This brief book is a collection of meditations on the theology of the gospel. The process of writing and editing this collection has been an exercise in preaching to myself. Many times I’ve stopped to beg God for eyes to see and savour these realities.

Publishing this book is not about money. It is about sending out one more beam of gospel light into a dark world. My prayer is that this beam will shine brightest in the hearts of bible-believing Christians. It is toward this audience that this beam is directed.

From the back cover

Now available in two formats!

Trade paperback (CreateSpace, Amazon)
Kindle eBook (Amazon Kindle Store)

I originally intended to offer it as an eBook on Google Play, but have decided to offer the eBook exclusively through the Kindle Store at least for now.

Fast Facts:

• Established in 1899
• 187,039 Gideon members worldwide
• Reaching over 185 countries
• Over 1.6 billions Bibles distributed so far.

If you are suffering from the Elijah complex, and feeling that God’s truth is being drowned out in an increasingly hostile world, then you need to explore what He is doing in the Big Picture.   For me understanding the impact that God is making through para-church ministries like Gideon’s, has put flesh on the promise that the ‘gates of hell’ are not prevailing against the growth of His church.   Yes, there is more to be done in evangelism, but being inspired by what God has accomplished will prepare us for future gospel sharing.

Changed Lives:
Finally, In a way that numbers cannot communicate, this testimony of a life transformed via reading a Gideon’s Bible will lift your souls.

To God be all the glory.

Blessings

- JC

1. We were saved before time began

God is sovereign and all powerful.  Even before he created time and man, he knew we would fall and need redemption.  God decided even then to save us.  The fact that God decided to save us means that our salvation was as good as done.

2. We were saved around 30AD on a cross outside of Jerusalem

The price for our salvation was not paid until an innocent Jesus shed his blood for our sins.   Death and the grave was conquered when Jesus died and rose again.   This moment is the focal point of History as it was in this moment that all souls past, present and future received eligibility to come into the presence of God.

3. Were were saved when we repented on our sin and placed our faith in Christ.

Typically, this is the answer that we want when we ask the question ‘ When were You Saved’?   The better question is when did we receive our regenerated life – our new life in Christ.   Sometimes we can point to a moment in time when this occurs (e.g. an alter call or distinct moment in our adult life)   Sometimes we cannot recall a specific moment (e.g. we may have grown up in a Christian family and believed in Christ as long as we can remember).  Sometimes placing our faith in Christ can be a journey and we can’t remember a specific moment when we ‘crossed the line’, but we know that we are now trusting Christ.   These can all be valid methods of how we arrive at ‘being saved’.

4.  We are constantly being saved

Our salvation is more than just a status change in the book of life.   It affects our whole life.  Because we are saved from the penalty of sin, we can now be saved from the power of sin.  We now have the knowledge and ability – through the Holy Spirit  - to no longer be slaves to the sin.  This means salvation has an ongoing application in our lives.

5. We will be saved one day once Christ returns to redeem us from this fallen world and to His side.

Despite our the price of our salvation being paid, it is not yet consumated.   We are still waiting to be saved from the flesh and the world.   We are waiting for that day when the uncorruptable is known and we can dwell in fulness with our Lord and Saviour.   In that day, we will be able to truly say that we are saved.

- Blessings

JC

179 pages.

 ★★★★★ 

Every now and then, a book comes along that will dramatically enrich your life. This was one of those books for me.

When Piper says that God is the gospel, what he means is that “the highest, best, final, decisive good of the gospel, without which no other gift would be good, is the glory of God in the face of Christ revealed for our everlasting enjoyment” (p. 13). In other words, the point of the gospel is not just that we’re justified, but that justification allows us to be restored to fellowship with God! That the gift of justification (or redemption or imputation or expiation etc.) is ultimately the gift of being enabled to fellowship with God himself who is the giver of all gifts and without whom no gift would be good.

