I was reading through 1 Peter this morning and was struck by how much our mind and our thinking was emphasized. Mind appears in every chapter of 1 Peter...
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
We are told three times to be "sober-minded", to prepare our minds for action, to be mindful of God when suffering, to have unity of mind, and a humble mind. From 1 Peter it looks like to me that having a "mind" in these ways is to have an eternal perspective. Prepare our minds for action by setting them on Christ's return, think of God when suffering, being humble and being on guard. It is true that our actions are a direct result of where our hearts are, but as believers we have been given the power through Christ's divine power (2 Pet 1:3-4) to control our thoughts and speak truth to our souls and hearts. This does not mean that there is not a battle with our flesh (Rom. 7, Gal. 5), but God's power is greater than our sin. On the other hand, for the unbeliever, he does not have power over his thoughts and heart because he is a slave to sin (Rom. 6). What good news and news I need to hear this morning as I prepare to go to work; Christ's power is greater than my heart and has in fact regenerated my heart, and I can control my thoughts through His power for he has been pleased to supply me with this power! Oh, that I would take advantage of this great gift more and more!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Biblical Theology
One of my favorite theological subjects to study and think through is the unity of the Old and New Testaments. One could call this biblical theology. This entails seeing the unity of the Scriptures, seeing the Bible as a whole, as one, seeing the fulfillment of the Old in the New, as well as other things. The desire to be able to see and teach Christ from the Old Testament was one major reason why I went on to seminary. I was giving a greater foundation and better tools there to think through this subject.
My understanding to interpreting Scripture is that Christ and His gospel is central to all and we must read in light of this. It is so cool to see explicit references to Christ like from 2 Samuel 7 where God tells David, "12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Then there was God's covenant with Abram in Gen. 12 where He says, "2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (see Gal. 3:7-9; Acts 3:25-26) There are so many more references like these that are just a joy to think through in the OT. Some of these include Gen. 9:27 (who does he refer to?); 15:1-5, Is. 53...and so many more. I think the major question is, "How does the NT interpret the OT?" It is a good exercise for us all to look up the original context of the OT Scriptures when they are used in the New. It is quite surprising at times how the NT authors use some of these verses yet it brings much insight into Bible interpretation. We will be learning of God and His ways for eternity!!
My understanding to interpreting Scripture is that Christ and His gospel is central to all and we must read in light of this. It is so cool to see explicit references to Christ like from 2 Samuel 7 where God tells David, "12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Then there was God's covenant with Abram in Gen. 12 where He says, "2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (see Gal. 3:7-9; Acts 3:25-26) There are so many more references like these that are just a joy to think through in the OT. Some of these include Gen. 9:27 (who does he refer to?); 15:1-5, Is. 53...and so many more. I think the major question is, "How does the NT interpret the OT?" It is a good exercise for us all to look up the original context of the OT Scriptures when they are used in the New. It is quite surprising at times how the NT authors use some of these verses yet it brings much insight into Bible interpretation. We will be learning of God and His ways for eternity!!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Jesus the Blue Collar Worker
A couple of weeks ago, Matt, one of my pastors at SGC, made a comment about Jesus just making ends meet for His family until He launch unto His ministry with the twelve. I was thinking about this statement and once again I was struck with Christ's humility. Before age 30, Jesus was a common working man much like myself, except He never sinned. From what I have heard, carpentry at that time and in that region involved a lot of stone work, so maybe we could say he was like a stone or brick mason. (On a side note, it is interesting that I work at a place that sells stone and brick and the like so I deal with people nearly daily that are in this profession.)
Anyway, as I think about man and how he sinned against Christ, my mind most often goes to the cross and the injustice done there. I think this is right that my mind goes here but I started thinking about Jesus in the marketplace and how He was surely sinned against there daily. I imagine that Jesus would have hired himself out as a subcontractor to do a certain building project for a certain amount of money. Maybe he didn't have a general contractor over him like the case is so often in America, but at least he had some sort of boss, a foreman or even the home/business owner. All this to say that Jesus would have been sinned against. Luke 2:52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom, so there would have surely been a time where He would not have known His trade as well. Perhaps a slight mess-up in His performance would have gotten Him yelled at. Maybe Jesus was late from time to time, of course sinlessly, yet perhaps His father made Him late and this caused Him to be sinned against by His superior. Even as we do our job well people are going to be jealous and sin against us, from gossiping behind our backs to cussing us out to our faces. I'm sure all this happened to Jesus. We could then go to His home life and know everyone in His family sinned against Him, from His parents taking their frustrations out on Him to His siblings trying to fight with Him.
I am saying all this to make two points; Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15), and how should I respond when I am sinned against? Jesus, the Son of God, who was God in the flesh, worked the majority of His earthly life as a blue collar worker and never sinned even in His heart about the true injustice done to Him daily. Jesus, in a very real way, was not stuck on His importance, yet took the form of a servant at the cross (Phil 2:7) and every other day of His life. I, on the other hand, sin in this area. My reaction is all too often, "How can you talk to me like that, do you know who I am?!" Or if I see I have inferior knowledge in a subject to someone else I will often think about something I have more knowledge in and compare myself to them. I have no right at all to ever have any sort of selfish ambition. I have no right at all to lash out, even in my heart, for I am not very important in the grand scheme of things yet Christ, the Lord of the universe, subjected Himself daily to evil on the job site and at the cross, yet did not sin in return. What humility! What an example! What a Saviour!
