his name known to Israel, and the psalms again and again direct praise to God’s name (Ps. 8:1; 113:1-3; 145:1, 2; 148:5, 13).  “Name” here means God himself as he has revealed himself by word and deed.  At the heart of this self-revelation is the name by which he authorized Israel to invoke him, commonly rendered “the LORD” (for the Hebrew YHWH or Yahweh, as modern scholars pronounce the word)!

At a very early date in Jewish history, it came to be regarded as too sacred to pronounce YHWH so pious readers avoided pronouncing it by substituting for it the word adonay, meaning “my Lord.”  When the Masoretic scholars began to supply the vowels of adonay to the consonants of YHWH, God’s name was still pronounced adonay to avoid saying Yahweh.  During the Protestant Reformation, however, an attempt to transliterate this hybrid resulted in “Jehovah” since “Y” was missing from the German language and the name has remained even though it is clearly a mispronunciation of YHWH.

God declared this name to Moses when he spoke to him out of the bush that burned steadily without being consumed.  God first identified himself as the God who had committed himself in covenant to the patriarchs (Gen 17:1-14); then, when Moses asked him what God’s name was (the ancients assumed that prayer would only be heard if its addressee was named correctly), God answered first “I AM WHO I AM,” then shortened it to “I AM.”  The name in all its forms proclaims his eternal, self-sustaining, self-determining, sovereign reality.  This is the same supernatural mode of existence that the sign of the burning bush had signified (Ex. 3:2).

Given the polytheism and pantheism of the surrounding Egyptian culture, it was essential to know the identity of the one true God.  Further, in ancient cultures, to know the name of someone was to know something very essential about the person.  Though Moses is apparently not familiar with God’s name, this does not mean that the personal name of God was unknown to the Hebrews prior to Moses; it may have meant that the name had been lost or had fallen into disuse during the centuries of slavery in Egypt, or that the name had not been used extensively or fully understood before this time.

At the pinnacle of Egyptian power, YHWH chose Egypt and her god-king Pharaoh as instruments to demonstrate his sovereign power over her land and her gods and Moses is chosen as Yahweh’s Messenger and Redeemer. 

Exodus and the Promise of God

Over the course of the next 10 weeks I have asked Fred Schuller (Papa Fred) to write at least one entry a week on the Exodus story.  Here's the first one and as usual Fred did not disappoint.

Musings on Exodus by Papa Fred (August 16, 2011)

When you think of Exodus, the subject of the burning bush, or the plagues, or the Red Sea is often the focus.  As we begin our study, I would like to challenge each of you to search beyond the obvious and look at this awesome book as a bridge to New Testament theology and the very foundational tenets of our Christian doctrine.  A little background work and look at the story of Joseph as the context of Exodus is necessary because that is how the book of Genesis ends.  Exodus, however, begins by reminding us of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob.

I would like to provoke you to go even further back to Genesis 15 and take a look at Joseph’s great grandfather Abraham to position our context.  You all know the story, God promises Abram an heir and in Genesis 15:5-6, God takes him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.”  Then he said to him, “so shall your offspring be.”  And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Before I continue the story, look at what God has done.  He has justified Abram by faith some 2000 years before the Cross.  The Apostle Paul wrote of this declaration in Romans 4:3 some 1500 years before Luther resurrected the doctrine of Justification by Faith during the Protestant Reformation.  So Genesis 15:6 is a theological bridge that states Abraham was justified by faith, just like we are.  God took his own righteousness and credited it to Abraham as if it were actually his.  This God did because Abraham believed in him.

Furthermore, Galatians 3:8-9 states that, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”  So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  That’s us boys and girls.  God is preaching the gospel some 3500 years before the cross and including us Gentiles in the blessing of Abraham.  Wow, that is the good news.

God also reveals himself as a Covenant keeping Sovereign Providence in the words of Genesis 15:12-14.  “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram.  And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.  Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.  But I will bring judgment on the nation that they will serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.”  The story of Exodus is not some random act of history, but the Sovereign act of a Covenant keeping God who ordained all the events of the story for our good and his glory.  It is not just a narrative of the Hebrew people, but a picture of redemption and how the great “I AM” intervened in history to save his people.