Piper exposes the man-centredness of a gospel which exists to elevate man; which brings joy in the gifts of the gospel while paying little attention to the gift of the gospel—God. “We are willing to be God-centred, it seems, as long as God is man-centred” (pp. 12, 13).

The ups

First, this book glows with God-centred, gospel-saturated, joy-filled theology. It’s not shallow or sappy. It is rich and deep; theological and accessible; practical and devotional.

Second, if you’re not familiar with Piper’s theology and writing, this is probably an ideal introduction to his ideas. Though Desiring God is probably his defining work, it is fairly long and heavy. This book is quite accessible to the average layperson and will, I feel, give the reader a fairly good idea of what Piper believes. Chapter eleven could be viewed as a brief primer on Christian hedonism.

Third, this book helped me see clearly that the gospel is not the end, but rather the means to the end of glorifying God. It therefore helped me to understand more clearly how God and his gospel relate to each other and how to avoid preaching Christ’s gospel without preaching the Christ of the gospel.

Fourth, Piper exposes the hypocrisy of those who preach that the cross proves the value of man. He quotes Jonathan Edwards: “They are pleased in the highest degree, in hearing how much God and Christ make of them. So that their joy is really a joy in themselves, and not in God” (p. 137). Piper rebuts this Hillsong-style gospel decisively.

I could give a dozen more…

The downs

Honestly, I have few concerns with this book at all, hence the five star rating. However, I’ll point out a few minor things that raised questions for me.

First, there seems to be some confusion on p. 155 surrounding man’s creation in the image of God and the effect of the curse on that image. Piper seems to suggest that our growth into the image of Christ in sanctification is directly related to our creation in the image of God in Genesis 1. This seems to me to confuse two separate issues.

Second, Piper suggests in reference to 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 that “The glory of God shone in the historical, bodily face of Jesus” (p. 70). I tend to think the term “face” here is synecdoche.

I’d be hard pressed to find even a minor third down. Those who know me well recognise this as little short of miraculous as I tend to be a very critical reader. But Piper is precise and he has laid out his words carefully.

Conclusion

After reading the introduction to this book, I scribbled the following: “Breath-taking! Sweet water to a thirsty soul. Amen! Amen! Amen… Amen… Amen.”

I read this book with tears of delight. I hope you will do the same.

Grace to you.

She came to me cautiously.  Clearly she was a woman distressed by her husband’s deep unkindness.  Her story touched on pain, on fear, on confusion, on hatred.   My heart ached with sympathy as her heart cried for help.

I responded to her cautiously.  Clearly she needed the true counsel of God’s Word to salve her pain, her fear, her confusion, her anger.  I feared offering her crumbs of worldly wisdom that would lead her away from the Saviour, from the truth that would set her free.  In the end I told her what I knew although I discerned hopelessness in her eyes as my words failed to touch her need.  My counsel could have been summed up in one word: submit.

One-Eyed Counsel

This one-eyed advice is the most oft given counsel for women in fundamental churches.  Wives, submit.  It’s the bottom line, the end of the story.  The problem with one-eyed advice is this: it’s half blind.  It fails to grasp the big picture, to capture a well-rounded perspective.

Under the reign of this Cyclops of submission teaching, wives have been trapped in miserably dysfunctional marriages.  Cruel abuse terrorises wife and children who are required to submit without question to the whim of the man of the house.  He uses the word “submit” like a scourge to dominate and control all that his wife and children do.  And wives endure all this believing that God has one ultimate command for them: submit.

This is not to say that wifely submission is a concept to be avoided. Nor is it my purpose to undermine the importance of submission in the marriage relationship.  On the contrary, I hope to sharpen our understanding of submission as it fits into the tapestry of God-given revelation.  Biblical submission is gloriously beautiful when it plays its part in the whole counsel of God.  But when submission trumps all other injunctions, it threatens to betray us to its distorted focus.  We who teach the Bible do wives an injustice when we imply that submission is the only word for Christian women.  Here are some cautions to consider when teaching about wifely submission:

