Does altruis­m exist? That is, can we do anything with completely pure and selfless motives for another? The question of altruism has long puzzled evolutionists, psychologists, and philosophers alike. On one hand, their naturalistic worldview seems to exclude it. Natural selection, or “survival of the fittest”, makes altruism both impractical and undesirable, at least in the evolutionary scheme. If all we have is this life, then why do anything else other than live for self and use others for our own good? On the other hand, though rare, there seem to be concrete instances of altruism– men running into burning buildings, soldiers dying in place of a comrade, even animals acting for the welfare of their kin at their own personal expense. Faced with conflicting evidence, scientists are left to ponder whether these acts truly selfless, or if there is a selfish motive, some evolutionary phenomena or psychological mechanism, behind them.

As Christian we need not concern ourselves with whether or not altruism exists. It does. The genius of the Gospel, above every other religion or worldview, is that it makes real altruism possible.

Altruism’s greatest obstacle has always been the ‘self’—self-love, self-concern, and self-protection. It’s what the evolutionists and psychologists explain with natural selection, but what Christians say comes from a sinful heart. As Martyn Lloyd Jones puts it, men, because of sin, are constantly “turning in upon themselves, looking at themselves, and concerned about themselves” (103). The problem with the ‘self’ is that it makes everything we do, including our interactions with others, about our own good. Consequently, even when we appear most altruistic– when we are serving, encouraging, and caring for others, we are always doing it for ourselves. This manifests itself in different ways: we may love others because it feeds our spiritual pride, or we may love to feel needed and accepted out of insecurity. We may love out of fear, out of guilt, for our reputation, or so that the person loved might further the fruition of some other goal. However, though motivations may differ, the result is always the same: our actions may appear altruistic, but our hearts are never pure. We love ultimately for our own welfare and happiness.

However, the Gospel destroys the self. It does not concern itself with fixing behavior with moral codes and rules, but instead takes us straight to the heart of the problem: everything we are is completely useless and sinful. Every inclination of our hearts is desperately wicked, every thought, foolish, and every ambition, vain and empty. Even the best deeds our hearts produce are like dirty rags before God. We cannot love God or others, we cannot do good, and we cannot escape enslavement to ‘self’.

Thankfully, the Gospel does not stop there. It presents a moving story of altruism as the solution to our selfishness; one where God displays grace towards undeserving sinners at great personal expense. It tells us of Jesus Christ, who shed his divine privileges and condescended to become a lowly servant. With selfless love, he became a man, walked with the lowly, and healed the weak. And in the greatest act of sacrificial love in all history, he humbled himself to die on the cross for those who hated and despised him. He laid down his own life as a sacrifice, so that, by his act of love, our selfish hearts could be changed to reflect his. Three days later he rose again, showing that he had not only the desire, but also the power to spark altruism in our darkened hearts.

Through the power of this Gospel, we are finally able to lay ourselves aside. We can relinquish any pride in our own righteousness and strength, and cling desperately to the righteousness and strength of Jesus instead. We can abandon our own fleeting goals and desires to take up the eternal ones of our Lord and Savior. For when we see him and begin to understand what he did for us at Calvary, everything we know about ourselves, God, and others changes. In comparison to his beauty, we see a life lived for ‘self’ for what it truly is—a vain and empty sham, that brings no lasting joy. We see that the only life worth living and dying for is one for God. His cause alone is glorious enough to devote ourselves to, his love, deep enough to satisfy our souls, and his eternal plan, sure enough to ease every worry and anxiety. The ‘self’, has always gained its power by telling us: if you are not concerned about yourself, if you do not seek your own interests, protect your happiness, and worry about your future, then who will? But, in this Gospel, we have our answer: Jesus will, and he will bring greater joy than we could ever obtain by ourselves.

As for others, we can now love them selflessly. Christ has freed us from the shackles of self. We no longer have to use our relationships bolster our pride, or to find our worth in. We have laid all that down at the foot of the cross, and entrusted it to God. He will meet the needs that we formerly sought unsuccessfully in others. Now, by faith, we can live in a new ideal of love, one modeled for us by our Savior himself—that is, sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is altruistic love. It does not take into account our rights, but acts for the good of another, even at a personal cost. Sacrificial love forgets self-interest. It expects nothing in return from others because it is satisfied with all it has in Christ already, and trusts that the same God, who did not withhold his Son, will provide for us in the future. It is only in Christ that we are able practice this kind of love. We can love altruistically, because God has shown that same love for us and promised it to us, in Christ Jesus, for all eternity.

So, while the scientists debate the existence of altruism, a more practical question for us to ask ourselves as Christians, is whether real altruism exists in us. We know altruism exists for we have beheld it in its purest form in the Gospel in its purest form– Christ crucified for us, wretched sinners, to reconcile us to God. And further, we know the Spirit enables us to walk in that same kind of love toward others. By his strength, we can practice Christ’s perfect love: that self-sacrificing love which Paul describes so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13; that altruistic love which acts completely for the good of others.We know all this, but the question remains: do we love in this way?

I headed into my first year of college thinking that I did. I knew I was still sinful, but I thought at least I had made solid progress towards loving as Christ loved. Intellectually, I understood how the implications of the Gospel compelled me to love others selflessly, and in my heart, I desired to love others in this way. That, I thought, meant I had achieved a level of maturity. However, looking back over this past year, I see that I am not nearly as mature as I thought I was. Christian love is to be pristine. It requires purity in motive, and a singularity of mind that acts simply for the good of others and the glory of God. Yet, as I examine how I have loved this past year, I see in myself duplicity, a double-mindedness. Certainly, there was a part of me which genuinely wanted and tried to love selflessly. However, another part of me clung on to all the old desires of ‘self”. I lacked faith that Jesus could deliver all that he promised he could, so I held on to the happiness offered by the old ways of ‘self’.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospels that we can only have one master. Either we will love the one and hate the other, or we will be devoted to one and despise the other. We cannot serve both God and the old desires of self. Yet, so often, we find ourselves trying to do just that—trying to strike an unholy compromise between the selfless love commanded by Christ, and the selfish “love” that we want. Our problem is one of unbelief: We have faith to see the beauty of Christian love, but not enough to completely let go of the joys promised by the ‘self’. This becomes all the more difficult in the high-stakes arena of relationships where acting selfishly offers immediate gratification, while loving selflessly offers no such reward. There is no glamour in sacrificial love unless we esteem Christ highly and trust in his promises. But we, in our unbelief, are afraid of a life lived solely in dependence on the love of Christ, so we slowly begin to slip back in the desires of ‘self’ to supplement the love that the Bible promises is enough to satisfy us.

How tempting it is to stay in this state of flux, of contaminated lukewarm love!  How easy it is to be satisfied with this duplicity in our hearts and to desire the best of both worlds: the satisfaction that comes from convincing ourselves that we love selflessly, with the old desires of ‘self’ as a safety net. But we cannot live this way. We cannot delude ourselves into thinking that by loving in this way we are practicing true Christian love. We must choose the master whom we will serve.

As for me, I have set my hope in Jesus Christ. I know my love is still in many ways, shallow, superficial, and self-focused, but I trust that as my faith grows in him, he will work in me to make my love like his. May he grow my faith, empty from me every selfish motive, and teach me to love altruistically, with a singularity of mind and one pure and holy passion just as he did!

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The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5)

…must learn..to be less long-winded *dies*

A while back, Tim Chailles put up this quote by a guy named, Samuel Johnson, on the dangers of writing. I found it a thought-provoking reminder, and a challenge as I try to hopefully resume posting on this blog more regularly during the summer.  Johnson writes:

It is not difficult to conceive that for many reasons a man writes much better than he lives. For, without entering into refined speculations, it may be shown much easier to design than to perform. A man proposes his schemes of life in a state of abstraction and disengagement, exempt from the enticements of hope, the solicitations of affection, the importunities of appetite, or the depressions of fear, and is in the same state with him that teaches upon land the art of navigation, to whom the sea is always smooth, and the wind always prosperous…

We are, therefore, not to wonder that most fail, amidst tumult and snares and danger, in the observance of those precepts, which they laid down in solitude, safety, and tranquility, with a mind unbiased, and with liberty unobstructed… Nothing is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory.

