Thursday, June 29, 2006

Saint Harvey Dent

Christians can just tick me off sometimes. I mean literally tick me off. I worked at Old Navy for almost two and a half years. I had approximately 75 co-workers during that period of time. Out of those 75, one girl was a charismatic, but she almost always worked mornings and I worked evenings, so we rarely worked together; and one guy who I worked with for one month was a TMS seminarian. Other than that, I worked with pagans.

And when I let them know that I didn't enjoy sex jokes, or foul language, they almost 100% responded to the effect of "that's cool man; ok, I won't say that stuff around you."

But tonight, I tried calling a couple of christians I knew back in High School to act like what they professed, and they were shocked at me. Completely shocked that I would be so narrow-minded and judgemental.

We met at a Starbucks. Immediately the sex jokes and dirty stories start flying. I was taken aback, but just as quickly asked if we could keep our conversation from those particular subjects. "What's the matter, man?" "I'm just kidding around; relax, it's a beautiful summer evening... just have fun," were the replies I got.

Why is it that we profess to follow Christ, and yet we don't want to go the whole way and submit. How can we say that He is in us, and yet we don't act like it?

I asked my friend, "would you say some of this stuff in front of your mother?" "maybe," was the reply. I then asked, "would you say it in front of Jesus?" "No, probably not," was the next answer. I then said, "well, you just did."

Guys, if we're going to take the name of Christ, let's live like it. All day long. There's no check-out time for morality. We are known by our fruits.



P.S.-- Whoever honestly knows what the title of this Blog refers to (WITHOUT cheating by looking it up on Wikipedia or Google), I will take you out to coffee (unless you're Ben Blakey, 'cuz I already told you what the title's about).

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Parent for the Evening....

So my folks are away for the week on a cruise, celebrating their 24th anniversary. This means that my brother and I have free reign of the house. We agreed that he could have people over on Tuesday night (which happens to be right now), and that I could have people over on Wednesday. What I had in mind was maybe 3 or 4 guys over to watch a war movie and eat pizza or something like that. He apparently has something else in mind. There are currently about 15 of his classmates in our house right now, and the number is steadily increasing. When I saw how many high schoolers were infiltrating my domain, I thought it might be a good idea to vacate the premises to either Panera or my favorite Starbucks (which absolutely no Master's people know exists because it's on the other side of town), but when I saw how... "friendly" some of the girl-types were being with the boy-types (and when I say "friendly", I mean friendly like "oh you've got something on your lips.... let me use my lips to get it off..."), I decided to stay and be on hormone patrol. Right from the start there was this one girl who was sitting in her boy-of-choice's lap, sucking his face; and I walked right outside, pulled up a chair next to them and just started asking questions about what colleges they were thinking about for next year.

Gosh I sound like an old man... I just turned 20 two days ago.

But sensuality is nothing to fool around with (no pun intended). I know from experience. I never got into anything sexual when I was in high school, but boy do I regret the times when things got too sensual. It's dangerous. It's not God-honoring. And so I am stuck (by my own volition) in a house with what has to be by now 25 high-schoolers. But as I was apparently embarassing my brother (he shot me that look that says "you're embarassing the heck out of me"), I am taking a brief hiatus up in my room, blogging for a bit.

I've wanted to do a little review on a couple of gifts I got for my birthday. My folks know I am a C.S. Lewis nut, and so my mom bought me The Great Divorce. This book rocked my world. I just finished it this afternoon. It is a figurative story in which a narrator recounts the visitation of the inhabitants of Hell to Heaven. It is a collection of smaller stories that depict why and why not people are saved or damned. Most of all it is convicting-- right to the bone. There is much in there that I see in my life that I need to repent of, but the thing I took away most of all is this: I need to love God for God's sake. Not just because He made it so I don't have to go to Hell. Not just because He fills my life with Joy. Not just because He gives me mercy and grace and hope every day. I need to love Him first and foremost because He is God. I need to love Him because He is. There are some things in this book that raise a few theological red flags, but overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the biblical paradox of Free Will/Predestination, and what it means to "deny ourselves daily and take up our cross" more.

