In the lead up to the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) National Conference this coming weekend, at which will be tabled a discussion to change the Party’s official policy from supporting traditional one-man, one-woman marriage, this exhortation from preacher John Piper is a stirring reminder for Christians to weep with sorrow and compassion over the sins of their cities. No less ought we in Australia weep if God’s natural law of traditional, monogamous marriage is ever legislated out of existence.

Jesus died so that heterosexual and homosexual sinners might be saved. Jesus created sexuality, and has a clear will for how it is to be experienced in holiness and joy.

His will is that a man might leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and that the two become one flesh (Mark 10:6-9). In this union, sexuality finds its God-appointed meaning, whether in personal-physical unification, symbolic representation, sensual jubilation, or fruitful procreation.

For those who have forsaken God’s path of sexual fulfillment, and walked into homosexual intercourse or heterosexual extramarital fornication or adultery, Jesus offers astonishing mercy.

Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

But last weekend {at a gay pride event held in Minneapolis last June} this salvation from sinful sexual acts was not embraced. Instead there was massive celebration of sin …

The Bible is not silent about such parades. Alongside its clearest explanation of the sin of homosexual intercourse (Romans 1:24-27) stands the indictment of the celebration of it. Though people know intuitively that homosexual acts (along with gossip, slander, insolence, haughtiness, boasting, faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness) are sin, “they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:29-32). “I tell you even with tears, that many glory in their shame” (Philippians 3:18–19) …

Not only that, we are moving from celebration to institutionalization. On June 24 the New York legislature approved a Marriage Equality Act. This makes New York the sixth state where so-called homosexual marriages will be institutionalized: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, (and the District of Columbia).

My sense is that we do not realize what a calamity is happening around us. The new thing—new for America, and new for history—is not homosexuality. That brokenness has been here since we were all broken in the fall of man. (And there is a great distinction between the orientation and the act—just like there is a great difference between my orientation to pride and the act of boasting.)

What’s new is not even the celebration of homosexual sin. Homosexual behavior has been exploited, and reveled in, and celebrated in art, for millennia. What’s new is normalization and institutionalization. This is the new calamity.

My main reason for writing is not to mount a political counter-assault. I don’t think that is the calling of the church as such. My reason for writing is to help the church feel the sorrow of these days. And the magnitude of the assault on God and his image in man.

Christians, more clearly than others, can see the tidal wave of pain that is on the way. Sin carries in it its own misery: “Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:27).

And on top of sin’s self-destructive power comes, eventually, the wrath of God: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6).

Christians know what is coming, not only because we see it in the Bible, but because we have tasted the sorrowful fruit of our own sins. We do not escape the truth that we reap what we sow. Our marriages, our children, our churches, our institutions—they are all troubled because of our sins.

The difference is: We weep over our sins. We don’t celebrate them. We turn to Jesus for forgiveness and help. We cry to Jesus, “who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

And in our best moments, we weep for the world. In the days of Ezekiel God put a mark of hope “on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 9:4).

This is what I am writing for. Not political action, but love for the name of God and compassion for the city of destruction.

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” (Psalm 119:136)

Taken from John Piper’s blog, Desiring God: “My Eyes Shed Streams of tears” – Thoughts on the new Calamity

Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done
Not because of what I’ve done but because of who you are

(lyrics from “Who Am I?” by Casting Crowns)

In the comments area to a previous article I had written last year about Christianity being singularly unique in its salvation by grace (and not of works), a visitor left the following question (emphasis mine):

This does not help. I need to believe in Christ in order to receive what he did for me. Okay. But if I don’t believe and repent, then I can’t be saved. Correct? So when it comes down to it, I have to do a work in order to be saved. Please don’t change and switch words around in order to fit a point of view. This is a very serious matter. So, how am I to truly receive salvation?

I need to believe in Christ in order to receive what he did for me.

This is not quite right, for that very belief—if it is a saving faith—is itself something that one receives by what Christ did. That is to say, the very act of believing in Jesus Christ savingly means that you are already in receipt of what he did for you; for God removing your heart of stone (that hated God and loved sin) and replacing it with a heart of flesh (that loves God and hates sin) is a product of the redeeming work that Christ did. It is called regeneration and is a work of God, not of one’s self, by virtue of the fact that it is a change wrought in us and not an act performed by us. If a person believes in Jesus as the Christ for the salvation of his soul, then we can know that such a person has been born of God (1 John 5:1, literally “out of God has been born”). The 1689 London Baptist Confession states that “the grace of faith by which the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit in their hearts” (14.1), and that “the principal acts of saving faith relate in the first instance to Christ, as the believer accepts, receives and rests upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life; and all by virtue of the covenant of grace” (14.2). Repentance and faith are gifts of grace from the Father in heaven bestowed upon all those who he gives to the Son for his sake and glory. No one can come to Christ unless it is granted him by the Father and everyone whom the Father gives the Son is certain to come to him. So the very act of believing in Christ savingly means that you are in receipt of what he did for you already.