There is a lot of good things to take away from this quote. Johnson eloquently captures the disconnect that often occurs between our knowing and articulation of that knowledge in writing, and our translating that knowledge into action. It is always easier to “design than to perform”. When we are writing, our minds can grasp the truth abstractly. We are able to understand the advantages of the solutions offered by Christianity. But when we try to apply our knowledge in real life we face formidable enemies. I particularly like Johnson’s description of our obstacles– he calls them “enticements of hope, the solicitations of affection, the importunities of appetite, or the depressions of fear.” How right he is here in capturing the power and relentlessness of these forces, and how convincing they are in swaying us from our convictions and causing us to doubt what we know. Although Johnson is sympathetic towards writers who fail to live out their convictions, his reminder is still a sobering one: our hopes, affections, appetites, and fears often cause us to discard the lofty truths we  write about, because of our lack of our faith.

Johnson’s warning of the pitfalls of writing are especially relevant to me as I write here on this blog. Many of the posts I write are meant to be exhortations to myself to the superiority of Christ, in the midst of personal struggle. But as Johnson reminds me, this kind of writing merely makes me one who is “sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory.” Through my writing, I may come to understand the gravity of my problems and the beauty of their solution in Christ, but that does me no good, unless I am actively striving to obtain the victory.

This takes me back to the heart of why I’m writing. I cannot write for the praise of man, for the satisfaction of a well-written essay on my computer screen, to relieve my boredom, or solely as a means of introspection. One reason I started this blog was so that I’d be able to understand and articulate the things I’m thinking about, learning, and struggling with through a Christ-centered lens. But it cannot end with knowledge; it is useless if I am able to articulate truth well but unable to live it.  Good writing is vanity on its own. The success or failure of this blog, of my writing endeavors, is to be seen through the testimony of my life. May I live out my faith, trusting in Christ to overcome my weaknesses!

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“But be does of the words, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to share a short devotional on the topic of self-control.  Here is the transcript for those of you who missed it!

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:22-24 ESV)

Today, I’ve been asked to share on the fruit of self-control. Let me be clear, I share with you not as someone who has this virtue down, but as someone who is still very much learning how to have self-control. I would say of all the sins I’m prone to struggle with, a lack of self-control is one of the most prominent. It is a daily, often hourly, struggle for me. I don’t think I’m alone in this regards. I can say confidently that this is one of the biggest struggles of our generation. We are a generation of instant-gratification and of indulgence, not of self-control. It shows ­in the way we study, the way we use the Internet, the way we fight against lust, and even in things as simple as how we late we stay up on Saturday nights before church. The sad thing is that despite the pervasiveness of this problem in our lives, we often marginalize our lack of self-control and do not take it seriously. We recognize and fight against other sins, but we are content to live without self-control. This is a serious mistake. Hopefully, from examining the Word today, we’ll see that self-control is not something to be brushed aside, but rather a fruit we should take seriously and pursue diligently.

If you have your bibles, turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9:25-27

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.(1 Corinthians 9:25-27 ESV)

There is a lot to be said about this well-known passage. I have four brief principles about self-control and its importance which will guide us through this passage.

1)       Self-Control is necessary for the Christian

In this passage, Paul uses the image of the discipline of an athlete to illustrate truths about self-control for the Christian. He starts off by saying, “every athlete exercises self-control”. Notice the inclusiveness of that statement. Paul uses the word “every”, signifying that anyone who is an athlete exercises self-control, and conversely that there are no athletes who don’t exercise self-control. I don’t need to tell you this. We know intuitively that discipline is built-in to the very definition of an athlete. Anyone who is a serious athlete can’t do whatever they want. They have to eat a certain way; they need to spend a certain amount of time practicing and refining their skills; they need to study so that they know the strategy and the ins-and-outs of the game. However, at the same time, we know that these aren’t arbitrary burdens that serve no purpose. All of these things serve to enhance and enable the athlete’s goal, which is to perform well at his sport. So too it is for the Christian. Every Christian exercises self-control, and there are no Christians who don’t exercise self-control. Why? Because as Christian’s we can’t indulge in whatever we want and expect to glorify God in our lives, just as athletes can’t do whatever they want and expect to perform well. We need self-control so that we can fulfill our purpose: to love and glorify God!

2)      The Christian exercises self-control in all things

Notice Paul says the athlete exercises self-control “in all things”. Here in this simple phrase, we see the scope of self-control. Self-control isn’t limited to one or two areas, it covers everything we do! If you think about it, every area in our life requires some degree of discipline. The Bible itself talks about the self-control in reference to a variety of topics. To name a few, in James 5:5, James condemns a lack of self-control with wealth which leads to greediness and indulgent living. 1 Peter 4:7 talks about how we should be self-controlled in regards to the area of prayer.  Titus 2:6 talks about how young men should be self-controlled in order to present a good testimony to the world. 1 Corinthians 7:9 talks about self-control in relation to marriage and sexual passion. My point here is that we need to strive to be self-controlled in everything. We can’t be selective in our self-control, choosing to exercise discipline in certain areas of our lives while neglecting others. For example, it does us little good to battle against lust, if we waste countless hours on the computer and have no control over how we use our words. It does us little good to be disciplined in our studies, if we spend our money recklessly and irresponsibly for our own passions. The truth is God wants control every aspect of our life. So let us not pick and choose where we choose to be obedient. Let us instead surrender every area of our lives to the lordship of Christ

3)      Self-Control is eternally focused

Paul could have just stopped by saying, “every athlete exercises self-control in all things” and made it simply a moral virtue, but he goes on to say, “They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” Self-control is not a unique virtue to Christians. We know all too well that there are many non-Christians who are much more disciplined than us. But Paul say here that there is a vital difference between worldly self-control and Christian self-control. When a non-Christian practices self-control he does it to gain some kind of earthly treasure—things like wealth, power, or recognition.  But when we, as Christians, practice self-control we should have an entirely different goal in mind. We are self-controlled so that we might be conformed to the likeness of Christ. Think how much greater is our calling and how much greater shall our reward be! Their wreath will perish, but ours is imperishable. The end result of their self-control is empty treasures and accolades that will fade away. But the end result of ours will be as 1 John 2:28 says, that on the day “when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”  My question for you today, is what is your motivation for self-discipline? When you practice self-control is it as the world practices self-control, to win wealth, power, and recognition for yourself? Or does your self-control actively preparing for and looking forward to an eternity with Christ?

4)      Our Self-Control reveals the truthfulness of our love for God 

In this last section, Paul directly relates the image of an athlete back to his life. He writes, “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Here, Paul emphasizes why self-control has the utmost priority in his life. If an athlete does not have self- discipline, he cannot perform his profession– his running becomes aimless and his boxing, weak. Likewise, Paul says without self-control his whole ministry as a preacher and missionary would be in vain. Why? Because he would fail his ultimate goal to please Christ. Everything he proclaimed would have not been true in his own life. Christianity is not a religion of empty knowledge and words—Christ’s harshest rebukes were directed towards the Pharisees—rather it is a religion meant be practiced and applied. My question to you is if we lack self-control, how can we ever expect to practice what we preach and claim to believe? Or perhaps more directly: if we lack self-control, how can Christ ever be Lord over our lives? Self-control is an avenue through which we demonstrate that Christ, and not our flesh, is master. Think about it. I can proclaim that Jesus is Lord over all of my life, but it’s all empty talk until I can exercise self-control in my purity, time, money, and thoughts. As Christians, we have in our lives, countless areas where we can either exercise self-control or indulge our sinful flesh. How we exercise self-control gives a tangible statement of our love and commitment to Christ. Let us, then, adopt the same mindset as Paul, and realize that, though we may preach the right words and perform all the right deeds, if we don’t have self-control, then the Gospel has no power in our lives. Let us diligently seek to cultivate  self-control so that there will be private truth behind our public words and deeds

