The God of Revealed Scripture

Malachi 3:6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."

James 1:17 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

Introduction:

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is the confessional statement of the Southern Baptist Convention. In its attempt to express what Southern Baptist's teach on matters of doctrine, the Christian life and social issues, the very first article deals with the doctrine of the Bible. In outlining the character of the Bible as being without error (i.e "inerrant") and incapable of leading one astray in matters of life and practice (i.e "infallible") among other traits with respect to its binding authority, the Bible is described as a product of Divine revelation.

The very first sentence of the BFM 2000 article on scripture reads as follows: "The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man." This first sentence is crucial, since it expresses the Bible being the product of not just any deity, but One True and Living God. 

In our 21st century world we are more aware of other competing worldviews and religions than ever before. In our culture today, and even among Christians, when one says "God", such a term may not be taken to mean the same thing to different people. Furthermore, movements such as Wicca, Buddhism and the New Atheism are very popular among younger North Americans seeking to have a form of spirituality apart from organized religion. In order to communicate why we as Christians believe the Bible to be a Divinely revealed book, we need to first express the Divine source and His identity. In other words, it is crucial in establishing our view of scripture that we first identify the Divine author Himself. What kind of God is this God? 

What kind of God is the God of revealed scripture?

In the second article of the BFM 2000, the nature of the God of revealed scripture, and His identity, is explained. The God of revealed scripture is not some pervasive, impersonal force permeating our universe - as believed by Eastern religions and popularly expressed in the Star Wars franchise (called pantheism). Neither is the God of revealed scripture the immaterial soul of our world, equal to it and thus an impersonal force animating every rock, tree and person - as espoused by such groups as Wicca. The God of revealed scripture is not a collection of deities that extend back into eternity past, with Yahweh and Jesus being but the latest development in that long chain of beings (as in Mormonism). Such definitions are foreign to scripture and such deities are illusions and idols.

Rather, the BFM 2000 offers this following description of what kind of Being God is:

"There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience."

Identifying the God of revealed scripture

In defining the kind of God the God of revealed scripture is, the BFM 2000 goes onto identify this God in its second article:

"The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being."

Now we won't go any further into the specific details of how we can reasonably justify our belief in this particular God's existence - but we will make some general remarks. God's existence is revealed through His general revelation in creation (Psalm 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-31) and the moral laws written into the conscience (Romans 2:14-15). Moreover, God's existence and nature can be inferred through apologetical arguments such as the argument from observations of the universe, the universe's fine-tuning for the existence of life and the reality of objective moral values and duties. Then to specifically demonstrate the reality of the God expressed in the above statements, one can appeal to the resurrection of Jesus as the historical demonstration of the fact that the God of revealed scripture alone exists. 

Reasonable considerations affirm that Christians have justified reasons for believing in the God of revealed scripture. Such considerations bow of course to the Bible, and thankfully, are confirmed and further specified by it. 

Why does this matter to you?

Children, students and adults are called to the Christian life for one purpose: to know and love God. The second, closely related reason is to love other people with this love (see Matthew 22:37-39). The Christian life is not only a conversion of the soul to Jesus (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23) but also is to be a transformation of one's mind (Romans 12:2). To know why we believe why we believe is as important as communicating what we believe. Only when we progressively grasp why we believe what we believe will we then be equipped to answer: "How then shall we live?"  

The Divine authority of the Bible as God's inerrant and infallible revelation of Himself is built upon the premise that God never lies (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18); never fails (Hebrews 13:5) and doesn't change (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). All of scripture is predicated and based upon God's character as God. Furthermore, as Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Decisive revelation of God in history, as demonstrated by His resurrection from the dead, then we can consider His remarkable life and death as further demonstration of the Bible's character as revealed written revelation. Jesus Himself taught as much (see Matthew 5:18; Luke 24:44; John 10:35). 

This is an important point, since our view of God drives our view of scripture. Such a foundation can greatly guard our faith in times of doubt, fear and struggle. If we believe that God created our world, and that this God reveals Himself in and through this world, and that the resurrection did indeed occur, then the concept of Divine revelation in written form won't be near as hard to accept. If anything, this God, the Triune God, with the Person of the Son demonstrating such truth by His incarnation, death and resurrection, has inseparably revealed Himself in words. Such words only exist and are codified in one book: the Bible. 