(And do not get too hung up on that clause, “if it is a saving faith,” for it is meant to simply distinguish between true belief and false belief, the latter signifying a bare intellectual assent that is not a product of regeneration by the Spirit, and thus that person neither properly apprehends his sinful condition before an holy God nor fully surrenders himself to Jesus as Christ and his sovereign Lord.)

If I don’t believe and repent, then I can’t be saved. Correct?

That is not so. The question of whether or not you can be saved is answered by what Christ did, not by what you do. Because of Christ and his perfect atoning sacrifice you can be saved. So if you do not believe and repent, then you are not saved; but from the fact that you aren’t saved it does not follow that you can’t be saved. You can be, and what Christ did is the reason—not what you do. In Christ alone by grace through faith alone for the glory of God alone.

So when it comes down to it, I have to do a work in order to be saved.

Incorrect. To repent and believe is a fruit of salvation, not the cause thereof. It is not faith that saves, but Christ who saves through faith. There is no work you can do in order to be saved; that is the very reason for and necessity of the faithfulness of Christ and his perfect atoning sacrifice, apart from whom no one would be reconciled. It is by grace that we are saved through faith—which is the glorious gift of God, so that no one can boast. As Paul writes in Titus 3:4–6, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior” (see also Rom 9:16; cf. v. 11).

So how am I to truly receive salvation?

Through the faithfulness of Christ and his perfect atoning sacrifice; “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). If anyone thinks there is even a shred of anything they can do in order to be saved, then that person understands neither the unmitigated holiness of God nor the depth of their own sin and their desperate condition apart from the faithfulness of Christ Jesus. The gospel is not a slogan or a simple decision or a formulaic rite that will only take a minute of your time; it is the consuming fire and everlasting power of God under which we recognize with contempt and loathing the black filthiness of our sinful condition and with unquenchable joy and love the inexpressible beauty and glory of Christ, who he is and what he does. An eternity spent at his feet will not be enough to comprehend the depth and scope of the gospel of our Savior King.

“When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God. … God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. … so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people” (1 Cor 2:1–13; emphasis mine).

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1Thess 1:4–6; emphasis mine).

Update (26 Nov 2011): Evidently Matt Oxley has taken issue with being described as “a former charismatic Christian from the Word of Faith movement” and wishes for that to be changed. Unfortunately, I do not yet understand how it is an inaccurate description nor do I know what to change it to. Consequently, I have written a letter to Oxley asking for clarification on this matter and will modify this article appropriately upon receiving that clarification.)

~ * ~

Matt Oxley, a former charismatic Christian from the Word of Faith movement who is now an evangelist for atheistic skepticism at RagingRev.com, had thrown down the gauntlet to Christians at his web site. When it comes to his writing and other efforts, his goal is not “to simply debate and argue,” he said. “I’m holding the believer to the standards and expectations set forth in the New Testament,” a goal he tries to pursue by asking people the sort of questions he found himself asking not too long ago as he spiraled into the depths of doubt, in order to challenge the beliefs Christians hold to (Oxley, 2011, para. 2). He then points to 2 Peter 3:15 to make his case, suggesting that it is in fact the duty of Christians to provide an answer for the sort of objections raised by such people as himself (para. 4). At the risk of disappointing Oxley, this may be yet another circumstance in which he has not understood the context of the passage he is drawing upon, for it does not say that Christians are called and duty-bound “to answer the objections that people like [him] have to [our] faith.” Rather we are called to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope we possess.

And we certainly ought to be ready to give an answer or a defense (pros apologian) when we are asked about the hope we possess—and that hope is nothing other than the faithfulness of Christ Jesus, whose perfect atoning sacrifice redeemed us from death and brought us to the eternal light of reconciliation with God. As those purchased by Christ in the covenant of grace we overflow with love and praise for God and all his handiwork, glorifying his name in everlasting thanksgiving. And all of it, that love and gratitude and hope, rests upon our sovereign Lord and Savior. And this should not be unfamiliar to someone like Oxley who has devoted so much time to the study of Scripture, especially in reference to this very passage which begins with the following statement, “Set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts.” In other words, not only is Jesus Christ the hope we possess but he is also the reason for it; so when we as Christians give an answer or a defense to those who ask, we will do so by setting apart Christ as Lord in our hearts in defending and confirming the gospel. Everything begins and ends with Christ Jesus, including our very reason; that is, we will not reason apart from him, but in everything set him apart as Lord.

