“For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8; cf. Hebrews 2:14-15).
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
“God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5).
“For God so loved the world that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16).
“God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against . . . that the thoughts of many may be revealed” (Luke 2:34f).
“He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).
“Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarches, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:7-8; cf. John 12:27f).
This resonates strongly with my love of Psalm 51 and serves as a reminder that we are all of us in good company.
“The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.” – 1 Samuel 2:4
There is an oxymoron throughout the Bible. It says that brokenness is strength. How can this be? How can brokenness be strength? In order to use men and women to their fullest extent, the Lord has to break His servants so that they might have a new kind of strength that is not human in origin. It is strength in spirit that is born only through brokenness.
Paul was broken on the Damascus road. Peter was broken after Jesus was taken prisoner. Jacob was broken at Peniel. David was broken after his sin with Bathsheba. The list could go on of those the Lord had to break in different ways before they could be used in the Kingdom.
When we are broken, we see the frailty of human strength and come to grips with the reality that we can do nothing in our own strength. Then, new strength emerges that God uses mightily. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Do not fear brokenness, for it may be the missing ingredient to a life that emerges with a new kind of strength and experience not known before. Pray for a broken and contrite heart that God can bless.
As I am re-reading this book by Douglas Groothuis, this brief excerpt jumped out at me as bolstering a point I have been making over the last few months; namely, that since God is the author of both Scriptures and nature, the two cannot disagree with each other. I think his point is quite instructive (p. 79):
Truth … is systematic and unified. Truth is one, as God is one. All truths cohere with one another as expressions of God’s harmonious objective reality—of his being, his knowledge and his creation. Something cannot be true in religion and false in science (or vice versa), or true in philosophy but false in theology (or vice versa). There is only one world, God’s world; it is a uni-verse, not a multi-verse.
Douglas Groothuis (2000). Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
…is Christianity—at least, so recognizes militant atheist Penn Jillette, an unexpected surprise uncovered by Las Vegas Weeklyin an interview last week:
Let’s talk about your TV show Bull___! Will you ever run out of theories to debunk and people to expose?
If you build a kingdom on bull***, you’re not in danger of running out of it. Our producer says that Teller and I can take any subject in the news and do a credible show on it. Sure, we like to have a villain, something to call “bull***” on, but if we don’t, we can depart from that model.
Are there any groups you won’t go after?
We haven’t tackled Scientology because Showtime doesn’t want us to. Maybe they have deals with individual Scientologists. I’m not sure. And we haven’t tackled Islam because we have families.
Meaning, you won’t attack Islam because you’re afraid it’ll attack back.
Right. And I think the worst thing you can say about a group in a free society is that you’re afraid to talk about it. I can’t think of anything more horrific.
Of course, it might please some Islamic fundamentalists to hear you say that you won’t talk about them because you’re afraid.
It might. But you have to say what you believe, even it if pleases somebody you disagree with. That issue comes up all the time in moral discourse.
You do go after Christians, though.
Teller and I have been brutal to Christians, and their response shows that they are good f**ing Americans who believe in freedom of speech. We attack them all the time, and we still get letters that say, “We appreciate your passion. Sincerely yours, in Christ.” Christians come to our show at the Rio and give us Bibles all the time. They’re incredibly kind to us. Sure, there are a couple of them who live in garages, give themselves titles and send out death threats to me and Bill Maher and Trey Parker. But the vast majority are polite, open-minded people, and I respect them for that.
Speaking this afternoon at the 2010 Ligonier Ministries National Conference—during his address on “Is the Bible Just Another Book?”—pastor Steven Lawson shared with the audience the following quote, and I simply had to share it with the staff and visitors of the Aristophrenium. The quote is from an anonymous writer, Lawson tells, and paints a stunning portrait of our holy Scriptures:
This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy; its precepts are binding; its histories are true; its decisions are immutable. Read it and be wise; believe it and be saved; practice it and be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly; read it frequently; read it prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth and health to the soul and a river of pleasure. It is given to you here in this life, it will be opened at the judgement, and it is established forever.
Updated: 26 June 2010
Added link to video of Lawson’s address (quote excerpted from 54:16–55:25).
At what level should God intervene? We might say that he should not have allowed the worst offenders – the Hitlers, Pol Pots and Mao Tse-tungs of this world – to do what they did. But what about the next level – say, thugs, sadists, rapists, child abusers and drug pushers – should God step in and stop them? If he did, another ‘layer’ of offenders would become the worst – say drunk drivers, shoplifters, burglars and the like. If we argued like this we would soon get to the point at which we would be demanding that God should intervene to prevent all evil. Would we settle for that, even if it meant having your own thoughts, words and actions controlled by a cosmic puppet-master, robbing you of all freedom and responsibility?
The word ‘Christian’ today is more of a soporific than a slogan. So much—too much—is Christian: churches, schools, political parties, cultural associations, and of course Europe, the West, the Middle Ages, to say nothing of the ‘Most Christian King’—a title conferred by Rome where, incidentally, they prefer other attributes (‘Roman’, ‘Catholic’, ‘Roman Catholic’, ‘ecclesiastical’, ‘holy’) which they can then, without more ado, simply equate with ‘Christian’. [However,] inflation of the concept of ‘Christian’ leads like all inflation to devaluation.
Aiden Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, Ch. 19. [PDF]
To ‘abound’ in sin: that is the worst and the most we could or can do. The word ‘abound’ defines the limit of our finite abilities; and although we feel our iniquities rise over us like a mountain, the mountain nevertheless has definable boundaries. It is only so large, only so high, it weighs only this certain amount and no more. But who shall define the limitless grace of God? Its “much more” plunges our thoughts into infinitude and confounds them there. All thanks be to God for grace abounding. We who feel ourselves alienated from the fellowship of God can now raise our discouraged heads and look up. Through the virtues of Christ’s atoning death, the cause of our banishment has been removed. We may return as the Prodigal returned and be welcome.
Few things are so distasteful to the proud human heart as the truth that God does as he pleases, without consulting with the creature; that he dispenses his favours entirely according to his imperial will. Fallen man has no claims upon him, is destitute of any merit, and can do nothing whatever to win God’s esteem. Fallen man is a spiritual pauper, entirely dependent upon divine charity. In bestowing his mercies, God is regulated by nothing but his own good pleasure. “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” (Matthew 20:15) is his unanswerable challenge. Yet, as the context shows, man wickedly murmurs against this.
When I meet someone who claims to find faith in God impossible but who persists in believing in the essential goodness of humanity, I know that I have met a person for whom evidence is irrelevant.
Hans Küng, On Being a Christian (1974), p. 119.
Aiden Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, Ch. 19. [
Arthur Pink, 