I'm also a Caedmon's Call fanatic, and so my dad got me the new Caedmon's Call worship album: In the Company of Angels 2: The World Will Sing. This is not their all-time best album, but then again, I don't think that any of their albums are really better than the others. Each one has it's own flavor-- but I can assure you, this album's flavor is amazing. The album lives up to the standard the first Company of Angels CD set: very worshipful, very praise centered. Unlike the other Caedmon's CD's, there are no political statements, no boy-girl love songs, no allegorical theological discourses set to music. Don't get me wrong, I pretty much love every Caedmon's Call song (except "Not the Land" and "Stupid Kid" from their self-titled album, and "Somewhere North" from 40 acres-- gosh I hate those songs.... nice going, Derek Webb), but this album is great in that it is simple, unadulterated praise. This is the most God-centered CD I've really listened to since I got Jars of Clay's Redemption Songs last summer (which is an incredible CD in and of itself). If you do not have this CD yet, please remedy that situation as soon as possible.

Well, that's pretty much it. I think I should be returning to Hormone Patrol. Adios.

Friday, June 23, 2006

ESV

When the MacArthur Study Bible hit Grace Community back in the mid to late 90's, it was huge. I wound up getting a paperback copy I never used, a hardback copy that MacArthur himself signed ('cuz I used to volunteer regularly at Grace To You-- he showed up one day and they were giving out free hardbacks that same day so I asked him to sign it), and a leather copy my folks gave to me for 6th-grade Graduation that has my named engraved on it. The thing is, they're all NKJV, and while the NKJV has a special place in my heart because all the hundreds of AWANA verses I memorized were out of the NKJV, it still reads a little stuffy.

I went to a Christian School for 13 years that mandated each student have an NIV. To be honest, the school's theology was weak-sauce, so I pretty much grew up associating the NIV with crummy theology. To be honest, that's an unfair association, but in reality, I just don't like the NIV's near paraphrasing of most of the Bible.

When I got to Master's, I started hearing about this new translation called the ESV. Dr. Boyd actually made us memorize out of it for OT2 and I found out that most of the Bible Department really liked it, so I decided that I was gonna get a copy. At Shepherd's Conference of 2005, The Reformation Study Bible went for sale, and it was an ESV translation with study notes edited by RC Sproul. My dad picked me up a hardback copy. I liked the way it read so much that I got a tiny bonded-leather edition and had my name engraved on it as well.

Then a friend who is way smarter than me sat down with me one day and we looked at the study notes the Reformation Study Bible had to say on certain passages that pertained to Eschatology, specifically the future fate of Israel as predicted in some of the minor prophets. She pointed out that Sproul and the guys who wrote a lot of the study notes took a very non-literal (i.e., AMILLENIAL) approach to the passages regarding Israel (which they said were basically for "all believers" and "the church"-- even though it says "Israel"). Consequently, I set down my Reformation Study Bible.

Recently, the MacArthur Study Bible came out in NASB, which I have always enjoyed as a readable translation (more so than NKJV, but less "modnernized" than the NIV). So I bought a copy discount from Grace To You. I really do like it and have enjoyed studying it, but I've become more and more convinced that the ESV is a way better translation. In fact, I was just talking about this the other day with my good friend Ben Blakey. We just plain like the ESV the best. So I've been doing my devotions from my little leather ESV and if I have a question, instead of skimming down to the study notes, I'll check out some commentaries on the passage.

Ok, so basically everything I just said John Piper says better here. I hope you enjoy the article.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Cross-Centered Adjectives....

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior’s side

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by his blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night
Miraculous night



I really like this worship song. I mean really like it. I like it for a number of reasons, some trivial, some not. I like it because it's easy to play on the guitar, but it sounds like it's a tough song. I like it because of its use of dissonance, that sound that makes it sound like the chord is going to resolve but then it doesn't but then it does. I like it because the recording I have of it is sung by the amazing voice of Leigh Nash (lead singer of the late great Sixpence None the Richer, one of my favorite bands). But I think I like this song mostly because of it's adjectives and how they paint the picture of the Cross in a brand new yet strangely familiar light.


Mercy-- ok, in this sense, it is a noun, but calling Calvary "the mountain of mercy" points to the fact that God had pity, compassion, and love enough for us that he killed his own son

Crimson-- Blood, pain, sacrifice, substitution. Someone shed their blood so I don't have to shed mine.

Perpetual-- There are no bounds no Christ's propitiation for my sin. No end. No limit.