New Hope in Jesus Christ - Exaltation of Jesus

Romans 11:33-36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Introduction:

Over the last few days we have considered new hope in Jesus Christ. The words "new" and "hope" evoke anticipation, confidence and resolve. The Christian life ought be characterized as one full of hope. Romans 5:1-5 and other passages spell out this crucial theme. We have noted that in reinforcing this new hope, we need the following:

Hunger to lovingly know God and people

Ongoing discipleship / evangelism

Proclamation of the Word

Such elements represent an ongoing process and find their culmination in today's final point on this theme: "Exaltation of Jesus".

The above opening text is perhaps my favor set of verses in the Bible. Romans 11:33-36 brings to a conclusion the substantial doctrinal treatment Paul gives to unfolding the power of the Gospel. In these few verses we are shown the depths of God, the heights of God and the breadth of His glory. Verse 36 could be summarized as a mini-outline of the Bible:

"from Him" = creation

"through Him" = redemption

"to Him" = 2nd coming

We know that Jesus Christ is the decisive revelation of God in human flesh. It is the Son who reveals the Father, with the Holy Spirit shedding light on the Father and the Son. The exaltation of Jesus demands our humility. All the efforts we undertake to reinforce our newness of hope in Him must culminate in exaltation. 

Think about why we go on long vacations to places we have never been. We want to be blown away. Author John Piper has often remarked how people want to go to the Grand Canyon to be swallowed up by its grandness. To lose themselves in the grandeur of it all. Whenever I saw the Milky Way years ago during a major power outage, I was blown away. All I could do was praise God in view of His handi-work. Piper also notes too that missions exist because worship doesn't. Missions is driven by the impulse to bring honor and glory to God. 

Exaltation ought to thread its way through our hungering, ongoing discipleship and proclamation. All three of these efforts aim for this final point. But it doesn't end there. Exaltation has this quality of feeding itself back into and through those first three points. Think of what happens when a sound system has feed-back. A microphone gets to close to a speaker and the signal from the speaker gets fed back through the mic, through the sound-system and into the mic, reverberating and amplifying the sound until the mic is cut off. Whenever I think of H.O.P.E, exaltation of Jesus is the supernatural feed back that amplifies the new hope in Him. 

In a local church, the music, preaching, teaching, small groups, fellow-ship meals, outreach efforts, membership classes, hospital visits and other ministries ought to be feeding back in and through exaltation. The Bible itself operates in this fashion. Think about it - the last two chapters of Revelation drive the entire drama of the prior 1187 chapters. Exaltation of Jesus shapes and molds all history and eternity. It is He who reveals the Father. It is He in whom all the fullness of Deity dwells. God is one God, existing in three persons, with each Person being truly and fully God: Father, Son and Spirit. The Son represents that executive branch of the God-head. 

Our hope, after-all, is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name.  

New Hope in Jesus Christ - Proclamation of the Word

Ephesians 4:11-13 "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

1 Timothy 4:6 "In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following."

Introduction:

Christian leader Joseph Stowell made the following observation about the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo in his devotional book: "Day by Day with Jesus - Strength for the Journey": "Michelangelo is said to have often painted with a brush in one hand and a shielded candle in another to prevent his shadow from covering the masterpiece he was creating. As God works through us to craft His glory and gain, we must be careful that our shadows are not cast across the canvas of His work."

Why is proclamation of God's Word so vital for living out the hope we have in Jesus Christ? Yesterday we had considered the importance of discipleship and evangelism. The clearest definition we find for "discipleship" is where Jesus expresses in Luke 9:23-24 "And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it." 

To be a disciple means to follow Jesus in attitude, in mind and in heart for the goal of becoming like Him. As a pastor, I am convinced that the hindrances to our Christian growth stems from us doing what Michelangelo in the quote above tried to avoid: namely casting our own shadows on God's continuing work of making us more and more like Jesus. 

We often will cite Ephesians 2:8-9 as one of the clearest Biblical definitions of salvation - and rightly so. In that text we see defined salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. However very few people go onto Ephesians 2:10, which deals with why the Lord calls and saves sinners: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." 