In light of this passage, I have two points of application

1. We Must Discipline Ourselves: There is a definite aspect of responsibility involved for us. Paul doesn’t use the image of an athlete arbitrarily. He uses it because self-control is not something that just springs forth from us without effort. It is hard work. Just as an athlete labors with sweat and tears to achieve the discipline necessary for his goal, we must also work so that we might please God. If we’re serious about self-control, we must be willing put in the work to build God-glorifying habits. We must be willing to sacrifice our comfort and pleasure, take up our cross daily, and follow Christ.
2. We Must Look to the Gospel for Strength and motivation: Galatians 5:24-25, the verses immediately following the listing of the fruit of the Spirit, says: “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  Never underestimate the influence that our sinful flesh holds over us. If we try and achieve self-control by our own willpower we will fail miserably. Either we will be defeated and become discouraged, or we will become self-righteous like the Pharisees. The power and the motivation for self-control comes through the Gospel. Christ’s death saves us from the power of sin: we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. In its place, we now have the Spirit, who helps us to live as Jesus lived. Christ’s death is also our motivation. Our self-control is an act of love and preparation: we strive for self-control with the help of the Spirit, pressing on towards the day where we will receive the imperishable wreath and be with Christ forever.

If you were asked to summarize the entirety of the New Testament in three words how would you answer? There are many blessings you could turn to, and truths you could draw upon, but which are the most foundational to our understanding of the Gospel? Which words best capture the essence of what Christ has done for us? J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God that, if he were asked this question, his reply would be “adoption through propitiation.” Packer proposes that the heart of the Gospel is propitiation– Christ died for us as a sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God, and the highest privilege of the Gospel is adoption– we are welcomed into God’s family by the blood of Christ. In his poignant reply, I believe Packer identifies how Christ addresses the two great needs of the human heart: our need for forgiveness, and our need for relationship.

I wanted to write briefly about the latter. For all our talk of Christianity as a relationship and not a religion, I think practically we oftentimes make the cross to be one-dimensional; we emphasize the forgiveness of our sins, but forget how the intensely personal aspects of Christ’s sacrifice fulfill intensely personal needs in us. In doing so, I think we lose a crucial aspect of the Gospel’s beauty. Why is it so significant that we have been adopted; that through Christ, God has restored us back into his family and a relationship with him as Father? The truth is that we are not only deeply sinful people, but desperately lonely ones as well; and through the cross, Christ has made an end to our loneliness.

Over Spring break I had a chance to read Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill. In this book, Hill offers a painfully honest account of the struggles of gay Christians as they seek to remain pure and faithful before God. Although I cannot claim to even approach the pain endured by those struggling with homosexual desires, I identified with Hill’s writing on loneliness– a pain experienced acutely by him, but common to us all. In his chapter entitled “An End to Loneliness”, Hill defines our loneliness as a longing for a “relationship of mutual desire; one in which we can want someone wholeheartedly and be wanted with the same intensity.” That is our need. We want to know and to be known, to desire and to be desired in return. “All our lives we are searching for someone who will take us seriously,” Hill writes, but all of our human relationships are in some way inadequate to meet this need. We desire for intimacy but are often spurned instead; in turn, we find that we can offer little to the people who need us most; and though we long to really know others and for them to know us, in the end, we know little of substance of anyone, and even our closest friendships only scratch the surface of our souls.

How deep is this problem though? Most of us know and acknowledge the gravity and danger of sin– we are not just mildly bad people; we are depraved sinners and nothing short of the blood of Christ and the regenerating work of the Spirit could have changed our hearts. I suspect, however, that not many of us would consider our loneliness a problem of similar magnitude. Is loneliness merely a nagging inconvenience for certain unloved people? Or is it a problem which, like sin, reaches to the very core of all of us?

I would argue for the latter; that loneliness is one of the fundamental problems of sinful human existence and that nothing short of the blood of Christ can fill this void. If the heart of the Gospel is propitiation and its highest privilege, adoption; then it stands to reason that the greatest problem introduced by the Fall was sin, and the greatest benefit lost was our relationship with God. Because of sin, we have been cut off from our Father, the fountain of living water. We have been alienated from the only relationship where our yearning to desire and to be desired, to know and to be known, can be met. Where we once sought and enjoyed the presence of God, we now hide and run away because of our shame and guilt. Where we once desired to worship God and to be with him, we now abandon him and desire the creation over the Creator himself. Our relationships with others, once centered and rooted in God, now become sources of pain and disappointment. In vain, we search for fulfillment and joy in the broken cisterns of this world, but we find that in everything we are alienated, both from God and from others. This is the gravity of the human condition apart from Christ: we are hungry people eating bread that does not satisfy and drinking water that only intensifies our thirst.

When we understand our desperate need for an end to our loneliness, this Gospel becomes all the more beautiful, surprising, and relevant to our hearts. For in the Gospel, our inconsolable yearning is finally met by Jesus, God in flesh, the living water and bread of life. We long to desire wholeheartedly, and to be desired in return. The Gospel rings with this resounding note– Jesus desires us. He has demonstrated his unconditional love for us by leaving his throne on high to die on the cross for us while we were still yet sinners. What greater longing is there than that? What greater love? Not only does Jesus desire us, we, too, can wholeheartedly desire him. Jesus promises that those who seek to love him with heart, soul, and mind, will never be disappointed or put to shame. We long to know and to be known. Jesus Christ knows us perfectly and there is joy and life in knowing him. He became a man like us, he has suffered our deepest sorrows, and he now stands before the Father as our risen mediator. The Bible promises that there is nothing more rewarding than those who count all as loss to know the surpassing worth of Christ!

In Christ, we have been adopted through propitiation. We are orphans no longer. The veil has been torn, the presence of God has returned, and we have been made sons and joint heirs with Christ. We were once cut off from God, but now we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We once faced the wrath of a holy judge on sinful criminals, but now we receive affection, fellowship, and honor from our Father. In the family of God, we are not alone nor we will ever be again. We forever have the love of the Father, who, when he looks at us, sees the righteousness of his beloved Son; and we forever have Christ, our friend, our brother, and our king.

It is in this gospel where we find peace from the turmoil in our souls and rest for our weariness; strength to carry on and comfort for when everything else gives way. Here in this Gospel we find the relationship we’ve always wanted; the friend and father, lover and king that we’ve always needed. He will never leave nor forsake us. He can heal our hearts and make us whole. Hill, near the end of his chapter on loneliness, expresses it this way: “In some profound sense, this love of God— expressed in his yearning and blessing and experienced in our hearts— must spell the end of longing and loneliness. In solitude, God desiring us, God wanting us, is enough.” May we cherish and depend on this Gospel!

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See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1a)

This is an idea I’ve been thinking about and wrestling over for quite some time. I’d be interested in hearing all of your opinions on this! Do you believe this loneliness, as described in this post, is theologically and practically the problem that I make it out to be?

Also, I’ve divided this post up into two parts for the sake of length and so that I could finally publish this (I’ve had writer’s block  on this for the longest time…) Part 2 coming soon, which will talk about loneliness in the life of a Christian.

Apologetics is an invaluable tool for Christians. We must know what we believe and why we believe in it to give a defense of our hope to others and to our own unbelieving hearts. Apologetics shows us that Christianity is not fantasies for wishful-thinking fools; our faith is historically credible, philosophically sound, and firmly rooted in reality; able to stand against every argument and the closest scrutiny.  A few days ago I had a chance to read through a debate on the existence of God. After reading and examining both sides, I think the Christian debater won handily. He made use of arguments that I feel are impossible for atheists to overcome. Now, it would be easy to stop here, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. The problem with debates is that the opponents of our faith aren’t stupid. It’s not as if the debate was on whether tomatoes are red or rainbow-colored; an issue where you would have to be completely illogical to support one side. Atheists make challenging and compelling arguments just like Christians do and we would be naive to think otherwise. Many men though out history smarter than I have earnestly sought answers to questions of faith and arrived at different conclusions. Herein lies the shortcoming of apologetics: you can never prove outright the Christian world view.