Oxley seems to either ignore this or fundamentally misunderstand the passage, for he lurches suddenly beyond its context to suggest Peter is saying that Christians should provide “empirical evidence and sound logic” when asked for (para. 6). Although Oxley seems to think Peter is saying that Christians should be ready to defend their faith in terms that are consistent with the worldview of their objector, Peter is actually saying something that is entirely antithetical. Indeed we are to always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope we possess, but it is in the context of setting apart Christ as Lord in our hearts; in other words, we are to defend the faith in terms that are consistent with the biblical worldview that has Jesus Christ at center. This is how every single apostle and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ engaged people; they never took their eyes off the gospel or compromised the centrality of Christ in all things, even when it meant their imprisonment or being put to death. Their every proclamation and every defense was given in the context of Jesus Christ as Lord. And that is what Christians are called to imitate, that is how they are to engage. And indeed “very few today are willing to engage in such a way.”

I am just telling you what the Bible says. No one has to like it (cf. para. 8).

Christians should certainly be willing and ready to give an answer or defense for the hope they possess, but people like Oxley should not be surprised that Christians will set apart Christ as Lord in their hearts when they do so. He is their hope, their reason, the very ground of all reality, their everything. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. All things in heaven and on earth were created through him and for him; he is before all things and all things are held together in him. Such is also what the Bible says, as well as:

“Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (Colossians 2:6–10).

Incidentally, there was a bit of irony in Oxley’s post that was too good to pass over. In addressing the charge that he has taken some scripture or other out of context, Oxley says that it comes from people who have not spent one-tenth of the time that he has in Bible study; so it amounts to “blind faith about my understanding,” he said (para. 1). But how does he know that they did not spend as much time as he did on studying Scripture? Does he have evidence for this claim that others can corroborate? He must, for surely he is not making a “blind faith” assumption about their time spent in study; that is, surely it is a conclusion drawn from empirical evidence which others can corroborate. Or is this indeed a delicious bit of irony?

References:

Matt Oxley, “Taking the Bible out of context—apologia,” RagingRev.com [blog] (2011, October 18). He has also started a new web site for preaching atheistic skepticism at EmbracingDoubt.com. Although he claims that the target audience is believers “from any faith at all” who are struggling with doubt and difficult questions, it is by no means a Christian apologetics resource; his aim is to encourage doubt, not to provide empowering answers that alleviate it. For believers who actually want answers for their doubts and questions, I encourage you to write me and ask. You are not the first to struggle with perplexing questions, and there are solid answers to be had.

One of the saddest things I’ve experienced recently in praying for people-I keep getting this question so I feel compelled to answer it publically. A lot of people coming up with their lives in very difficult circumstances, asking, “Is God punishing me? Is God punishing me?” I’ve had so many women I’ve prayed for recently, struggling with infertility, they’ve had abortions in their past, “Is God punishing me?” No. Because that would be unholy. If you’re a Christian, that means all your sin was placed on Jesus, he suffered and died in your place, for your sins on the cross. For the Father to punish the Son and punish you, that would be unholy. Because that would be unjust. (If we remove Christ that means punishment)

Now, when we sin, there are consequences. If you eat too much, drink too much, and spend too much, you’ll be unhealthy and broke. You reap what you sow. But that’s not God punishing you, that’s just consequence of folly. But no, God doesn’t punish you. God loves you. He does great things for you. Holy, all together good, that’s who he is.

See, Satan would whisper in your ear, when you’re suffering, struggling, sinning, and he would tell you, “God is hurting you.” And he’s a liar. God does great things. “Holy”-not unholy-“holy is his name.” See, what Satan wants you to do, he wants you to run from God rather than to him. He wants you to be worrying rather than worshiping.

Author Unknown

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard atheists characterize Christians as “wasting” their lives. Some mean it as a pejorative, others are quite sincere about it, but in every case there is some kind of concern about Christians reaching the end of their lives and discovering it was all such a waste. By and large atheists of this sort have a desire to draw the Christian away from his or her faith and into a perspective that will not waste this supposedly one and only life. So there are two thoughts I have had with respect to this notion that I wish to share. And instead of speaking broadly for Christians everywhere, which obviously I cannot do, I will speak for myself.

On the one hand, presumably as I am lying on my deathbed, exactly how do I come to the realization that it was all such a waste? Suppose I am lying on a hospital bed, perhaps overrun with cancer and death just a matter of hours away. I have lived my life according to my convictions of Christ’s redeeming grace, committed to a local church whom I have been lovingly devoted to and who has surrounded me in a warm community of support, edification, opportunity, and guidance. I have engaged my passions in learning and understanding, from theology to philosophy to science, through both self-reflection and discourse. I have pursued my appetite for reading, from captivating novels to academic textbooks. I have experienced family and friendship; I have experienced love and being loved, forgiving and being forgiven. I have known the rewards of success and the lessons of failure. I have loved those who hate me and served those who love me. And in every circumstance I have seen God’s providential hand and (even if not consistently) praised God for it all. I have known the God of all creation and have been known by him, through which I have had a scope of vision that transcends the limits of my self, humankind, or the place in history that my existence occupied. I have seen with reverential awe the breathtaking beauty and interconnected realities of God’s handiwork.