Healthy Christian growth is not optional for the Christian

Oddly enough, many Christians today seem satisfied with little or no progress in their Christian walk. God chose, called and convicted sinners by His Spirit to believe on Christ apart from good works for the purpose of growing up in a salvation that is to abound in good works. The overall pattern and design of the Christian life is to grow onward and upward in the Lord. Such growth may experience seasonal declines, however the vast majority of the Christian life ought to witness advances and an overall pattern of change. 

Passages such as 2 Peter 3:18 explicitly command us to grow up in our walk with Christ: "but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." Peter also writes in 1 Peter 2:2 "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." Like the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul also explains the need of healthy Christian growth. Romans 12:2 is but one example - "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." All of these passages urges Christians to pursue healthy Christian discipleship.

The urgency for healthy Christian growth is not up for debate in the scriptures. The question is: what and how do Christians grow in their Christian lives?  God has prescribed three main ministries in the local church to ensure the spiritual healthy of Christians. Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 4:12  "And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." We will be exploring two chapters (Ephesians 4 and 1 Timothy 4) to discover what I am calling "the 3-braided rope" of healthy Christian growth in Christians and the church, which includes the following:

1. Pastoral ministry (1 Timothy 4; Ephesians 4:11-12)

2. Church-body life (Ephesians 4:13-24)

3. Small-groups (Ephesians 4:25-29)

So let us look first of all at how God has prescribed pastoral ministry for the healthy Christian growth of the Christian and the local church.

God has ordained pastoral ministry to be one of the three resources for healthy Christian growth

It is appropriate to be drawing these posts from Ephesians 4 and 1 Timothy 4, since both letters were written to the same church. Paul's letter to the Ephesian church was written in 60 A.D to the Ephesian congregation, urging them to be enriched in every spiritual blessing in Christ. Paul's letter to Timothy was composed 2 years later, urging him as a pastor to grow spiritually (1 Timothy 4:16) and to lead the Ephesians in ongoing spiritual growth and conduct (1 Timothy 3:15). 

When we come first of all to 1 Timothy 4, we see in general outline form the importance of pastoral ministry in the life of the Christian and the local church. Paul's point of the importance of pastoral ministry in 1 Timothy 4 can be summarized under four headings that spell out why Christians and churches need pastoral ministry for their Christian growth. We will consider these in alphabetical form:

1. Anchoring of people in God's truth. 1 Timothy 4:1-6

Christians and churches need men who will courageously and compassionately preach the truth in love. Moreover, pastors need to love their people by being present and interactive in their lives. A good pastor can provide an anchoring point for a church or a Christian who is experiencing seismic shifts. The pastor's ability to do so stems not from himself, but rather Christ working in and through him (see Colossians 1:27). 

2. Building godliness into people's lives. 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Jesus desires not only a loving church, but a loving church that loves His holiness and expresses holy love. As we saw a couple of days of ago, expressing the newness of hope in Jesus includes aiming to lovingly know God and other people. Pastors need to regularly urge their congregations onto holy lives that bear witness of God's love and transforming power (1 Peter 2:9-12; Hebrews 3:12-13; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Peter 5)

3. Communicating the Gospel. 1 Timothy 4:9-10

Five times in Paul's pastoral letters (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus) we find reference to these "statements worthy of all acceptance". In 1 Timothy 4:9-10 we find one of the clearest statements summarizing the Person and work of Jesus Christ as communicated in the Gospel. A pastor not only needs to feed His flock but also evangelize sinners both inside and outside the church. His purpose is undoubtedly to equip the saints to be witnesses of Christ wherever they live and work. Yet too, the pastor himself ought to be about looking for opportunities to share Jesus in personal daily interactions with people. Such practices enable the pastor to urge his people to communicate the Gospel.

So thus far we have seen how God uses pastoral ministry to encourage healthy Christian growth: anchoring people in the truth, building godliness into people's lives and communicating the Gospel. Now lets consider one final element as to why pastoral ministry is necessary for healthy Christian growth, namely....

4. Demonstrating healthy Christianity. 1 Timothy 4:11-16

If a pastor is to be effective in urging his congregation to healthy Christian growth in discipleship, he himself must live it! Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:15-16 "Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you."