Say if after the debate, I rated each side out of 100 on my certainty for each side’s arguments. Lets say I think Christianity won by a score of 90%-10%, meaning that the arguments for Christianity seem far more likely that those of atheism. Even then, the small fragment of uncertainty would always be there as I become a Christian and seek to follow God. As I pray and study the bible, as I reorient my relationships and the use of my time to obey God, there would always be that shred of doubt to haunt me and remind me that a 10% chance could nullify everything I’m striving for.This is why faith is an essential component of Christianity. We cannot rely exclusively on our intellects and reasoning to resolve the debates in our hearts; we must seek to grow in the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

I have always struggled with these tiny shreds of uncertainty. Even now, they continue to plague my heart and hinder my growth. I can identify deeply with the conflict expressed in the plea of the man in Mark 9:24: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Oh how I want to follow without doubt! How I want to give everything to him with complete confidence that I will not at all be ashamed! Sadly, I am a man of little faith. Doubt hinders me from passionately giving my all and living freely in the strength of the Gospel. It affects the quality of my time with God in the Word and in prayer. It makes me cynical at what God can do in my life, the lives of others, and in the life of the church. It is that small voice of Satan telling me to relax and to not pursue God with the zeal and fervor that I know I need to.  3%, 0.1%, 0.0005%, I don’t know what the number is in my life and it matters not exactly what it is, for the smallest remnant of doubt can have devastating effects if I allow it free-reign to grow

I have two great fears. The first is that unbelief will harden my heart and mind and cause me to fall away. Though this is a real fear, the second is a more present danger in my life: I fear I’ll never have enough faith to chase after God with all my heart. I’ll never really pursue God out of fear he might not be there and then my zeal would leave me with nothing. Instead of risking this, I become one who knows a great deal about God and godliness yet very little of God himself; a pharisee who lives a picture-perfect life without the genuine faith that pleases the Lord.  Unbelief will turn God for me into an academic venture and godliness into a game, and trap me on the middle road; too scared to follow completely, but too afraid to let go. And at my life’s end, I will be a weak-hearted boy who stayed close to what he’d always known; playing in a safe make-believe religion because he was too afraid of what he might find if he really followed. And in the end, my lack of faith will prevent me from deeply knowing and loving the living God.

These are fears and questions I must settle before those inevitable storms of doubt come. Do I really believe? Am I really following? Am I prepared to fend off the attacks of Satan? It is so very easy to settle into a type of Christianity that requires very little faith at all. Yes, I may say I believe God can do everything; anyone can do that. Anyone can go to church and learn the Christian jargon and bring himself to read and pray. The real question is: is there true genuine faith behind my actions? Do I seek and depend on God in such a way that is beyond merely disciplining and controlling my life to perform tasks, through the guise of a love for the Gospel?

The scary thing is that I know I am not above falling away and making shipwreck of my faith. I am not above becoming a Pharisee or an apostate. Worldly skepticism and cynicism are relentlessly attacking. The mundane cares of everyday life weigh heavy on me, pressuring me to forget and marginalize the ability of God to work in ordinary life. At the same time, my pride tells me to play Christianity like a game; to do the right things and earn the praise of man, while never pursuing genuine religious affections. My faith being besieged from both sides by the enemy of my soul. I know that alone I cannot stand up against his onslaughts; if God does not protect and sustain my faith then I will die like the seeds not sown on the good soil (Matthew 13). In this war, I must go on the offensive and daily seek to depend on him for faith. This means abandoning the safety of mindless detached Christianity. It means getting out of the boat, so I can walk on water with Christ. Let’s pursue God recklessly, holding nothing back, so that we might know Him deeply! Let’s grab hold of the promises of Christ, and live boldly in light of the power promised by the Gospel. If we’re wrong so be it; if this is foolishness then we will be ashamed above all men; but let us never be scared to wholeheartedly seek the truth.

Oh, how I desire for  faith like the saints of old who, in the face of overwhelming doubt, chose to trust God! I want be  like Abraham who trusted God enough to leave behind his homeland and was even willing to sacrifice his only child. I want to stand courageously like David did against Goliath when faith in God’s power was his only weapon. I want to be like the sick and broken of the New Testament who humbly approached Christ through faith to be healed; the blind men, who in response to Christ’s question: “Do you believe I can do this?”, confidently replied: “Yes, Lord” (Matthew 9:28); and the Caananite woman, who knowing her unworthiness, humbly says: “Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” (Matthew 15:27). I want  faith like the saints described in Hebrews 11:

“[Those] who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated — of whom the world was not worthy…” (Hebrew 11:33-38)

The faith of these men and women extended beyond concepts and abstractions; they trusted in the power of God to work mightily to change this broken world and their broken lives. They answered Christ’s question: do you believe I can do this?” with a resounding yes.

The same question is posed to you and me: do we believe Christ can do great things in our world and in our lives? We must continually strive to grow in faith in our belief that he can. The moment we release our grasp on the power and promises of God our faith and our lives are rendered useless. The truth is doubt isn’t going anywhere. It will be an ever-present reality here on earth that we, as Christians, must struggle with. Yet, our faith does not exist apart from doubt; rather our faith exists and is exercised in the presence of doubt. So here I stand. The enemy is calling from the other side: who are you and where is your God? Where is his power? By the world’s standards he’s right. I have nothing: I am weak, frail, and wretched, but I have faith in the power of Christ and that’s all I need. I’m all in. Bring it.

I’ve always appreciated the honesty of this song. It encapsulates many of the issues explored in this post so I thought I’d include it.

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“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

I realize that this post is very scattered and incomplete in many ways, but this was sitting in my drafts folder for the longest time, and I wanted to publish I lost my train of thought.

Last Wednesday I had the privilege to speak to Soldiers, our guys group back home. Here is my lengthy manuscript for those of you who missed it and are interested in learning about “Kindness and the Godly Man” 🙂

Introduction:

Hello fellow soldiers. It’s truly a pleasure to be back with you all and a great privilege for me to share with you from God’s word this afternoon. From what I’ve been told, you guys have been learning about the characteristics of a godly man these past couple weeks. I think this is a really important, much need study for all of us. One of the main realizations I’ve had while in college is how much I need to grow up and mature in order to become the man that God wants me to be.  We, as high school and college guys, are all at a point where we can no longer use youth as an excuse to defend and justify our immaturity, in whatever form it may take. As Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians, we’ve spoken like children, thought and reasoned like children for far too long; it’s time for us to give up our childish ways and seek to be men who love and follow God.

The verse I’ve been given to speak on for this series comes from the first part of 2 Timothy 2:24 which says: And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all.

I. The Godly Man is the Lord’s Servant

My first point is that the Godly Man is the Lord’s Servant. You’ll notice that Paul doesn’t say “The godly man must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all”; instead he says “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all.” The reason we can use a verse like this for a series like this is because our pursuit of godly manhood is essentially the same as a slave’s pursuit to become more obedient and humble towards his Master. I think it is easy to fall into a very performance-oriented mindset as we pursue biblical manhood: we can make it all about working to acquire a certain kind of character as if character were the goal and not devotion to God. True godliness, however, doesn’t come from virtues of leadership or strength, or any other characteristic; truly biblical men are first and foremost defined by their complete devotion to God, our Divine Master.

Originally, I wanted to really dig in to this concept, but that would be a message in itself (John Macarthur’s new book is on this…and you can get it for free!) and it’s not really what I was asked to speak on. So instead let’s take a brief look at the implications of this idea that we are the Lord’s servants. God has given us many analogies and images throughout scripture to help us to understand our relationship with him and with His Gospel. There is the image of marriage, which helps us to understand Christ’s relationship to his church, his authority over it and how he laid down his life for it; there’s the image of a courtroom to help us understand our condemnation as lawbreakers before God the Holy Judge, and how Christ satisfied the punishment that we deserved; and finally, there’s the image of financial debt which helps us to understand the infinite debt we owe God, and how Christ paid for it. In the same way the analogy of slavery helps us to understand our relationship to God and to the Gospel as well as how we understand what it means to be a godly man. I have three quick subpoints on how this image of slavery should affect how we pursue godliness.

