Archive for the ‘Christ is Lord’ Category
Walking
My pastor recently posed the question, “What do you say when your child says, ‘Mom, I’m a Christian’?” He warned against discouraging or stumbling our children by telling them “we’ll wait and see.”
Perhaps you are uncomfortable calling your children Christians, although Scripture uses the word simply to mean one who is discipled. Regardless, it is not enough to appropriate the name “Christian;” we point beyond it, reminding them and ourselves that faith is a daily walking as much as a starting. So we help them to see all the privileges and responsibilities of belonging to Christ. We are repeatedly saying things like: “Isn’t it so good to . . .”
- . . . be forgiven
- . . . have our sins washed away
- . . . have God as our father
- . . . have God as our provider
- . . . belong to God
- . . . belong to Jesus
- . . . be a part of God’s family
- . . . rely on Jesus
- . . . have Jesus as our savior
- . . . have life in Jesus
- . . . be joined to Jesus
- . . . have Jesus as our king
- . . . have the Holy Spirit to help us love and obey
- . . . have the Holy Spirit to comfort us
- . . . serve God
- . . . obey God
This is simply part of fanning into flame — urging our children to grow and continue and delight in these things that are a part of obedient faith. It is such a delight to know, trust and obey a king who is so great and so good to us! God has designed for our children to trust us instinctively, just so that we can help them to see his goodness and to trust him instinctively now, and with more understanding over the years. Jesus even points to a child’s instinctive, joyful, care-free trusting as an example for us in our own faith.
Some of these things are true even for the hardest of unbelievers — Jesus is king over all the earth, and we are to obey God. Part of our children’s and our own walking in faith is simply seeing, delighting and resting in what is already true, rather than chafing or cursing. “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, [and] you will be saved.”
In the way
Last November I posted a quote from John Loftness on parenting with faith in God and his promises for our children. But faith always has legs; “therefore how we act,” as Loftness says. I have three small children. What difference does it make that I know God is at work in them, that he has been at work from the very beginning?
- We teach them [1], [2] to name Jesus as “our Lord” and to confess that “he died for our sins and pleads with God for us.”
- When we pray, we teach them to name God as “our Father” and to look to him for provision and forgiveness. And we rejoice in his forgiveness and provision! God is far more lavish even than Mommy and Daddy in his mercy and blessing.
- We teach and expect them to sing to our savior and king, at home and at church.
- We teach and expect them to walk in the fruit of the Spirit. With every bit of good fruit we see, we rejoice and encourage them that this is God at work in them.
- We teach and expect them to obey cheerfully. Repentance for sin and rejoicing in God’s forgiveness and acceptance are also a key part of this.
- Whether or not they participate in the Lord’s supper, we teach them to thank Jesus for cleansing them from sin with his blood, and for making them a part of God’s family.
Not that we have already obtained this!
Are we training our children to be little hypocrites? Absolutely not! Rather:
- Scripture gives us great confidence that the Holy Spirit is already at work in our children, and our task is one of fanning into flame.
- The Christian life is lifelong repentance and faith. While regeneration is absolutely necessary, it is likely in the case of our children that pinpointing it will be futile. The gardener diligently tends his garden before he can even see the sprouts; and as they grow, he tenderly cares for, trains and prunes them, without knowing whether they will survive, so that they may survive. In the same way, we train our children to walk in daily repentance, faith and obedience.
- Similarly, there is a reason that Proverbs 22:6 does not instruct us to lead our children to the way, but rather train them in the way. Christian nurture is not preparation for a future driver’s exam; it is a continuous going deeper. We love our savior and king; there is absolutely no question that he is our trustworthy savior and the king of the world; and faith, repentance and obedience are simply what it looks like to love him.
They preach
We shared the Lord’s Supper on Sunday morning.
When we speak scripture to one another, and when our pastors preach, we know that, by the Holy Spirit, Christ himself is speaking to us and preaching to us. We listen intently and we search our hearts because we long to hear our Lord. He comforts and strengthens us with promises and sends us out with commands.
When we take the Lord’s Supper it is easy to be aware of what we ourselves are doing — examining, remembering. But, no less than in preaching, Christ is speaking to us in the Lord’s Supper, comforting and strengthening us with promises and sending us out with commands. The Lord’s Supper preaches to our hungry hearts. What are some of the promises that we will hear our Savior saying if we are attentive?
- Are you condemned? You are forgiven! I have washed and cleansed you with my blood.
- Are you ashamed? You are accepted! You come before God in me.
- Are you afraid or anxious? I drank the cup of God’s wrath so that you can enjoy mercy and grace and peace.
- You are adopted. I have made you a part of God’s family.
- I love you. Receive my lavish gifts of bread, wine, my body, and my blood.
- You belong to me; I bought you with my own blood.
- I have provided for your greatest and most costly need, and I will surely provide for all of your needs.
- I will keep you safe to the end; we will feast like this together in heaven.
And what commands is he giving to us?
- Believe in me!
- Find your satisfaction in me. You will not find lasting satisfaction anywhere else.
- Find your joy in me. You will not find lasting joy anywhere else.