As we think about proclaiming God's Word, the pulpit is what we typically think about - and rightly so. However, other ways of proclaiming God's Word and practicing some of the above principles can include conferences, encouraging and training more people to teach in Sunday School, small-groups and church events. 

As we are living in a 21st century world, other secondary means can be used to facilitate proclamation of the Word, namely: podcasts, You Tube, i-Tunes, Facebook and other venues.

Linking arms with other churches to increase efforts for proclaiming the Word can generate even more volumes of newness of hope across the Christian community. Such efforts could result in such things as community prayer times/revivals to reaching the secular and unchurched community.

Closing thoughts

As we have seen today, pastoral ministry and proclamation of the Word are necessary for Christian growth in discipleship. Pastors have been called by God to anchor people in His truth (1 Timothy 4:1-6); build godliness into people's lives (1 Timothy 4:7-8); communicate the gospel (1 Timothy 4:9-10) and demonstrate healthy Christianity (1 Timothy 4:11-16). Every member of the congregation to one degree or another has a share in this vital ministry of getting the Word out to people. Though this post did focus mainly on preaching, we musn't exclude proclamation to the preaching task. God has gifted many people in His church to creatively communicate His truth in various ways and venues to supplement the primary work He does through the preaching of God's Word. In turning quickly to Ephesians 4:11-12, we find an inspired summary of why pastor ministry is among the three God-ordained methods for healthy Christian growth in Christians and the local church: "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ."

New Hope in Jesus Christ - Ongoing Discipleship / Evangelism

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Luke 5:27-28 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. ²⁸ And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

Introduction:
The above picture takes me back to my Bible College days when we learned about the Christian life. The professor was with the Navigators - a discipleship ministry that stressed Bible verse memorization, spiritual disciplines and evangelism. Such instruction was life- changing. We considered yesterday what is entailed in our new found hope in Jesus Christ. We considered ramifications of this "new hope" as revealed in Romans 5:1-5. We explored how hungering to love God and people is essential to growing in this hope. Loving God includes and assumes knowing God. 

We could say that loving God means lovingly knowing God. As we lovingly know God, we will in turn want to lovingly know other people. We finally proposed a glimpse of what hungering for God looked like in the individual Christian life and the corporate church life. 

Today's post once again considers this theme of new hope in Jesus Christ. By considering this word "hope" as an acrostic for exploring this theme, we saw already the need to hunger to love God and people. Today we want to see the importance of ongoing discipleship and evangelism as the means for reinforcing our hope.

What is discipleship?
What is a suggested definition of discipleship? Discipleship, by definition, refers to the process by which a person by grace through faith believes on Christ as Savior and Lord while forsaking himself to become like the Master.  Such a process begins as a point of entry at conversion or the New Birth and continues on as a process in the post-conversion Christian life or what is also called sanctification. Jesus brings forth the nuts and bolts of what it means to be a disciple throughout the Gospel accounts.  

Discipleship begins with the Call of Christ
Luke records the conversion of one of the twelve original disciples - Levi (or more commonly known as Matthew).  Matthew (Levi) would 30 years after this event write the first Gospel in our New Testament - the Gospel of Matthew.  But before Matthew became "Saint Matthew", he was sinner Matthew.  He took advantage, extorted and did whatever it took to make that next dollar.  As a tax-collector for Rome, he not only made it his business to get the necessary taxes from his fellow Jews, he also charged "hidden" fees over and above the tax to line his own pockets.  Jews hated tax-collectors - and tax collectors loved money.  The last thing that Matthew was thinking of doing was turning His entire life over to Christ to follow Him. 

The Call of Discipleship identifies the claim of Christ on your life
Matthew was into his career, his life.  He was making money.  Then came that voice - that voice which cut through the air and into his heart.  Suddenly the clinking of coinage and the rustling of bills were over-powered by the voice of the One who was now laying claim on Matthew.  

This was a voice that was unlike any voice he had ever heard.  Two words: "Follow Me".  What follows is as shocking as it is unexpected.  Matthew, the man of means, the man of money, was touched by Divine Grace.  The same voice which created all life and through whom came the entire universe was now through human vocal cords penetrating the dark heart of Matthew.  