1. The image of slavery should make us grateful to the Gospel:

You may not think of being enslaved as something to be rejoiced at, but being a slave of Christ is a privilege won by the Gospel. Romans 6:16-18 says:

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:16-18)”

No matter what everyone is a slave to someone or something. No one can say that they are free to control their own lives. Here, in this verse, we see that this can be boiled down to two options: either we are slaves to sin or slaves God. And yet, we know that apart from Christ that we really only have one option: to be hopelessly enslaved to sin. Without Christ, we are at the mercy of our passions and our lusts with no power to choose or please God.  But as the passage says: thanks be to God for the Gospel for reforming our hearts! This is why the Gospel is something beautiful. Jesus has purchased us! Titus 3:3-5 captures how Christ made a way for us to be slaves of God:

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:3-5)

Because of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross, we have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Christ bought us with his blood and made us his own. This image should inspire gratitude in us.

2. The image of slavery should humble us before Christ:

This image should remove every ounce of pride that we might have as we seek to become godly men. Just think of the implications of what it means for us to be slaves, and for Christ to be our master. It means that he owns us and thus deserves our complete and whole-hearted obedience. His will supersedes our own. We owe everything to him and we are unworthy of anything for ourselves. Furthermore, we do not deserve praise for all our achievements, but as it says in Luke 17:10: “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” This image helps us to see the reality that it’s not about us, and it’s all about God.

3. The image of slavery captures urgency of the battle for sanctification

Even though we are justified by Christ, we still struggle with indwelling sin. The Gospel, however, through the Holy Spirit, gives us the power to choose God over sin and to be obedient to our master, Jesus Christ. Sanctification then could be described in one way as the process of seeking to obey God over sin as master. Romans 6:19 says: “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. Our Christian’s lives are the battleground where we fight to choose who will have ultimate authority over our lives. With this in mind, let us realize that there are no unimportant moments in the Christian life; every moment has wartime urgency. Two masters: God and sin, want complete control over our souls. Every word and deed that we say and do are choices of who will have control and dominion over us. 

This is the starting point from which I want us to begin to understand what it means to be a man of god. I want our pursuits of godly manhood to be Gospel-centered, humble, and with wartime urgency. If we acquire all these traits of godly men, and yet we fail to make ourselves humble servants of God then our work is all in vain. We are first and foremost servants of God seeking to make Him the master and ultimate authority of our lives.

II. The Godly Man Must Not Be Quarrelsome

Moving on, my second point is that the Godly man must not be quarrelsome. This is simple enough. As men of God and as the Lord’s servants, we are commanded to not quarrel. There is no room for any of us to escape the scope of this verse. It is stated clearly that if we are to be the Lord’s Servants then we must not quarrel. The first obvious question to ask is what is a quarrel? I think a dictionary definition will suffice here. Quarrels can be defined as “an angry dispute or altercation; a disagreement marked by a temporary or permanent break in friendly relations.” Quarrels are fights which disrupt relationships and cause division in the church and amongst friends. You can see the danger here since we are called, as Christians, to be models of Christ’s love to each other and to the world. The two greatest commands are to love God and our neighbors. How can we, as devoted servants of Christ, fulfill these commands if we are constantly fighting and arguing with each other? Let us examine this sin and see how we can fight it.

1. The Sources of Quarrels: First, we need to identify the underlying causes which lead to quarrels.

A. Ignorant Controversies: One cause is foolish and ignorant controversies. A verse earlier in our passage from 1 Timothy 2, Paul exhorts Timothy to: “have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.” We must avoid involving ourselves in arguments and conversations that are harmful and damaging and just flat-out stupid. This obviously covers a broad array of topics and requires for us to use discernment. I can’t give you an exhaustive list of what is a foolish and ignorant controversy. We shouldn’t be trying to see how careless we can be in our actions and words without sinning. As servants of God we should seek to stay as far away from these controversies as we can.  When I think about how this can apply to us what comes to my mind is avoiding gossip, avoiding conversation where we subtly tear down someone’s reputation, or sharing information we really have business sharing.

B. Warring Passions, Unfulfilled Desires, and Covetousness: Another cause is our warring passions, unfulfilled desires, and covetousness. James 4:1-2a says, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you fight and quarrel.” James identifies the problem that is causing his readers to quarrel and fight with one another. We have passions that are warring to master and control us, we have sinful desires that go unfulfilled and lead to jealously. When these sinful passions meet ignorant and foolish controversies they ignite and produce dangerous quarrels.

2. The Effects of Quarreling:

A. It does no good, but only ruins the hearers: 2 Timothy 2:14 says this, “Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.” If we get caught up in ignorant controversies it ruins our testimony for those who are watching our lives. They can see that though we may preach lofty things, our lives show that our desires and passions still master us.

B. Quarreling spreads conflict like fire: Proverbs 26:21 says this,”As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife” Another consequence of quarreling is that it can spread and lead to more conflict. Just as one spark can set a forest ablaze, one quarrel can create division and conflict within a church or amongst a large group of people.

3. How to Avoid Quarreling: Ultimately, our fight against quarreling is one battle out many, over who will be master over our lives: God, or sin. One master, our flesh, is pulling us towards ignorant controversies as a way to fulfill our selfish desire and soothe our jealousy. Another master, Jesus Christ, is telling us, along with Paul in 1 Timothy 2:22 to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. As we seek to be men of God, let us seek to obey and become more like our Lord Jesus Christ. After all he has already set the example for us, and given us the ability to follow him through his sacrifice on the Cross. As it says in Matthew 12:19-21: “He will not quarrel or cry aloud, now will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

4. Putting off is not Enough: Many of us, if we don’t particularly struggle with quarreling, may be tempted to think that we’ve so to speak, finished the job; however, putting off the old self is only half the battle. Ephesians 4:22,24 tell us: “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires… and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” We must not only put off, but also put on. We must not only flee youthful passions, but also pursue righteousness. This is where many of us, including myself, drop the ball. Although we may not sin openly through sins of commission, we sin subtly through omitting to fulfill this next command.

III. The Godly Man Must Be Kind to Everyone

This brings me to my final point: the godly man must be kind to everyone. You’ll notice that apply the same absolute word “must” that I applied to not being quarrelsome, I am now applying to being kind. If you look back at the verse, it says: “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone.” That same absoluteness that Paul applies to the negative command, he also applies to the positive command. No Christian is exempt this duty. If we are to be the Lord’s servants and men of God then we must be kind. Not only that, but Paul gives us another extreme absolute:  we must be kind to everyone. No one is to be excluded from our kindness. We are to be kind to our friends, our families, those at school and at church, those who have things to offer us, and those who don’t. The first question then to naturally ask is what does it mean to be kind? Kindness can be defined as: “Showing tenderness or goodness; disposed to do good; averse to hurting or paining; benevolent; gracious.” From this definition we can see that being kind is the exact opposite of being quarrelsome. Being quarrelsome creates strife and stems from foolish controversies and selfish desires, whereas being kind creates harmony and stems from the Spirit’s fruit in a gentle loving heart. I have two points on the nature of kindness.

1. Kindness does good to others: My first point is that kindness does good to others.  Kind people actively seek to work for the good of those around them. It is not passive; it is expressed through what we do with our actions and words. We cannot become kind merely by sitting around and not fighting with one another; kindness requires hard work and initiative to look out for how we can serve our brothers and sisters. This virtue of kindness is a lot harder than it looks. Do we actively seek the good of those around us? Do we this to everyone? Or are selective in those we choose to be kind to? Are we apathetic towards the needs of others, and more concerned with our own needs? Or even worse, are we actively opposing kindness by creating quarrels and strife? Kindness does good to others.