In a similar manner, Jesus Christ stepped into history in the cosmic invasion of the Incarnation to save his people.  Galatians 3:13-14 reminds us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree-so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”  So, as we begin this whirlwind journey through Exodus, look back to the great “I AM” as the cause agent and look ahead to the Cross as the God-Man Jesus ultimately redeems us as the Son of Man and personification of the great “I AM.”

August in Athens

August in Athens is one of the most amazing things on the planet. In the span of just a few days a relatively quite town explodes with an electric level of activity. Parking spaces are hard to find and the local grocery stores are packed. And you can smell college football in the air.

Most of you reading this will fall into one of three categories:

• you spent your summer in Athens
• you just got back into Athens from a summer of adventure/work/or you can't talk about it
• you are just now arriving in Athens as a student

No matter your status we want to welcome you! This is an amazing stage of life for you and we want to help you build your life around something that matters. This fall our college ministry is going to be focused on four things:

• The Word
• Community
• Service
• Living Sent

Over the course of the next few weeks you'll here more about all four of these areas but for now just get your stuff unpacked, go to Kroger and stock up on Ramen noodles, meet some new people, and plan to be at College Bible Study this Sunday @ 9:30 am in the basement at WFBC.

Get directions to the church here.

See Ya Sunday, Go DAWGS!

A Year With the King

Almost 12 months ago we embark on a Journey through the gospel of Mark. In two week we will finish that journey. I feel like I can speak for the group of guys on our teaching team when I say it has been life changing to be up-close and personal with Jesus for one year. I hope that if you've been with us for the journey that you have had your faith strengthened and your heart expanded by the radical love and grace of our great King.

I want to say a huge thank to the guys who have served us well as part of the team who taught through Mark’s Gospel. Fred Schuller, Josh Bloodworth, Aaron Yankey, Mark McAndrew, and David Holt, you guys are amazing and gifted and I am thankful that I get to serve alongside our King with you.

One of the things that I have loved about our time in Mark is that I have been reminded over and over again of this truth: Jesus is the King! But he is a different kind of king. Jesus is king who comes in a way that reverses the values of the world and creates a "new normal". He comes in meekness and service, not strength and force - to die as a ransom for us. I love how Tim Keller puts it, "We enter this Kingdom through the 'upside-down' pattern of the King who went to the cross." You and I, as his followers, are called to live in this world as ambassadors of our King and to participate in the ministry of restoration and reconciliation.

Along the way we have encouraged you to remember the big picture of who Jesus is, why he came, how we should respond. I want to wrap up our time in Mark by reminding you of those three things.

Who Jesus is: He is the:

• Suffering Servant
• Ransom
• Passover Lamb
• Son of Man
• Son of God

Why Jesus came:

• To judge all men for fruitlessness, man-centered religion, and rebellion.
• To save both Jew and Gentile, including blasphemers/rebels/his killers from hell for eternal life.
• To serve by dying as ransom. He is the Lamb who accepted God’s wrath and takes away the sin of the world.

How should I respond?

• Be unashamed of Jesus
• Take up your cross
• Deny self
• Serve
• Witness
• Have faith in God
• Watch for His Return
• Give All

I hope that as we move on from our study of Mark that we will remember that we are called to love and to serve because that is the nature of the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that we will all live out these words from the mouth of Jesus:

"But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45 ESV)

Bible Translations

"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book." 
 Abraham Lincoln

I have had several students ask me in the past few months about Bible translations and which Bible I would recommend. One of the core values of our college ministry is that we try to be Word centered in everything we do, so we have a very high view of Scripture. As a result we believe that the translation you use matters. We believe that the ESV is the best translation currently available. For an excellent article on why we support the ESV click here. As for Bible recommendations, I believe that by far the best Bible out there is the ESV Study Bible you can read more about it here.

A Review of John Piper's "Think"

Happy summer time to everyone! As I hope you are enjoying the summer break, we wanted to do something new on the blog. Approximately every week or two, we will be providing a brief review of a book that we have read that we feel would benefit you greatly in your time as a college student and in your walk with Christ. This week Josh Bloodworth, our College Ministry Intern reviews John Piper’s Think. You can purchase the Kindle/e-book format of Think for $2.99 here. Or if you like actual tangible books still, you are killing tress, but you can buy Think for $8.99 here.

Most of us have been deeply affected in one way or the other by the Christian Hedonistic views of Dr. Piper. And in Think, Piper only continues to expand his mission statement, in that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Piper introduces his book in the following manner.

This book is a plea to embrace serious thinking as a means of loving God and people. It is a plea to reject either-or thinking when it comes to head and heart, thinking and feeling, reason and faith, theology and doxology, mental labor and the ministry of love. It is a plea to see thinking as a necessary, God-ordained means of knowing God. Thinking is one of the important ways that we put the fuel of knowledge on the fires of worship and service to the world.

One of the refreshing and all too uncommon aspects of this book is the inclusion of biblical exposition at the heart of his arguments. A book entitled Think would seem somewhat odd without an objective source from which to draw conclusions, but I am very glad that Piper stuck to his pastoral guns in making that objective source be the objective source, that is the Bible.

Piper opens the book by given us a brief look into his background in academia, prior to moving to the pastorate. It was in the academic world where Piper fueled the fires of his worship with deep thought. From there, Piper directs the reader’s attention to his pastoral hero, Jonathan Edwards. Piper argues with historians that Edwards was among the greatest minds that America has ever produced, while it is Edwards’ God-centered theology, which led to deeply theocentric doxology, that he is known for. It not either the great mind, or the vastly worshipful heart, but instead, it is both-and.

Throughout the rest of the book, Dr. Piper methodically presents the meat of his argument that thinking is both dangerous and at the same time indispensable. Piper argues first that the focus of thinking is in reading and understanding what others have written. This is of utmost importance, because God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through the Bible. From this point, Piper reveals how thinking is pivotal to saving faith, and that those that reject Christ and His Gospel commit irrational adultery in their thinking.

Dr. Piper continues by explaining the intricate relationship between thinking and divine illumination in the awakening of faith, and that true faith is characterized by a love for God that treasures God with the whole mind. He goes on to confront a vicious enemy to Christian thinking today, relativism. He presents biblical truth showing that relativism is in fact a very old logical fallacy, and ultimately he displays the immorality of relativistic thinking.

It is at this point that Piper delves into the seeming scriptural dichotomy of being childlike but wise. Both have a scriptural basis, but are they at odds with one another? First, he argues against the anti-intellectualism that has almost defined American evangelicalism. He explains that not thinking can be just as prideful as arrogant thinking. Piper carefully exposits both 1 Corinthians 1:20 and Luke 10:21, both of which seem to set God against intellectual thinking. The wisdom that God is at odds with in these passages are in fact the wisdom of this world. That which is hidden pertains to the kingdom of God, and no one can accept the Gospel or comprehend its components out of their own works, abilities, or thinking, in and of themselves. God must allow these things to be understood, and through this, the glory belongs to God alone, not to the human intellect. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:21, “In the wisdom of God, the world by its wisdom did not know God.” The world cannot know God by its own wisdom, but in God’s wisdom, that He bestows on whomever he so chooses, God Himself is able to be known. The knowledge of God was ultimately made manifest in the person of Jesus.

As Think comes to a close, Piper moves into a discussion of knowledge, wisdom, and thinking’s true purpose, which is to bring glory to God, by loving God, and loving people. Knowledge and thinking cannot be in of itself its own end. For that kind of knowledge is the knowledge that Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 8 will puff up. This thinking is proud and exhibits a clear absence of love. Piper says this at the close of chapter 12, “Without a profound work of grace in the heart, knowledge-the fruit of thinking-puffs up. But with that grace, thinking opens the door of humble knowledge. And that knowledge is the fuel of the fire of love for God and man.” The last chapter of Think drives home this idea. All thinking exists for the purpose of knowing God, bringing glory to God, loving God, and loving people in light of that.

In the conclusion of this review, I want to leave you with a quote from Piper that I hope would become a prayer for each and every one of us, those in the college classroom and those in and around the academic community. “It is profoundly right to say all thinking, all learning, all education, and all research is for the sake of knowing God, loving God, and showing God. ‘For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen’(Rom. 11:36).”