Anyway, as I think about man and how he sinned against Christ, my mind most often goes to the cross and the injustice done there. I think this is right that my mind goes here but I started thinking about Jesus in the marketplace and how He was surely sinned against there daily. I imagine that Jesus would have hired himself out as a subcontractor to do a certain building project for a certain amount of money. Maybe he didn't have a general contractor over him like the case is so often in America, but at least he had some sort of boss, a foreman or even the home/business owner. All this to say that Jesus would have been sinned against. Luke 2:52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom, so there would have surely been a time where He would not have known His trade as well. Perhaps a slight mess-up in His performance would have gotten Him yelled at. Maybe Jesus was late from time to time, of course sinlessly, yet perhaps His father made Him late and this caused Him to be sinned against by His superior. Even as we do our job well people are going to be jealous and sin against us, from gossiping behind our backs to cussing us out to our faces. I'm sure all this happened to Jesus. We could then go to His home life and know everyone in His family sinned against Him, from His parents taking their frustrations out on Him to His siblings trying to fight with Him.
I am saying all this to make two points; Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15), and how should I respond when I am sinned against? Jesus, the Son of God, who was God in the flesh, worked the majority of His earthly life as a blue collar worker and never sinned even in His heart about the true injustice done to Him daily. Jesus, in a very real way, was not stuck on His importance, yet took the form of a servant at the cross (Phil 2:7) and every other day of His life. I, on the other hand, sin in this area. My reaction is all too often, "How can you talk to me like that, do you know who I am?!" Or if I see I have inferior knowledge in a subject to someone else I will often think about something I have more knowledge in and compare myself to them. I have no right at all to ever have any sort of selfish ambition. I have no right at all to lash out, even in my heart, for I am not very important in the grand scheme of things yet Christ, the Lord of the universe, subjected Himself daily to evil on the job site and at the cross, yet did not sin in return. What humility! What an example! What a Saviour!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Chinese Delivery, sports, and God
Tonight, as with most Friday nights during this season of my life, I was out delivering Chinese food for Hunan K. I have to admit I don't always look forward to my second job, but it is much more bearable now that I only work two nights a week. There are some definite pluses to having this job (besides the money) that are enjoyable to me. For one I am able to hear quite a bit of sports radio. Tonight the discussions centered around the Super Bowl, which is coming up in less than two weeks, and to my surprise quite a few people are giving the Giants a chance to win, some even picking them to. I really don't mind who wins but I guess as I watch the game I will find myself wanting the Giants to win.
The biggest plus of this job though is by far the time I am able to spend with God, just enjoying Him and my unmerited position in Christ. Often this time looks like me having "Worship God Live" in the cd player, which right now would be my favorite worship album, and then God drawing my attention to His handiwork in the sky! How God displays His glory in the heavens has been marveled at for centuries; "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim His handiwork. Day to day pour forth speech, night to night displays knowledge" (Ps 19:1-2). God is clearly saying, "Here I am, and I am powerful"! Tonight as I was looking at the sky tract 4 of Worship God Live was playing, "You are the Way". This song just celebrates and worships Christ passionately for being the only way to the Father, and is taken straight from John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." What a precious truth for sure! But then couple that with Christ's handiwork in the sky and this just brings added joy to my heart. Hebrews 1 came to mind tonight, that Christ is upholding all thing by the power of His word! So the Son, who humble Himself so greatly in becoming man, is the only way to the Father, yet He is also the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of all things. This is cool! I can say with the psalmist that as for me it is good to be with God. This is where I am changed, not through striving or working, but just getting in the presence of God and staying there! Oh, it is a good place to be! The sons of Korah, whoever they were, once said that one day in God's courts is better than a thousand days anywhere else (Ps 84:10). They knew what they were talking about!
The biggest plus of this job though is by far the time I am able to spend with God, just enjoying Him and my unmerited position in Christ. Often this time looks like me having "Worship God Live" in the cd player, which right now would be my favorite worship album, and then God drawing my attention to His handiwork in the sky! How God displays His glory in the heavens has been marveled at for centuries; "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim His handiwork. Day to day pour forth speech, night to night displays knowledge" (Ps 19:1-2). God is clearly saying, "Here I am, and I am powerful"! Tonight as I was looking at the sky tract 4 of Worship God Live was playing, "You are the Way". This song just celebrates and worships Christ passionately for being the only way to the Father, and is taken straight from John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." What a precious truth for sure! But then couple that with Christ's handiwork in the sky and this just brings added joy to my heart. Hebrews 1 came to mind tonight, that Christ is upholding all thing by the power of His word! So the Son, who humble Himself so greatly in becoming man, is the only way to the Father, yet He is also the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of all things. This is cool! I can say with the psalmist that as for me it is good to be with God. This is where I am changed, not through striving or working, but just getting in the presence of God and staying there! Oh, it is a good place to be! The sons of Korah, whoever they were, once said that one day in God's courts is better than a thousand days anywhere else (Ps 84:10). They knew what they were talking about!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
First Time
I'm going to start trying to blog now resulting from the encourgement to do so from Rick. Rick is one of my pastors at Sovereign Grace Church in Greenville, SC. I'm thankful for him and all my pastors as they have stired me up "to love and good deeds" (Heb. 10:24). Not that a blog really qualifies as either love or a good deed but it is, as he explained, a good way to articulate your thoughts and put them down for your own growth and to let others in to your world. I don't want this blog to turn into a self-centered spewing of my own importance but rather what God is teaching me and the thoughts I have concerning Him and His word. Proverbs 18:2 says, "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,but only in expressing his opinion". I don't want to be a fool in this blog, but rather may I through this blog see Christ for more of who He truly is and help others see Christ in this way. That's my goal, my desire, the glory of Christ and the edification of others.
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