2. Kindness acts with a gracious and caring spirit: My second point is that kindness acts with a gracious and caring spirit. Not only are we to do good to everyone, we are to do so in a gracious and caring way, not begrudgingly or out of selfish ulterior motives. When we seek the good of others we are to be gentle, humble, and loving; we are to put their needs before our own. This already hard virtue now becomes even harder. The truth of the matter is that many people are hard to love; many people have little to offer us back in return for our love. And yet, we are called to be kind to them just the same. This is not glamorous work. A lot of have this idealistic picture of unconditional love; we think that laying down our lives for someone who doesn’t deserve it will be a reward in itself; but in reality, it’s hard work. It really is called unconditional love because we don’t want to do it and apart from Christ, there is no reason to be kind to everyone.

3. How to become kind: How then can we gain this virtue of kindness?

A. It is the fruit of the Spirit: My first point is that it is a fruit of the Spirit. We cannot achieve real kindness on our own; it is a work of God in us through his Spirit. Galatians 5:22 says this: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.” As we strive to follow God, his Spirit does a divine work in us and cultivates kindness in our hearts. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility to obey God, our heavenly Master. There would be no purpose in commanding us after all, if we were not expected to work hard to obey that command. We are to work hard to be kind with the knowledge that true kindness comes from the Spirit.

B. We look to the Example of Christ: As we seek kindness we must always look back to the example of our Saviour. He has set the example for us of perfect kindness. He sought our highest good with a gracious and caring spirit by dying on the Cross for us while we were undeserving. Earlier I quoted Titus 3:3-5 which says:

““For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:3-5)

Christ has showed us loving kindness. So as we seek to be kind people, let us examine, study, and appreciate the kindness of Christ that he demonstrated all through his earthly life and most clearly when he died to save us according to his own mercy.

IV. Application?

The application for this message is pretty simple: we are not to be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone. As we close, however,  let me end with a final thought. I think a lot of us, especially as Passive Asian males, have a tendency to make kindness a very selfish thing. We can use kindness or being nice as a way to make friends and to get people to like us. I couldn’t help but think of Wong Fu’s nice guy video/campaign: where the nice guy who was always forgotten and trampled on has his kindness recognized in the end and he gets the girl. I think this is the attitude we take on sometimes. We want people to notice and appreciate the nice things we do. We want to be rewarded and applauded as being good guys. If you think about it, this is a very self-seeking fake kindness. The purpose of kindness for the godly man is not for the praise of man; kindness flow is out of love and gratitude to our Master who bought us by becoming a slave for us and dying to rescue us. We owe him everything. So my closing encouragement to you guys is let us humbly pursue kindness as servants out of love and devotion for our master, not out of any ulterior motive. We are only slaves doing our duty to the Master who has given it all for us.

How Language Helps Us Appreciate God’s Holiness and the Gospel

Since I have to review/study for finals anyway, I figured I’d write some Humcore related posts that I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. Good luck getting through this! Hopefully these posts aren’t too dorky, and are somewhat helpful to those of you reading.Our first funny named man is a  Jewish philosopher, and commentator on the Law named Maimonides (my original title for this series was “Men With Funny Names”). Most of Maimonides arguments hinge on two main premisces: 1. that God’s essence (that is, what is crucial and unchanging to his identity) is one of complete simplicity and incorporeality, and 2. that human language is woefully insufficient to describe Him.

Honestly, I think his first premisce is whack, and I don’t really understand how he get’s there. His arguments on language are much more interesting. Maimonides rejects the idea that you can apply any positive attributes to God, because God is incomparable, and any attempts to classify him necessarily rely on human analogies. For example, when we say that God is merciful, we posit what we know of human mercy on to God, and draw a relation between the two. Maimonides calls this flawed reasoning, because in order to make a comparison between two things, in this case human mercy and divine mercy, they must share a certain likeness, meaning that there “is a certain relation between two things” and be of the same species, meaning that “their essences are the same– even if those two things differ in regard to bigness and smallness or strength and feebleness, or in other similar ways”. We cannot compare things that lack these. For example we cannot meaningfully compare heat to color or voice to sweetness. Therefore, according to Maimonides, since there is no “relation between He and that which is other than He–it follows necessarily that likeness between Him and us should be considered nonexistent”*. Maimonides cites scripture references to back up his claims: “To whom then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal?” (Isaiah 40:25), “There is none like unto Thee, O Lord.” (Jeremiah 10:6) Maimonides concludes that since we lack any relations with God it would be futile to praise Him for human virtues. It would be “as if a mortal king who had millions of gold pieces were praised for possessing one hundred silver pieces.” What solutions does Maimonides propose? We can only begin to accurately describe God through negations: by saying what God is not, and through His actions– you can describe someone’s actions while not giving him attributes. Even then, we are left with only a vague apprehension of God.

Needless to say, it is a big problem if we as Christians can’t praise God for his attributes; if our praise is not only inadequate, but offensive since we fail to describe God as he really is in His perfection. I think Maimonides arguments, at least on language, are pretty spot-on; however, I would argue still that we can use language to describe and praise God, because one word makes all the difference: Holy. I will now rely heavily on R.C. Sproul to show how this works. First, he gives this helpful definition of holy:

“The primary meaning of holiness is “separate.” It comes from an ancient word that means “to cut,” or “to separate.” To translate this basic meaning into contemporary language would be to use the phrase a “cut apart”… God’s holiness is more than just separateness. His holiness is also transcendent. The word transcendence means literally “to climb across.” It is defined as “exceeding usual limits”… When we speak of the transcendence of God, we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us. Transcendence describes His supreme and absolute greatness… It points to the infinite distance that separates Him for every creature. He is an infinite cut above everything else.”

Furthermore he adds this crucial distinction:

“God is called holy in a general sense. The word is used as a synonym for His deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is. It reminds us that His love is holy love, His justice is holy justice, His mercy is holy mercy, His knowledge is holy knowledge, His spirit is holy spirit.”

Do you see how this easily solves Maimonides’ dilemmas? Instead of writing a painfully dense treatise, Maimonides could have just called God holy and saved me a lot of time and effort! God, in his providence, created a word that can accurately capture his essence. When we call God merciful, we need not rely on fallible analogies of human mercy; instead, we call God and his mercy holy. In doing this, we acknowledge God’s transcendence: he is an infinite cut above us, and his mercy is infinitely beyond and set apart from our own mercy. In terms of application, I think this is helpful even beyond the nerdy realms of Humcore, as we seek to praise our great God and understand his character. When we call God holy, we praise for God being infinitely beyond us, so much so that it cannot even be expressed in language. We cannot even begin to comprehend how God’s ways surpass our own; our minds cannot formulate words or thoughts to grasp the eternal gap. I hope this can expand our understanding of God’s holiness, and leaves us in absolute awe before this God, who is not just once or twice Holy, but three times “Holy, Holy Holy!”

Furthermore, an understanding of Maimonides arguments should give us a greater appreciation for the Gospel. Maimonide’s studies through the Old Testament left him with a vague distant God so far beyond us that only the wisest  of sages could begin to understand him. Praise God that he did not leave us to use our intellects to find him! He came to us: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) We need not wonder at who God is; we can behold the Son who came to Earth so that we could know Holy God.

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“Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy. holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:2-3)

*It should be noted, Maimonides rejects the idea that Humans are made in the image of God due to premise 1. His belief of scripture is that it written as one cryptic parable for the intellectual elite, and not for the ignorant masses

(Emotions and Affections Pt. 2)

I think it is helpful in the daily battle for proper emotions and affections, to dwell often upon what we deserve. This simple act of stopping to reassess reality in light of eternal truths brings much-needed perspective to the distorted selfish ways of thinking we so easily fall into. It is difficult for me to constantly fix my mind on God. Oh, how I long to be consumed always with His wondrous majestic truths! And yet,  even with the best of intentions, I settle for lesser things. I allow fleshly desires, and earthly worries to usurp God from his rightful place. Instead of viewing life in light of God, I see my circumstances through a lens of pride, unthankfulness, discontentment, and ungodliness.