1.  Does our teaching mostly focus on what we have to do, or does it focus more on Who it is we worship?  Do we magnify “good examples” or do we lift up the person of God when we teach?  Are we constantly striving to give our listeners a clearer, more complete picture of the God whom we serve?  Or do we imply that Christians can never measure up even though Jesus paid it all for us? And beyond what is taught in the pulpit and classroom, do we as teachers provide our students with an honest picture of living faith in the God we teach?  Do our actions and reactions demonstrate that God is full of grace and truth?  Do we reflect both his justice and mercy in the way we handle relationships?  Can we run to Him because we are sure of His love while fearing Him because we are sure of His holiness?  If we teach that the Christian life is more about what we do and less about Who we worship, then we are setting up our listeners for failure.  A warped understanding of God will surely lead to a warped understanding of biblical submission.  Trying to submit without certainty in the loving and perfect purposes of our infinite God will lead to despair.

2.  Do we understand who we are in God’s sight—not only His unique creation but also His particular redeemed ones?  Is our identity well-grounded in the fact that we are “called, loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ”? (Jude 1)  Is every day filled with awareness of what it cost God to give us freedom from sin?  When we truly begin to grasp the gospel in the larger sense of who we are in relation to God, we also begin to grasp the deep seriousness of our sin.  With this backdrop of truth, sin in our own lives and in the lives of our loved ones can be tackled more meaningfully.  We will refuse to brush it off or put up with it because sin cost God the life of His much loved only Son.

3.  The concept of submission must be taught in the context of all the other relational texts in the New Testament: love one another fervently, encourage one another, exhort one another, etc.  Remove the context of the wider teaching of Scripture only at great peril to Christian families!

“Doing Good” Does Not Equal “Being Nice”

Luke 6:27 tells us to “do good to those who hate [us]”.   Proverbs 31 describes the virtuous woman as one who does her husband good and not harm.  What does “doing good” to another entail?  The word itself implies blameless, noble and beautiful actions toward another.  We often think of ‘doing good” only as “being nice”, but “good” doesn’t always equal “nice”.  Sometimes being nice is simply a way to avoid conflict; niceness can mask fearful self-preservation.  The motivation of self-preservation may interfere with doing what is best for a person when doing good to that person requires taking action that that person won’t like.  Especially when that action may lead us into unpleasant or even painful conflict.  But our hope as we walk into the conflict is that true good may come out of pain.

This kind of doing good cannot mean letting an abusive person continue in his abusive patterns.  A woman who allows her husband to continue in destructive abusive behavior is far from doing him good.  He is self-destructing while also destroying his family and any relationship that he has with God.  A wife who enables that behavior by silently “submitting” to it sins against her husband and against her children (if children are involved). By refusing to properly deal with the issue of abuse, she fails to “do good” to him by not confronting him about his sin.  However, a wife who takes the risk of lovingly confronting her husband about his sin not only truly seeks his good but also demonstrates courageous faith.  This kind of courage is one of the chief characteristics of women who are called “Sarah’s daughters” in 1 Peter 3:6: “And you are [Sarah’s] children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.”

How the Church Can Help

When an abused person confronts her abuser, she places herself in a dangerous position.  She cannot be expected to tackle such a situation alone.  A support group such as her church family can help her fulfil her role to “do good” to her abusive husband by coming alongside her with encouragement and even being actively engaged in the process of confrontation and restoration.  Galatians 6:1 addresses this issue: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”  An abused wife who is seeking help should be assured that

1.  Her story will be believed and she will be accepted as she is.

2.  There is a safe place where she can escape to when things get out of control at home.

3.  People are praying for her and her husband.

4.  Godly men in the church will be willing to gently confront the husband about his sin, repeatedly and over a long period of time if necessary.

5.  Counselling is available for both husband and wife to help the husband be “restored” to genuine fruitfulness and for the family to be restored to healthy relationships.  This includes helping the wife face her own spiritual needs.