- Hear my great promises, receive my great gifts, and then give thanks, celebrate, feast and rejoice!
- See, you are all my body. Love one another, care for one another, provide for one another.
- You belong to me, and you feed on me for your life. Become more like me.
The elements preach to us. Hear our Savior speaking to you.
Crossposted to Reflections on Upchurch.
Kuyper on Calvinism
Following are some notes and quotes from Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism.
- A key element of Christian revolutions (Dutch, American) was a gradual undermining of kings, not by lowering esteem, but by raising it; not by opposing God but by worshipping Him (through p. 28)
- 3 fundamental measures of unique world views (p. 31)
- relationship to God – immediate fellowship through Christ + HS
- relationship to man – divine image, intrinsic worth, equality of men
- relationship to world – curse restrained by grace; “discover treasures and develop potencies hidden by God in nature and in human life.”
- common grace – do we define things, relative to power of sin or power of God? Which is more potent: pollution of sin or redemptive movement?
- Kuyper strikes me as being exceptionally enamored with progress (pp. 32, 34, 35, 40)
- God’s authority over, and necessary glorification in, all spheres of life (p. 53)
- “Coram Deo”, no such thing as private religion, … one-ness of all human life
- C.f. Mark Horne, “public relationship with Jesus Christ”
- Importance of Church in God’s redemptive plan; covenant = church
- God’s supreme sovereignty flowing down in sovereignty given to state/society/church (p. 79)
- Assumes one-world gov’t is best in absence of sin (p. 80) … some logic given to this
- “God has instituted the magistrates, by reason of sin.” (p. 81) Nations exist for God (p. 81)
- Calvin regarded republic as best, but not categorically so; others will work. Commends gratitude for privilege of electing magistrates (pp. 83-84)
- Contrasts God’s sovereignty w/ false ideas of popular sovereignty or state sovereignty (as rejection of God) (pp. 85ff)
- Calvinism “makes it easy for us to obey authority, because, in all authority, it causes us to honor the demand of divine sovereignty.” (p. 90)
- “Principal characteristic” of gov’t is “the right of life + death” (p. 93)
- Sword for -> justice, war, order
- Much discussion of self-organization of spheres, natural leadership of “masters” in spheres
- Political sphere should not rightfully interfere in natural God-given operation of these other spheres (family, art, science, education, business) (p. 96)
- The state interferes to (p. 97)
- Mediate clashes between spheres
- Defend the weak against abuse of power in other spheres
- Coerce all to bear personal + financial burdens of maintaining unity of the state
- Government may not take on absolute authority, nor may other spheres overstep their bounds into arena of government
- Pp. 99ff — admission of the propriety of a plurality of churches
- Against the state church (even as expressed by Calvin)
- Proper Calvinism promotes plurality, and understands the government’s role as protecting it.
- Pp. 103ff — magistrates’ duty
- to God – acknowledge and confess authority, rule by God’s ordinances, restrain blasphemy
- magistrate understands God’s law personally, not under authority (strictly speaking) of church
- blasphemy addressed not for religious reasons but as undermining God’s establishment of law and state
- “The sphere of the state is not profane. But both church and state must, each in their own sphere, obey God and serve His honor.” (p. 104)
- to church – may not exercise judgment as to true and false churches
- to individual
- some individual sovereignty exists, but conscience is not entirely liberated from state, church, word, family (p. 107)
- magistrate respects liberty of conscience, ensures church does so (particularly regarding those outside church)
- to God – acknowledge and confess authority, rule by God’s ordinances, restrain blasphemy
- Science
- p. 118, “A dualistic conception of regeneration was the cause of the rupture between the life of nature and the life of grace.”
- p. 125, “Not only the church, but also the world belongs to God.”
- p. 132, is the world normal, or abnormal seeking regeneration? fundamental distinction striking at the heart of the scientific conception
Christ is Lord
Christ is Lord of all. He is great beyond our understanding, and he is greatly to be feared. But he is also good, and he deserving of the deepest love and trust.
Christ is Lord of our salvation.
Christ is Lord of the whole of Christian life and of his church.
Christ is Lord of our children.
Christ is Lord of our family life.
Christ is Lord of our vocations.
Christ is Lord over all spheres of life; such as politics, science and art.
Christ is Lord of the convinced atheist.
Christ is Lord of the unbeliever, and his compassion toward unbelievers compels us to love them as well.
Christ is Lord over all his enemies.
The Christian conversion is not an event; conversion is an ongoing way of life that ”sees” Christ’s lordship over all, rejoices in it, continually entrusts oneself to him, and embraces his people. The Christian’s life of faith is not an exercise merely of the mind and will, but of the whole man; it covers all of the human existence, involves every human faculty, and shapes every vocation and relationship. The Christian hope is not a mere future hope that sees this world as nothing; it is a hope that desires this world to enjoy the fruit of Christ’s redemptive lordship as much as heaven. The Christian mission is not merely a mission to save individuals but one to redeem an entire people.
The Christian life is all-encompassing. But by embracing and transforming ”all” of life, the Christian life thus becomes ”ordinary”.
I gotta have my orange juice. 