Thirsty-- the state of the seeker, of the lost. Before salvation, we are missing something, longing for something, whether we recognize it or not. In Christ we are satisfied.

Purified-- On our own, we can't make ourselves clean. Yet with the work of God in our lives, we can stand before him as white as snow. This is why Isaiah 1:18 is my new favorite verse. Look it up. If it doesn't make your heart sing, then I don't know what will.

Sorry-- in our state of death before salvation, we are pathetic.

Wrecked-- we are desperately broken before the Spirit enters our lives and makes us new.

Wonderful-- the act of God providing peace for sinners who by nature are "children of wrath" is a profound wonder.

Tragic-- That God had to die to save ungrateful sinners is definitely tragic.

Mysterious-- How the shedding of blood of a man who was God covers the sin and makes us righteous before a Divine Judge is an immense mystery .

Beautiful--Reconciliation to God through something we could never accomplish on our own is truly beautiful.

Scandalous--The biggest scandal of all time is the fact that God died for wretches like you and me.

Delivered--Like someone snatched from the clutches of death, in Christ's sacrifice we are rescued from eternal doom.

Justified--We stand guilty before the Judge, and yet He pounds His gavel and says "I know you deserve Hell, but there was One who paid the price. You are free. Enter Heaven."

Restored--In Adam's sin, we fell. Imputed guilt, we are tainted from birth. Yet in the Cross, the guiltless standing mankind had before the Fall is returned to the elect.

Blessed--Christ is blessed; He is God's beloved Son, and therefore Blessed by Him; and we should spend our lives blessing His name for what He has done for us.

Miraculous--The event of God's sacrifice was miraculous in that not only did He die for us, but He rose Himself from the dead. The miracle of the Resurrection is what gives us hope to hold on to.


You can see why I really like this song.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Vanity Fair

I will venture to the Mall on a Friday night only for a close friend, and I mean only for a close friend. I hate the Mall on a Friday. Absolutely despise it. Mostly because it is literally overrun with hormone-filled, cussing teenagers who don't seem to know how to practice courtesy (I would venture a guess that most of them don't know how to spell courtesy).

But as a dear friend's birthday is coming up this Sunday and as I hadn't gotten her a present yet, off to the Mall I went. I had no idea what to get her; I basically planned to go by my instinct-- I figured the right present would just "jump out" at me. One thing was for sure- I did not want to a single minute in Bath & Body Works (which is actually military code for "biological warfare upon the Y chromosome").

Wouldn't you know it, after searching practically the whole mall, I wound up in stupid Bath & Body Works. Sheesh. Fortunately, I had my folks with me (I needed a ride to the mall 'cuz my car's in the shop and they wanted to go out and do something), so what ended up happening was that I let my mom spend the majority of the time in the store while my dad and I talked outside, but I did have to spend an excruciating 7 minutes (at least) inside that fruity-smelling hell-hole.

I noticed something about the mall-- it reminded me of Vanity Fair from Pilgrim's Progress. To be honest, I've long made that comparison in my mind, but this is the first time I think I've written it down. It seems like you can buy everything at the Mall except truth. You can get clothes that make you look slimmer, sunglasses that make you look cooler, and even get massages that make you feel less stressed. But eventually it all fades-- the clothes go out of style, the sunglasses break or get scratched, the massage feeling goes away. And so the consumer returns and exchanges their money for the fleeting pleasures of materialism. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a boycott of capitalism-- I'm advocating a boycott of idolatry. Heck, I wound up getting a pretty sweet shirt tonight-- I'll probably wear it to church on Sunday (it was marked down on clearance from $45.00 to $8.50!)-- but when you see people loaded down with bags and bags of junk they just bought, you're a little perplexed.

I spent an evening once witnessing to the kids who hang out at the mall and the surrounding area including Java N' Jazz and the Movie Theater-- they weren't really receptive. But maybe the Gospel should go back to the Mall. Maybe instead of the masses being driven to buy the temporal wares of the Mall, they might instead "buy gold refined in the fire, so that [they] may become rich..." (Rev. 3:18).

Christian and Faithful were imprisoned when they brought the good news to Vanity Fair. The worst that could happen to me would be that I would get kicked out of the mall. Kicked out of the mall-- oh no, whatever would I do? (I hope you're detecting the sarcasm, 'cuz I'm laying it on pretty thick).