Only the Gospel Heals Broken Lives

Following these steps towards confronting an abusive husband is not failure to submit.  It is seriously taking the whole counsel of God and applying it to family relationships.  Unlike the teaching of some, the ultimate goal is not for the family to maintain the appearance of unity.  The ultimate goal is for the gospel to be applied to broken people and broken relationships so that in our weakness God can be glorified.  And if the marriage doesn’t make it in spite of all the support, the wife should not become a pariah because she didn’t just keep her head down and put up with the abuse.  She has done the right thing by seeking help for herself, for her children and for her husband.  To have done otherwise would have been to fail to love her family and to do them good.

If we are to do justice to the whole message of the Scriptures, then we cannot allow the topic of submission within marriage to be taught without these caveats.  Submission is not the only word we have to offer Christian wives.  We have the entire revelation of the inspired Scriptures and the Saviour by Whose stripes we are healed.

In an ever shrinking window, society takes a break from work to contemplate ‘peace on earth’ and ‘goodwill towards men’. As skewed as Christmas reflections have become, it is a season when we can engage our neighbours in conversational topics of a richer nature. While in the past, this may have occured at church, in our post modern, most of our neighbours will not go to church, let alone know a pastor or a serious thinker of spiritual things. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to take up our responsibility as pastors to our street.

In most culdesacs or street clusters, there are an average of 5-7 households within a stone’s throw of your front door. But how much do we know about the people in those homes, let along their names? Whether it be Christmas, hedonistic New Years, or Australia Day, let’s set ourselves a goal of getting to know our neighbours better. We may be the only pastor they will ever meet. Just like God, we want the entire world to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. However, that can only happen if we get out there. The most natural people we can meet and be responsible for are the people who live right next door.

So this end of year season, enjoy connecting with your neighbours. Be genuinely interested in them as people. And pray that as you connect, God will naturally lead you into conversations that are rich and eternally rewarding.

Blessings

- JC

In response to Kristie’s proclamation, it seemed somewhat pompous to declare that “she” has it wrong and “I” had it right.   If truth does not matter, or if it is determined in my our own minds, how could I say that my opinion is any more righteous than her opinion – or vice versa?   Even though I had previously tried, it was impossible to have a relevant discussion about Jesus, until we establish that there is a universal truth established by a universal God.

However, if absolute truth exists outside of our minds, then there cannot be seven billion different interpretations on this earth.    If truth has an origin outside of my opinion, then and only then, can I say a certain belief or action is right or wrong.   In that scenario, I am not assuming my opinion is better, but I am being a messenger for a pre-set and self-existing standard of truth.  In that scenario, the paradigm has shifted from being a journey of ‘self-discovery’ to one of ‘God-discovery’.  In order to make such a declaration, I must have a few things in place.

1. External evidence of truth which transcends a Mexican standoff of opinion equality.    (Scripture itself and Creation in general)

AND

2. An attitude which does not exalt my opinion above her opinion.    (Genuine love and compassion)

One of the taglines of In Focus has been “Truth in Large Doses”.   It is essential that we seek truth, not as defined by ourselves, but as defined by the Creator of truth (Genesis 1-3).    Furthermore, it is possible to mentally understand truth, while failing to live and communicate truth.    How many times have the most bold proclamations of gospel truth been lacking love and compassion and consistency?   In other words, how many times have we proclaimed the right message in the wrong way?   I see a few possible dangers at this point.

1. We can berate the lost with Scripture as our weapon under the guise that Scripture will not return void.
2. We can try to become so ‘loving’ and so ‘compassionate’ that we fail to adequately declare truth at all.

Both of these responses are wrong when we are trying to be right.   We must confidently give an answer of our Hope, without elevating ourselves with pride.   Becoming ‘unashamed of the gospel’ is an Art not a Science.   It is an Art that the Holy Spirit teaches, not one that is ‘canned’ in a 4 step gospel tract.

My spiritual conversations with Kristie have been ongoing for several years.    The nature of our relationship is one where these conversations will continue.   I have no idea whether the Holy Spirit will lift the veil on her eyes so she can see truth.   However, I do pray for this.    I also pray for God’s wisdom for not only the right message, but also the right medium.   I ask that you would join me in praying to this end.