The Call of Discipleship makes following Christ a foregone conclusion 

Grace made following Jesus a foregone conclusion.  He left all, rose up and followed Him. This is how life with Jesus Christ begins: with a call issued forth from Him, through His word, into your heart.  To be a disciple means to forsake all that you used to define yourself in favor of following the One who is unlike yourself.  By faith, as you follow the One calling your name, you will grow in your desire to be so much like Him that you too we see that what Matthew did was the only thing that makes sense - Go and Follow the Master. 

Discipleship leads to multiplication
In the Great Commission passage of Matthew 28:18-20, we find the disciples being commanded to go into all the world and make other disciples. It has always puzzled me why churches separate discipleship and evangelism. The two are two sides of the same coin. One cannot complete the discipleship process without multiplying themselves, and yet whenever we consider that less than 10% of local church membership actively shares the Gospel may indicate lack of understanding about discipleship. 

Whenever churches desire to get their members involved in missions and evangelism, they will coerce, bring in a revivalist or tell them to simply do it. Undoubtedly, such measures are good, but no adequate. I truly wonder what would happen if local churches had a well-defined method of discipleship making? Books such as "The Simple Church" and "The Gospel According to Jesus" have emphasized how much we need to re-connect evangelism to discipleship and thus to the mission of the local church. In a recent book by Rice Broocks entitled: "Man, Myth, Messiah", Brooks closes out his apologetic book with two chapters devoted to tying together evangelism, apologetics and discipleship.  

It would seem that whenever Christians are actively involved in an ongoing process of discipleship/evangelism, new hope is rekindled in Jesus Christ. Certainly we could expand further on these thoughts. But for now, we will let these ideas simmer in our hearts, pray and then ask God to prompt us to action. May we kindle the flame of new hope in Jesus Christ by way of ongoing discipleship that leads to evangelism.

New Hope in Jesus Christ - Hungering to love God and love people

Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Introduction

As I was driving down the road the other day, I was reflecting on the name of the church God has called me to shepherd: "New Hope Baptist Church". Whenever my wife and I first heard of New Hope, the name caught our attention. 

Two words capture the eye whenever they are seen: "new" and "hope". Everyone loves "new things". Whenever a package claims to be "new and improved", we instinctively find ourselves wanting to get it, to have it and partake of it. The second word, "hope" - brings courage, confidence, light and joy to those who have not had it or had little supply of it. These two little words, when combined together, capture the essence of what occurs at the beginning of the Christian life and throughout its days. 

The Apostle Paul begins Romans 5 by connecting the position Christians have before God (justified or legally declared righteous by God with the credited righteousness of Jesus Christ) with the power of Christian living expressed in the experience of hope - from beginning to end. What does new found hope in Jesus Christ bring to the sinner who responds to the Spirit's call at saving faith? Certainly a change in position before God (from that of enmity to innocence). But with the positional righteousness of Jesus Christ credited at saving faith comes the ever-increasing experience of living in Him and He in us. Such a reality is the essence of New Hope in Jesus Christ. 

Since Paul mentions the word "hope" three times in this text, I thought it would be interesting to consider this word as an acrostic for describing what the Christian-life and the local church ought to be like. In other words: Hunger to love God and love people; Ongoing discipleship/evangelism; Proclamation of the Word of God and Exaltation of Jesus. When people meet Christ-followers, they ought to discern such "hope". 1 Peter 3:15 states - "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." 

So what is there about new "h.o.p.e" in Jesus Christ that sets apart the Christian and what should be the spiritual vitality of the local church? For brevity's sake, let's consider the letter "H" for today.

Hunger to love God and people

Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Matthew 22. His response is found in Matthew 22:37-39 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The aim of the Christian life is to know God and love God. In so far as we love God through the Lord Jesus Christ, such love will compel us to love others. In like manner, how we love those who treat us well or who treat us terribly will measure how much God's love is flowing through us. 

Hunger for God is proportional to love for Him. Hunger for God is indicated in the way I love others. 1 John 4:7-10 states - "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." Implied in our loving of God is knowing God. One cannot love another person without knowing them. Hence when I say "loving God", it is short-hand for expressing the essentials of relating to God (knowing, praying, listening, obeying, believing and so on).

The love for God and love for others increases our hunger for Him. Like an electrical circuit, whereby one end of a wire is connected to a positive battery terminal and the other to a negative terminal, both terminals are needed to complete the circuit. The positive part of the circuit is where the flow begins - namely God's love. The other terminal represents the pouring out of His love into others. 