That is why it is paramount to constantly remind ourselves of God’s unwarranted grace towards us.  We deserve nothing. How humbling it is to think of the absoluteness of that statement! We are “unworthy servants” who deserve no privileges or rights from the master (Luke 17:7-9). If it’s true then that “every good good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights”, then every blessing we receive, no matter how small, is an oppurtunity to see God’s  unmerited favor in our lives.  Even the most minute details are evidences of grace, intended for our joy. John Calvin expertly writes, “There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world, that is not intended to make men rejoice” Think about that. Every subtle expression of beauty: a blade of grass or bit of color should evoke wonder in us because they are undeserved gifts.

Of course, we know God blesses us with far more than just color and grass. How much more so then should we rejoice at his greater gifts! Are we due health, food and drink,  or the privilege of education? By no means! Are we entitled to friendship, religious freedom, or easy access to the bible? We are not. We do not even deserve this day to be alive. When I stop to think of all that God has bestowed on me, I am simultaneously dumbfounded by God’s love, and ashamed by my daily failure to recognize it. Think of the joy to be had, if we recognized and praised the abundance of gifts that God graciously gives everyday!

I would be remiss if I ended without speaking of the Gospel: the ultimate Gift that dwarfs every other blessing, the gift that we most profoundly do not deserve. Jesus Christ, perfect Holy God, became man to lay down his life for me, a wretched sinner, to adopt me, to make me a child of God. May I never move past the breathtaking truth of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In light of this unfathomable love, what reason have I to complain? What cause have I to be discontent and despondent? How can I not rejoice, worship, and give thanks to the God who has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3)

I’ll end with a video that I posted earlier on tumblr. I keep watching this over and over again. Every time  it gives  a sobering rebuke to my selfish ungrateful heart. How can I lose sight of God’s blessing in my life, when others around the world live with nothing? How can I remain ignorant to their tremendous pain, and dwell instead on my trivial worries? And most importantly, how can I lose sight of the power of the Gospel?

“God in eternity looked upon me forseeing my faults, my pride, my sin, and said, ‘I want that man in my family. I will pay for him to be in my family with my Son’s life.‘ That’s love folks. That is mega off-the-charts love”  (John Piper)

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“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24)

I write this post as the foremost of offenders. I know I often employ “we”, and other collective pronouns, but I write this primarily to rebuke and preach to myself. Also, I’m not completely sure what the title means. I just remembering seeing it on a Yu-Gi-Oh card. xD

Here’s an essay for Humanities core that I just finished writing! The prompt was to define how plot or style affects the meaning of Genesis 22, the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. There was also an option to use other passages to comment on the meaning. Good luck getting through it. It’s pretty long… Honestly, I have no idea how much sense this makes, but I had fun writing it!

A cursory glance at Genesis 22 would likely lead one to condemn God’s test as arbitrary, cruel, and unnecessary; however, upon closer examination, we see that God’s acts with a clear and real purpose. Elements of plot throughout the story reveal that God’s test is for his glory: it is a means to magnify himself as the utmost authority and source of joy. God’s rightful and noble desire is that he would be seen as perfectly faithful and upright by his creatures, and that he would be worshipped and rejoiced in as a precious treasure by them in response. Abraham’s unquestioning obedience to God’s authority in sacrificing his son displays trust in the faithful character of God, and shows him as the supreme treasure.

God’s description of Isaac as Abraham’s only beloved son in his command emphasizes his desire to be glorified and valued over the blessings he has given and promised. God calls Isaac, “your son, your only one, whom you love, yea, Isaac” (Genesis 22:2) In a figurative sense, this description has far reaching implications on God’s own supremacy over his past and future blessings. First, God calls Isaac “your only son.” Sons in Abraham’s patriarchal society meant legacy; they were, in essence, an extension of the father’s life. If Isaac were to be killed Abraham would be left childless without an heir to carry on his name. God’s promises of a great nation that would possess land and bless other nations, could not be fulfilled without a son. In addition to designating Isaac as Abraham’s only son, God bestows on Isaac a special title of affection: the son “whom you love.” Abraham’s is not connected to Isaac solely for the fulfillment of future promises; he is also a father who loves his son. In a society where close family ties were essential, fathers valued and treasured their sons as precious possessions. Chapter 21 describes Abraham’s deep love for his son when he, in his joy, “made a great feast” to celebrate God’s miraculous gift of Isaac.  God is making a point about himself by establishing Isaac in his command as both the means to greatness and as Abraham’s beloved child. If Abraham sacrificed his only heir, he would lose the son he loved, and the great nation, land, and blessing that would be accomplished through Isaac. It is necessary, therefore, in order for Abraham to comply to God’s command for him to acknowledge that obedience and submission to God is better than all these things.

God’s purpose of self-glorification is fulfilled through Abraham’s obedience to his test. Abraham’s acquiescence in the midst of trials shows his submission to God as the rightful and ultimate authority. Since Abraham speaks so rarely throughout the story, every word he does say heavily defines his character and actions. One of Abraham’s few lines is the repeated use of the phrase “here I am” (Genesis 22:1,11). The repetition demonstrates Abraham’s humble submission to God’s authority.  To say “here I am” implies a response to someone’s call. It is passive, and non-authoritative. It presents oneself as ready to be further commanded, directed, and used by the one in authority, in this case God. Abraham acknowledges that because God is perfect, his will supersedes his own. God’s decrees should thus be followed immediately without question or complaint. This phrase “here I am” occurs at the very beginning of the story when God first gives the command and at the climax when the angel stops Abraham seconds before he kills Isaac. Abraham conviction never wavers from start to finish; he presents himself as a tool to be used in whatever way God wished. Abraham’s consistent attitude of submission displays God as the unquestioned authority who has power to direct and decide in whichever way he chooses.

Abraham’s outward compliance shows God’s supremacy over earthly treasures and authority over his life; but it is Abraham’s worshipful faith that most clearly highlights the praiseworthy beauty of God’s character. Abraham’s obedience is not motivated out of fear or guilt; but rather out of faith with confidence towards God. When one places faith in someone to keep their word, he demonstrates belief in that person’s faithfulness. He is willing to sacrifice and endure hardship and uncertainty for their sake, because he trusts that person will keep his promise. In the same way, Abraham, through his speech, exalts God by trusting in his faithful character. Abraham tells his servants, “We will prostrate ourselves and return to you” (Genesis 22:5). Abraham believes that both he and Isaac will descend the mountain, alive and together. Abraham’s faith wasn’t based on how his circumstances appeared; rather he based it on what he knew about God’s good and unchanging nature.  He trusted that God’s promises were perfect. Therefore, he would keep his word to establish Abraham a great nation and land. It was thus impossible for Isaac to die. Abraham knew this. He went up to the mountain knowing that God would somehow miraculously intervene, and that he and Isaac would descend the mountain together. God rewards Abraham for his faith, and shows that he is indeed good and faithful in keeping his promises. He declares that because Abraham did not withhold his son he would bless him with an innumerable offspring who would flourish among the nations of the world. Abraham had faith that God’s desire for his glory would never lead him to abandon his promises. He glorifies God first by choosing him over the blessings, but also by all the while trusting that God is perfectly good and faithful to fulfill his promises.

Even with an understanding of God’s purpose and how Abraham fulfills it, many would still condemn God’s test as self-serving and cruel; however, God’s treatment of himself through dialogue clarifies the logic of his zeal for glory. God’s unrestrained pursuit of his own glory through his testing of Abraham is not egotistical or selfish, nor is his test unnecessarily cruel. God’s perfection necessitates him to seek his own fame; for his own benefit, and the benefit of his creatures. We get a brief glimpse into this interaction between God’s perfection and his pursuit of glory by observing how he addresses himself. He says, “By myself have I sworn” (Genesis 22:16). Hebrews 6:13 comments on this passage, saying, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.” People swear by things greater than themselves, but there is nothing greater than God. When God wants to assure Abraham that his promises will come true, he can swear only to himself because only he is perfectly trustworthy. Likewise, when God wants to express and seek beauty and majesty, he must express and seek the beauty and majesty found in himself because only he is perfectly beautiful and majestic. It is narcissistic when a human seeks to extol his own perfection to others, only because it is untrue and hypocritical; humans have faults and shortcomings. God, however, is perfect in both his character and in all his ways. For him to desire to display his perfection over and above everything else is both a necessary and good desire. It is necessary because God’s perfect desires can be satisfied only by true perfection, and true perfection is found only in himself. His own perfection spurs him on; he must display his glory above every other imperfect object (Mohler). Furthermore, it is good because there is no more loving thing for God to do than to present his creatures with himself. It would be a disservice to Abraham for God to allow him to become enamored with gifts, instead of the Giver himself. True joy comes from gazing upon excellence; there is no treasure: great nation, son or land that could give more joy than God’s unblemished perfection.