Blessings

- JC

Spiritual zombies

In order to understand why regeneration is necessary, you have to understand that man is born dead. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said to Nicodemus “you must be born again.”² Why the need to be born a second time? Because the first time, we were born physically alive, but spiritually dead. This spiritual death is imputed to us because of our sin in Adam. “Many died through one man’s trespass”³ because “in Adam all die.”⁴

This means that every person is born dead. We are dead men walking. Spiritually, we are zombies. There is a living body, but spiritually, there is nothing there. We do not seek for God.⁵ We do not love God.⁶ We do not want the truth.⁷ This is the pathetic state in which fallen man finds himself.

But God…

Man’s hopeless state is poignantly described in Ephesians 2.

¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Children of wrath… That’s a damning assessment. Think about that for a moment and then look at the very next words: But God… God… made us alive together with Christ! In Adam we are all dead. In Christ, God has made us alive! We are brought to life! Regenerated!

Why did God do this? Because he is rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive.

I once was blind

When I was spiritually dead, I could not see the spiritual realities of the gospel. I was blind. But now I can see!⁸ When I was spiritually dead, I was condemned to a life of self-righteous effort and defeat. Now, I have the life of Christ empowering me to obey! When I was spiritually dead, I had no hope and wanted no rescuer. Now, my eyes have been opened to see my desperate need of a rescuer, and I have found one!

No work of mine

Note that this was not my work. I was dead. I was blind to the truth. “But God…” It was not something I did that intervened to regenerate me. There was nothing I could do. This is how it is with dead men. “But God…” When hope was gone, God stepped in. He brought me to life. And that changed everything.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening⁹ ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee!¹⁰

Grace to you.

¹ This is sometimes called “reincarnation” instead (a term that has no theological parallels to regeneration).
² John 3:7.
³ Romans 5:15.
⁴ 1 Corinthians 15:22.
⁵ Romans 3:11.
⁶ John 3:19.
⁷ John 3:20.
⁸ See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 for a reference to the blindness of the unregenerate mind.
⁹ “Quicken” is an Early Modern English term for “bring to life.” When the King James Version uses the word “quicken,” it is generally referring to regeneration.
¹⁰ Taken from the text “And Can It Be That I Should Gain” by Charles Wesley, 1738.

Psychotic and unpredictable, the Joker’s one goal is to throw the city into anarchy with his cruel tactic of psychological games coupled with complete disregard for human life.  The Joker’s thugs capture Harvey Dent along with Harvey’s one true love, Rachel.  In a sadistic move, the Joker forces Harvey’s friends to choose between saving Harvey’s life or that of the girl he loves.  In the ensuing terror, Rachel dies and Harvey’s face is deeply burned.  Heartbreak torments Harvey’s soul.  He refuses treatment for his scars. And then the Joker visits. He convinces Harvey, already half-mad with despair, that his revenge should be against the very city that he has fought to save.  His mutilated face an outward image of the horror within, Harvey proceeds to kill a string of people whom he believes responsible for Rachel’s death before putting his own life to an end.  His true friends, Batman and Police Commissioner Gordon, both witness Harvey’s killing spree and suicide.  Together they decide that the people of Gotham cannot afford to know that their “White Knight” finished up as a bad guy.  Batman offers to take the blame for the murders, and Commissioner Gordon makes a public tribute to Harvey’s unblemished image as the one man who courageously fought for truth and right in Gotham City.  The people get to keep their symbol of hope albeit at the expense of truth.  Kind of ironic that the hero of justice is preserved in a lie.