So what can this look like in individual Christians or the local church? Hungering to love God and others can entail such realities as:

-A God-enriched environment where people are encouraged and convinced to dig into the scriptures and apply it to their lives. Experiencing the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, scripture reading, fasting, fellowship with other Christians in church services or home-based Bible study groups ought to be the norm, not the exception. Acts 4:13 describes the early public opinion of the early Christians - ....."they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus." 

-There ought to be expressions of extravagant love and concern for one another. Jesus states in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Whenever those who are not Christians see people not only helping others with no prospect of anything in return, the mark of extravagant, Godly love will include the compulsion to not merely know about God, but to know Him in Jesus. 

Such an impulse arises not from the natural human heart, but rather the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit working on the heart. This kind of hunger is urged upon us in Hebrews 10:24 "and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds". Or again in 1 Peter 2:12 "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation."

Such thoughts are but the beginnings of reflecting on what it means to hunger in our love for God and others. Whenever we crave to love God and others, the hope of the Christian life will increase itself in ever increasing measure. The hope of salvation expressed in justification is not only a personal reality, but a corporate-church reality that, when taken to heart - results in a Kingdom reality. Hope flows as a river through the Christian's soul. Hungering for God turns this flow of hope from a trickle to a torrent. We stand amazed in His presence and hunger to love Him. We pray and stand in such amazing hope, all the while desiring to love others for the sake that they too can enjoy the new hope in Jesus Christ. 

The Coming King through a mother's eyes

Acts 1:12-14 "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers."

Introduction:

The last couple of posts have been devoted to viewing key episodes of Jesus' life and ministry through the eyes of Mary. The particular focus has been upon He as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in His incarnation and crucifixion. We noted how she experienced Him as King through His incarnation and crucifixion. Today we take one final look at Mary. Acts 1:12-14 represents the final time we see Mary in the Bible. The simple report of her gathered in the upper room with the other disciples communicates her profound and yet minimal role in the sweeping redemptive drama of Jesus' life and achievements.

When we say Mary's role was profound, we speak of her part in being the vessel of Christ's humanity. In His hypostatic union, whereby the humanity of Mary's DNA was conjoined to His Person as the truly Divine Son, we find the miracle of the virgin birth/conception (Matthew 1:21-23; Luke 1:35; Galatians 4:4). When we say at the same time that Mary's role was minimal, we mean that it was Christ alone who did the miracles and bore the wrath of God on the cross apart from her. Mary's role is to point to Christ. Thus we can use her view of Him to guide our thoughts to His actions on our behalf. 

In today's post we find Mary gathered in the upper room with the disciples. Why? The risen Christ had told His disciples that they were to tarry and wait until the promised Holy Spirit would come (Acts 1:8). Jesus had taught prior to His crucifixion that He would send another comforter (John 14:17, 26-27; 15:26; 16:8-12). His repeating of this promise in His post-resurrection appearances signified how He would tangibly prove that His ascension into heaven was completed. Thus, the events of Pentecost in Acts 2 confirmed that Jesus had indeed begun His inaugural reign upon His throne over His church, a point spelled out by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:32-36. 

Now why labor over these details? Because what Mary was doing in her actions was identifying the fact that the One whom she experience in her womb as an incarnate infant and whom she saw crucified was no less than the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His ascension into heaven began a sequence of events that would lead her to complete the full circuit of her faith to see Him as the coming King by faith. 

Now we know that Jesus, Who is ascended and exalted at the Father's right hand (Philippians 2:5-11) will return to this world. His role as King of Kings and Lord of Lords will be revealed fully when He returns. Revelation 19:11-16 states: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

What Mary's actions model for us is the importance of watching and waiting. We watch for the King to act. We wait. She was awaiting the coming Holy Spirit. He came. We Christians, having the promised Holy Spirit, wait for Jesus to return. He will come to take us up to be with Him (rapture of the church, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16). Then, (seven years after His taking us up), He will descend fully and complete to this earth to begin the physical manifestation of His earthly reign. It is exciting to think about that like Mary, we behold our King through eyes of faith. What is now faith will be made sight. Would it be that we watch and wait. The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords is coming soon!