God does not behave irrationally or arbitrarily in the story of Genesis 22. By testing Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God seeks to show himself as the ultimate authority and source of joy. He desires to be seen as the most valuable prize; more precious than any beloved son, or grandiose promises of future splendor. God wants to remind Abraham that the chief benefit he has obtained through his faith is not any material temporal possession, but rather favor, and a relationship with God himself. Each word spoken, command given, and blessing awarded in God’s test is carefully arranged for Abraham to demonstrate His worth above all things. By obeying God and trusting in his character through his words and deeds, Abraham rejoices and worships God as the supremely worthy treasure.

Ultimately, the messages of plot in Genesis 22 cannot be understood fully apart from the larger context of God’s story. God’s pursuit of his glory, demonstrated in his testing of Abraham, finds full expression and fulfillment in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; God brings the unfinished story that began with Abraham to completion in a climactic display of perfect love. The plot of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac serves as a starting point and type that points to and magnifies Jesus’ death on the cross. Through the death of his son, God exalts himself to his creatures by perfectly fulfilling his promises to Abraham and by trumping Abraham’s obedience with an act requiring even greater sacrifice.

When the Old Testament is viewed as one continuous story, one has to question God’s faithfulness to his word. His promises to Abraham remain unfulfilled at the end of the story. God swore in Genesis 12 and 22 to give Abraham and his offspring a “great nation”, “land”, and the privilege of being a “blessing” unto other nations (Genesis 12:1-3). Yet at the close of the Old Testament, Abraham’s descendants are in a miserable state. They are under captivity, without land, and possess minimal influence. These seemingly empty promises are remedied by the work of Jesus. From a pragmatic material perspective, the death and resurrection of Christ does little to alleviate Israel’s woes; they remain under Roman rule in Roman land under Roman culture. From a heavenly perspective, however, Christ’s triumphant victory over death perfectly achieves God’s promises, confirms the truth of God’s faithfulness, and brings the plot of Genesis 22 to completion. Galatians 3:14 speaks of the purpose of Jesus’ death as occurring, “so that in Christ the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” First, God’s fulfills the promise of blessing other nations by extending salvation to the Gentiles. God’s relationship is no longer exclusive to Israel; now, by the promised Spirit through faith in Christ, anyone can be blessed by God’s perfection. Second, God fulfills the promise of a great nation by redeeming a people for himself and uniting them under his son. 1 Peter 2:9 addresses those united in Christ as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Those who believe in Christ become the great nation that Israel never was. Finally, God fulfills the promise of land by granting heaven for those raised with Christ in his resurrection. Ephesians 2:6 says that, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Believers gain an eternal land from which “they shall never again be uprooted” (Amos 9:15). God’s promises are fulfilled perfectly through Christ. He does this not through a human nation, an earthly land, or in a blessing of riches or knowledge. Blessings of this kind are temporal; they pass and fade away. God rewards Abraham’s faithfulness with work of his son which endures forever. Through this gift, God proves himself to be perfectly faithful by fulfilling his promises in a lasting eternal way.

Moreover, God exalts himself above Abraham by going above and beyond Abraham’s obedience with an act of supreme sacrifice. He foresaw that readers of Genesis 22 might be tempted to focus on Abraham’s and Isaac’s humble obedience to God. This man-centered interpretation would rob God of the worship that he seeks and deserves. God in his divine wisdom, for the sake of his fame, supersedes Abraham with a greater act. Abraham is called to sacrifice his only beloved son as a test of his devotion, but at the last moment Isaac is spared. God does not spare his son, but sacrifices him instead as a display of his devotion to his creatures. Though Jesus was perfect and undeserving of death, God chose to sacrifice him to redeem his creatures in order that his praise might be magnified. God’s ordaining of the death and resurrection of Jesus surpasses Abraham’s obedience as the greatest expression of sacrificial love ever shown.

God’s quest for adoration extends beyond the confines of Abraham’s and Isaac’s story. The messages of plot in Genesis 22 which give insight into the nature of God’s purpose and Abraham’s submission to that purpose, also gives us a lens through which to examine God’s actions throughout Scripture. God’s story hinges and centers on Christ and his work on the cross. He most clearly displays the perfection of his moral character through the sacrifice of his only beloved son. There he shows his faithfulness in the eternal completion of his promises, and in his unmatched ability to love sacrificially. God desires for this perfect deed to be seen and rejoiced in by his creatures.

I’m currently taking a class called Humanities Core. Interestingly enough, the theme of the course this year is “The Human and Its Others: Divinity, Society, Nature.” So far we’ve been discussing and picking apart different conceptions of god. Right now the focus is on Judaism and Christianity. It’s been quite interesting, and intellectually challenging to hear Christianity examined through a philosophical, literature-oriented lens. I figured it’d be good to write brief posts whenever criticism’s and challenges are posed to Christianity to make sure that I can adequately grasp and defend my faith.

A few days ago in discussion, we examined selected portions of Luke 6:

³² “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.³³And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.³⁵But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.³⁶ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Emphasis mine)

My professor argued that in this instance the style seems to undermine the basic message of the passage. As Jesus talks about love that selflessly gives and expects nothing in return, his language is filled with talk of finances and rewards. If we follow his advice, it seems that though we may appear to love selflessly, we are really doing it to build up credit with God. Our act is not centered on others; rather, we only perform good deeds so that we might reap a reward. Is this true? Are we as Christian’s selfish, only obeying God for what’s in it for us? Is our talk of love for Christ, and the Gospel only a guise for hearts that seek our own highest good?

It is necessary to clarify what exactly the reward is for the Christian. Is it heaps of gold, piles of silver, and shiny crowns? Is it supreme happiness? Is it a heavenly playground, where we can frolic pain-free for eternity? It would seem that if we accepted the Gospel with these as the chief reasons, we could rightly be called selfish. All our religious duties would be for our own good. God and others would be means for our own happiness and self-preservation, rather than ends in themselves.

Obviously, I don’t agree with that view of the Christian reward. Our ultimate reward is not heaven, or even happiness (though they’re still pretty darn cool); these are merely byproducts of the real one. What then is our treasure? 1 John 1:20 says, “And  we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” Our treasure, and proper reward is Christ; it is knowing God fully and being found in him completely, through what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. There is no distinction between the reward we will receive and Jesus, the one who made our reward possible. Our reward is eternal life, and Jesus is eternal life.

We find that the desire for reward, spoken of in Luke 6, is not self-centered; rather it is radically God-centered. When a man is able to love his enemy because he sees Christ as the greatest treasure, God is glorified. God is shown to be more valuable than our selfish notions of revenge, and our petty conceptions of justice. God is exalted because our love towards our enemies points back to and magnifies the love the Father has shown towards us (v. 36)

As always C.S. Lewis addresses this issue far better than I could ever do in this rather long quote. In his sermon,  The Weight of Glory, he writes:

We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of reward. There is the reward which has no natural connexion with the things you do to earn it, and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it. A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love. The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.

Seeking to obey Christ in anticipation of the day where we will see Him, know Him, and be fully like him is hardly mercenary. 1 John 3:2-3 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” We  follow Christ, conform ourselves to his image, and (as Paul says in Phillippians 3:8) count everything as loss, in order that we might gain Christ! He is the consummation, the goal, and the proper reward.

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⁵The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. ⁶The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. (Psalm 16:5-6)