I’ve seen the Harvey Dent solution at work in Christian organisations too.  A well-loved missionary or pastor, a “white knight” of God’s work, is caught in a sin—perhaps financial mismanagement or immorality. In handling this awful situation, the church should face up to the frailty of its hero, deal with the sin appropriately, urge him to confess and repent, and seek to restore the fallen brother to a growing relationship with God though not to his former leadership role.  Instead, some churches practice “damage control” by protecting the image of the fallen leader as if his followers cannot bear to see their “white knight” fail.  It may involve laying the blame at the feet of someone or something else or moving the hero to another ministry or another creative cop-out.  All this is justified under the guise of saving the testimony of the church or organisation ostensibly for the sake of Christ.  But how can Jesus Christ, the Truth, be glorified by the manipulations of the spin doctor?

Although saving face at the time may seem to minimise damage, in the long term cover-ups come back like a hidden cancer cell.  Instead of going away quietly, churches and organisations have had to deal with accusations from people hurt by cover-up even decades down the track.  Instead of applying the gospel of grace to our failures, we magnify men and their work more than the work of Jesus Christ who died to free us from such sinful catastrophes.  Offenses will happen.  How we respond to those offenses reveals our understanding of gospel truth and mercy.  Even the Biblical record truthfully recounts sinful failures of our heroes of the faith: Abraham’s lie, David’s adultery and murder, and Moses’s anger, to name a few.  The gospel is not just for saving; it is for keeping too.  When we whitewash failure, we deny that gospel truth.

Why do we lift up leaders in our churches as if they have a corner on Christianity that the rest of us can only wish for?  What can we do to create a Christian culture where it is safe to fail?  How can we nurture transparency in relationships all the way from kids in Sunday school to the pastor in the pulpit?  How can our responses to sin flesh-out the truth that God’s grace not only touches our weakness and failures but is purposefully tailored to our humanness?

The Harvey Dent solution merely puts a bandaid and makeup on a tumour that resides deep within–a tumour for which there is an authentic cure.  The gospel of grace is the cure, made available through our real hero, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We the unjust

The reason justification is necessary is that we are not just and we cannot be just. We have rebelled against God and we do rebel against him. The godliest saint has a deep-seated bent toward rebellion.¹

God hates sin. His wrath rests on those who rebel against him.² God’s perfect justice demands that sinners be condemned for their crimes against him.

God the just

The great concern in justification is how God can declare us just and still be just himself. After all, we are not just. We are sinners. Rebels.

God’s perfect mercy desires to rescue us but his perfect justice cannot ignore our crimes. This is the theological dilemma that Paul is dealing with when he says that it was necessary “to show God’s righteousness” (Romans 3:25). In other words, if justice has not been done, how can God justly—righteously—pardon me? I am a criminal. And justice has not been done.

Perfect love and perfect justice

This theological dilemma is resolved at the cross. Because Jesus paid the penalty of my sin, the Judge can justly declare me “not guilty.” Paul puts it like this: Jesus death made it possible for God to “be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (v. 26³). God is just because he has meted out the just penalty for the crime. He is the justifier because he bore the penalty of those crimes himself at the cross allowing me to be declared just (i.e. justified)!

This is what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 1:30 when he says “Christ… became to us… righteousness.” Isaiah described it eight hundred years before Christ when he said of the Messiah “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous [justified], and he shall bear their iniquities.”⁴

So what?

Paul’s conclusion for those who are justified is that “There is therefore now no condemnation”!⁵ He asks a series of question: If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? Who is to condemn? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?⁶

And what is Paul’s answer? It is God who justifies! Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us!⁷

In other words, do you have an issue with me? You have to take it up with Christ! Because he’s the one who died to deal with that! You have an accusation against me? You have to take it up with God! He’s the one who declared me righteous!

But most stunning is the answer to Paul’s question about God’s love for us. Because of justification, I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!⁸

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died,
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.⁹

Grace to you.

¹ Romans 3.
² 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.
³ Emphasis added.
⁴ Isaiah 53:11, emphasis added.
⁵ Romans 8:1.
⁶ Romans 8:31-35.
⁷ Romans 8:33-34.
⁸ Romans 8:38-39.
⁹ Taken from the text “Before the Throne of God Above” by Charitie Lees Bancroft.