And yet somehow, as I lay here dying, I am supposed to realize this was a waste?

Exactly what might I have otherwise had or done? If I had not these Christ-centered convictions, would I have had friendships? But I had these. Would I have been able to enjoy great learning? Would I have had a rewarding career in a field I love? Would I have explored the halls of knowledge or the wonders of the cosmos? But I had these, too. Would I have loved and helped my fellow man? Would I have gained an understanding and appreciation for the views of others that differ from mine? But I have had and done all this—and much more. Given the sort of people that this expressed concern comes from, perhaps the waste they speak of is a life that was without an abiding wonder and intellectual curiosity about the natural world around us which we have explored and sought to understand through a web of scientific disciplines. But as someone with a profound appreciation and respect for such things, having consumed countless hours learning about cosmological and biological discoveries, my life was not lived without scientific wonder and curiosity. I could go on but at the end of the day I must confess that it escapes me just how I should realize my life was wasted.

On the other hand, what is it about lying at death’s door that is supposed to clue me in to it all being a waste? Granting the atheist his or her view that this life is the only one I have, that when I die there is nothing left but non-existence as my body decomposes in the ground, how am I supposed to realize this was all a waste? While I am yet alive but dying, there is nothing that would indicate that this life was the only one I had; in other words, I have not crossed the threshold of death yet so there is not anything that indicates those atheists were right. The irony which seems lost on them, however, is that even if they are right I will never know it—because as a dead and decomposing corpse I would not realize anything. On the atheist’s view, a corpse does not engage in acts of cognition.

Indeed, as I lay there dying I would not realize it was all a waste, for by the grace of God I did everything I desired to do. When you live the life that you want to, according to the values and passions you have, how is that a waste? Perhaps the things I value and desire to do is uninteresting or tedious to you, but what has that to do with me? For example, if I love to study God’s word and you do not, just how is that a waste for me? Am I supposed to live my life according to your values and desires? The way I see it, and perhaps even you as an atheist would agree with me, my life could be said to have been wasted if I didn’t do the things I value and desire to do; that is, if someone always wanted to do this or that but never did throughout his whole life, then maybe his life was wasted in at least that respect. But if he did those things which he valued and desired to do, if he lived his life fully—even if not always consistently—according to those commitments, pursuing his ambitions and passions, then exactly how was that all a waste?

If the atheist is right, if this life is the one and only life I have and I lived it according to what I value and desire to do, after which nothing but black non-existence awaits me, then my life was neither wasted nor could I realize anything about it. That’s the sheer irony of all this. About the only thing the atheist could say is that I did not live the one and only life I have according to that atheist’s values and desires—but so what? If I did that, then I would be wasting my life.

Although I appreciate the concern that such atheists have, I do have to point out the incoherence of it. Given their view, and especially their disdain for people shoving values down their throats that are not theirs, it quite literally makes no sense for them to suggest that I am wasting my life in any way. Thus their concern is misplaced and unintelligible at any rate. If you want to know whether or not Christians are wasting their lives, then ask them if they are living it according to their values and passions.

And do try being a little more self-consistent; if you are right, then my corpse would be incapable of realizing it.

Just wanted to take a moment to let you know about an invaluable resource from which I have benefited for many years. It’s called BiblicalTraining.org. It’s free to join and access their huge library of audio lectures/courses on a range of topics.

The classes available for download from their site (some of which include prepared study notes – how cool is that!) are broken up into streams based on your level of progression through the curriculum. Here is a snapshot of a mere fraction of the available courses:

Now that I Believe. Your First Steps with God – Dr. Bill Mounce
How to Study your Bible (Hermeneutics) – Dr. Mark Strauss
The 52 Major Stories of the Bible – Dr. Bill Mounce
New Testament Survey – Dr. Craig Blomberg
Old Testament Survey – Dr. Miles Van Pelt
Biblical Theology – Dr. Miles Van Pelt, Dr. Craig Blomberg, Dr. Thomas Schreiner
Communicating the Gospel – Dr. Gary Parrett, Dr. Ron Pyle, Dr. Bryan Chapell
Systematic Theology – Dr. Bruce Ware
World Religions (Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, African) – Dr. Timothy Tennent
Church History - Dr. Gordon Isaac
Greek Tools for Bible Study - Dr. Bill Mounce
Inductive Bible Study – Dr. George Guthrie
Apologetics – Dr. Ronald Nash
Advanced Worldview Analysis – Dr. Ronald Nash
History of Philosophy – Dr. Ronald Nash

If you do benefit from their resources, please consider a donation, as these courses are made freely available because of the generous donations of others.