The Crucified King Through a Mother's Eyes

John 19:25-27 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household."

Introduction:

Mary's role in the Bible has been treated in one of two ways throughout church history. One group exalts her to the level of co-redemptrix with Christ, whereas another group says little to nothing. Such extremes do nothing to reflect the Bible's presentation of her. Mary's place in the Gospel records is both substantial and minimal. Such an observation must be kept in mind when we consider how God used her in His plan of bringing the Son into the world.

How Mary's life became intertwined with Jesus' journey to the cross
Mary had been prophetically warned by Simeon that a time would arrive when events connected with the infant Christ would pierce her soul. Luke 2:33-35 records Simeon's words: "And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— 35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

What was spoken in the infancy of our Lord's humanity was fulfilled at Calvary. Mary, the virgin bearer of our Lord (Luke 1:43), beheld her King on the cross. The large sword would pierce her soul, severing the relationship of mother from child and leaving in its wake a worshiper gazing upon her Lord's bruised and bloody face.

Mary would witness the Incarnate God, her King, crucified

When we think of the sayings uttered by Jesus from the cross (such as the one quoted at the beginning of this post), we can see how the scene leads us to the moment when Mary would gaze upon her crucified King. The first cry was the cry of redemption: "Father forgive them, for they know no what they do" (Luke 23:34). The second cry was a cry of affirmation: "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43). This third statement by Jesus to Mary and John, we could say, was the cry of separation: "Mother, behold your son, son, behold your mother" (John 19:25-26). None could bear the cross by He. Jesus bore it all alone.

It is then when we arrive at that middle cry: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" - the cry of isolation (Matthew 27:46). He had severed ties with the only woman who could comfort, and He felt the pain of separation as His view of the Father's face was obscured by the fierceness of wrath. 

It must be noted here that no separation ever occurred in the Divine nature - since the Son, the Father and Spirit are inseparably One God. The Son took into His Person through His experience as man the experience and pain of bearing the sins of the world. As truly Divine, the Son's view of His Father was that of the wrathful judge delivering the just demands for sin's penalty. 1

The value of seeing the cross through a mother's eyes

Mary's sword was thrust cleanly through her soul. She undoubtedly trembled when the sun's light was obscured, and the winds picked up. The darkness of humanity's frail plight settled in and only her King stood between the tsunami of just wrath that was poured out on Him. 

The remaining three sayings of Jesus would had been heard by Mary in that horrific scene. When Jesus cried "I thirst" in John 19:28; "It is finished" in John 19:30 and the final cry of "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46), he cried forth respectively cries of desperation, proclamation and resignation. Mary heard them all, witnessed them all and quite likely cried at them all. As those sayings brought into sharp relief the identity of the King of Kings, the cross went from horror to honor. The King of Kings crowned with thorns would be seen by faith as the King who would be crowned. 

To see this dramatic scene through a mother's eyes is to experience the sharp edges of that sword. The cross ought never be treated as a sterile, stoic event of history. It was real. Cosmic and earthly. For a woman with a mother's heart, the knees which bowed in anguish would become the knees of a worshiper. From this moment onward the son she lost that day turned out to had been the One who viewed her as an adopted daughter in the plan of redemption. 

Closing thoughts
We have taken the time to reflect on the crucified King through the experience of Mary. What she must had seen, heard and felt intensifies the reality of Christ's crucifixion. What can we gain from these reflections:

1. The cross is where we bring our pain
2. The cross is where we lay down our identity
3. The cross is where He takes up our pain
4. The cross is where our identity is transformed

Endnote
1. The Lutheran Formula Concord makes this illuminating observation concerning the crucifixion of Jesus: "
likewise 
in 
death,
when
 He
 died
 not 
simply 
as 
any other 
man,
but 
in
 and
 with
 His 
death
 conquered
 sin,
death,
devil,
 hell,
and
 eternal 
damnation; which
 the 
human
 nature 
alone 
would 
not 
have 
been
 able
 to 
do if 
it 
had
 not 
been
 thus
personally united
 and 
had 
not 
had 
communion
 with 
the 
divine
 nature." The SBC Baptist Faith and Message 2000 nicely pulls together our particular point of Mary's witnessing of the crucifixion of her Divine Savior and King: "Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin."