What a trade!

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  2 Corinthians 5:21

I talked this morning about our marriages as a picture of Jesus and His beloved bride the Church. What an amazing thing to consider as He ransoms for Himself a bride out of a rebellious people.  I hoped that Christians would bask in the joy of that truth today and that unsaved folks would take the opportunity to get their lives right with God through Jesus the Bridegroom.  

In the midst of that I shared the illustration of my wedding day.  When Julie came through the doors in her beautiful gown she was truly radiant!  The thing is, the gown we have without Christ is filthy and there's no way we can clean it up.  The key to being right with God is not getting our gown clean.  We could seek to clean our gown by such things as cessation of bad habits, or implementation of good habits.  We could try going to church every week.  We could try reading the Bible every day.  We could try doing a lot of charity work.  We could feed the poor.  We could clothe the naked.  

There's no end to the things we could try to do to get our gown clean, but at the end of all of those things our gown would be nothing more than filthy rags.  But God has made available to all, and yes I did say all, a beautiful gown of perfection that is the righteousness of Christ.  When one comes to faith in Christ he or she is made perfect in the sight of God because his or her sin is given away, paid for by Christ on the Cross at Calvary, and Christ's perfect righteousness is given in return.  

What'll you wear on that day of the wedding of the Lamb?  If you'll forsake sin which is adultery against God and trust Christ's atoning work, you can be clothed in a beautiful robe of perfection!  As Steve Brown says "You think about that, Amen."

God Bless

Calvinism

Are you a Calvinist?  That seems to be a big question these days in Southern Baptist life  doesn't it?  There has been a big resurgence of Calvinism in the convention which has caused a lot of issues within it, and it can get so serious that churches can split over it.  It's really a shame.  

I'm not big on the whole discussion for two reasons.  First, I don't like it because I'd prefer to be known as a biblicist rather than a Calvinist.  I want the Word to be my guide in all doctrinal understanding.  I'd certainly recognize that my doctrinal understanding has some holes in it, I am sinful after all, but it is definitely my goal to have the Bible dictate my understanding.  I would say in addition to that that I believe it is a very valuable thing for us to "stand on the shoulders" of those who've gone before us.  To discuss doctrine with Spurgeon is very enlightening, to bring questions to Calvin, or Matthew Henry, or John Gill, or Luther, or Edwards and so on is a very valuable tool in our understanding.  Ultimately, however, we need the Holy Spirit and our Bible.

The second reason I'm not huge fan of the discussion is that people bring pre-conceived notions into a discussion of Calvinism that may or may not be accurate.  "Calvinists don't believe in evangelism!"  "Calvinism eliminates the love God has for all people!"  "We're all just puppets!!!!"  We've heard them all.  None of them are true.  

At the end of the day I just want to tell you all two things.  Number one, if you're a Calvinist you'll be the most humble, loving, gracious, evangelistic Christians there is.  May God bless you as you grow in this.  Number two, I did this whole post to give an opportunity to share a song with you.  Find it here.  Have fun and loosen up would ya! 

Oh and by the way, yes I am a Calvinist.  And if you're not, but you love the Lord, then you're alright with me.  May God bless your walk.

Resurrection Day

The Lord is risen indeed!

God Bless

A worthwhile conversation

On Saturday night before the Lord's Day I love to watch a video or sermon or something along those lines to prepare my heart for preaching.  I find it very edifying and a good way to get ready for Sunday.  Last night I happened onto a video on youtube.com called "A conversation- Tim Keller, John Piper, and DA Carson."

As you know I'm a huge Tim Keller fan!  I love his ministry which takes place in postmodern USA in the middle of Manhattan and is focused on planting as many churches that are anchored in truth in NYC as possible. Keller is incredibly helpful especially for those who are in or considering ministry.  He is able to articulate very clearly things that any pastor needs to know about preaching, apologetics, evangelism etc.  I really like him a lot and would highly recommend checking him out.

Anyway, the video which is about an hour and is divided up into six parts is a discussion amongst these three tremendous leaders that took place at a "Gospel Coalition" event in 2008.  They cover a variety of topics from ministering to the poor without falling into a social gospel to what to look for in an elder and how to find them.  

If you are in ministry in any capacity I'd suggest you watch this.  If not, it'd still be a worthwhile thing to watch.  I hope everyone had an awesome Resurrection Day!

God Bless