It's late, so I'm going to bed now.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

A quick observation for the evening...

Have you ever asked somebody who just found an object that they had been searching for where they found it? Did they respond "it was in the last place I looked!"?

WELL DUH!!!!! Of course it was in the last place you looked because you obviously stopped looking once you found it!!!!

That is all.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Peace on Earth and mercy mild! God and sinner reconciled! Joyful all ye nations rise! Join the triumph of the skies!

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 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.

---Romans 5:1-5



Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

---Romans 8:1-2



I can't really add much to this. It's hard to take in. Reconciliation. Peace. It's hard to take in.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

"Stupid algebra... when are we ever gonna use this junk when we're grown up, anyway?" --pretty much every Jr. Higher ever (myself included)

God had a little fun with me Tuesday afternoon. I'm wanting to double-major and spend a semester in Israel and graduate in four years, so this all means that I need to take a few community college classes over the summer to get some gen. ed. out of the way. So, over to good ol' COC I went, filled out my 2-page scantron application...
(random rambling sidenote: there were so many politically-correct descriptions of every type of race and ethnicity possible-- I wanted to put I was an african-american/latino whose upbringing was that of a pacific islander, but I could only check one box-- I just laughed and put plain old "white"-- apparently "black" is too politically incorrect, it must be "african american", but nobody bothers changing "white" to "european-american"-- I'll let you ponder the irony for a while-- and no, I am not a racist)
...and then I was told I needed to take a placement test to see "what classes I should be put in to best help me succeed" (which I figured out pretty quick was a disgustingly sugar-coated way of saying "we want to see first if you can even speak English and then after that see how dumb you really are"). So I proceeded to get lost, not once, but twice, trying to find the classroom in which the test was being administered. Once I found the place, I was told to wait outside. As I stood there for about 20 minutes, I was pretty bored. I was thinking things like "this test is gonna be cake... c'mon, this is COC... how hard could it possibly be?" Then they called my name and I went in, sat before computer screen and started my test.

Holy cow.

The English part wasn't so bad, and in fact, I did really well. But the math was a different story. I couldn't remember how to do 8th grade algebra. I couldn't remember how to factor trinomial equations. I couldn't remember the rules on multiplying exponents. I felt so stupid, I just started laughing. People were staring at me. I didn't care. I found it hysterical. The one thing I've only been good at my entire life has been school, and here I was, not knowing how to do Jr. High algebra.

But then it hit me. There are no coincidences. I was at COC, taking that test, and doing terribly, for a reason. I think God wanted to show me something. A number of things, actually. The first is obvious-- I still need to repent of my sinful pride that exemplifies itself in how cocky I can get regarding academics. The second thing that hit me was a little more subtle, though. I was reminded of the play "Flowers for Algernon", in which the main character, Charlie, is mentally handicapped, but has a procedure performed on him which dramatically raises his intelligence. Over time, though, the effects of the procedure wear off, and Charlie faces the inevitable reversal and the subsequent decreasing of his intelligence. I thought of 2 Corinthians 4:16, which reads "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Here Paul talks about our physical outer man wasting away, and this is true. I see it in my parents: my dad has to stare at writing 4 inches away from his nose in order to read it. I see it in me, even: my baby pictures are pretty cute, but now when I stare in the mirror, I think "good grief, I'm ugly... if I'm ever gonna get married, it's gonna have to be to a blind chick." I think Paul would include the decreasing in mental facilities with the decaying of the outer man. The good thing is that we are always continuing in increasing in sanctification! That's what he means by the "inner man being renewed day by day." Another day walking with Jesus in simple faith and studying the word is another day that we grow. I see this in my grandmother. She's got all sorts of things wrong with her body, but as she gets older and weaker, her faith gets stronger.

So yeah, I don't remember how to do 8th grade math (actually, it bugged me so much that I went home, dug out my old math notes from Jr. High-- I never throw anything away-- and I re-taught myself how to factor trinomials!), but I do know that what is truly important, what should be chief and paramount in my life, is that I pursue that which renews my inner man every day-- the study of God's word. That's what we should all be after as Christians-- the study of God's word and the knowlege of Him. In Philippians 3, we find that every thing else we could possibly know or do or be all pale in comparison (literally, they are dung) compared to knowing Christ better. And that's where I want to be.