What Is Sustaining Grace?

Last Sunday, one of my pastor's preached an excellent sermon on the grace bestowed on us by Jesus, namely, His saving grace and His sustaining grace.  You can listen to it or download it here.  As I was listening to him describe Christ's sustaining grace, I was reminded of a poem of John Piper's that he expounds upon and explains during a sermon he gave on the same topic.  I think it's a succinct & helpful reminder of what God's sustaining grace is.

"Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble & pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain."

What Is the Bible Basically About?

Thanks to: Colin Hansen

Christians and Karma

Throughout the history of the church, one common temptation has been to import pagan concepts & practices into the church and intertwine them with Christianity itself.  This can be done intentionally.  Case in point would be the Old Testament Jews as their sons married Gentile daughters, thus adopting some Gentile religious practices into their daily lives.  However, my guess is the majority of these cases are unintentional.  Overexposure to any worldly concept can lead to a general acceptance of the idea, thus propping the door open for incorporation into everyday practice.  I believe this has happened today in the Christian church with the Hindu concept of karma.


If you're not immediately familiar with karma, I'm sure you will be after you hear the definition. Dictionary.com defines karma as "action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation."  Hindu philosophy holds that if the karma of an individual is good enough, the next life will be rewarding, and if not, the person may actually devolve and degenerate into a lower life form. In order to achieve good karma it is important to live life according to what is right (About.com).  Basically, karma means this: Do something good and something good will happen to you in return.  The opposite is also true.  Do something bad and something bad will happen to you in return.

Karma has recently been popularized by the TV show My Name Is Earl.  In the sitcom, Earl Hickey is a petty criminal whose winning $100,000 lottery ticket is lost when he is hit by a car. Lying in a hospital bed he develops a belief in karma during an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly. To turn his life around, he makes a list of every bad thing he's ever done in an attempt to correct them, as he believes that this is the only way he can gain positive karma. After doing his first good deed, he finds the lottery ticket he had previously lost. He sees this as a sign of karma rewarding him and, with his newfound wealth, he begins doing good deeds according to his list (Wikipedia).

It is this same concept of karma that many Christians have incorporated into their daily lives, many times unknowingly.  And I am not immune.  It was one of my most common prayers growing up.  After I had sinned in some way, I was convinced that God was going to punish me by making me play horribly in my upcoming baseball game.  So I would ask God to forgive me for my sins and to please punish me in any other way besides that.

Do you see what my belief was in that moment?  I believed that because I had sinned, God was going to punish me in some tangible way.  Likewise, the opposite was true as well.  I believed that if I did something good, God was going to reward me.

This is not the only way karma has infiltrated our Christian beliefs.  How do you view your relationship with God after you have completed a good quiet time?  Do you think that God is pleased with your efforts and predisposed to bless you throughout your day because of your great quiet time?  Or what about on the days that you've neglected your quiet time with Him?  Do you feel that God is now disappointed with your efforts and will not allow you into his presence as a punishment?

Or what about the common answer to the question, "How to you get to heaven?"  Sadly, many Christians answer this question the same other nonreligious folk.  If we do enough good things in this life such that the sum of them outweigh the bad that we have done, then God will grant us eternal life in heaven.

Friends, all of these examples embody the Hindu concept of karma.  We have borrowed karma and molded it into our everyday Christian practice.  In its basest form, karma is legalism and anti-Christian.

In fact, God shatters the concept of karma.  Despite all of the bad we do in our lives, God is patient with us in our sin.  Sin against a holy, just, & eternal God requires immediate & eternal death.  Yet we are still alive, eating God's food, living in shelters He has provided for us, hanging out with friends & family that He ultimately has created. And not only that, but God even goes so far as to offer us redemption & salvation from this impending death.  If karma were true, the moment we first sinned, we should have been struck down by God himself.  End of story. 

But for the Christian, God has flipped karma on its head. For those who love God, everything that happens to us is for our good.  "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).  Therefore, if you do good or bad, only good will come to you.  God's blessing & discipline alike are meant for your good.

I believe what is needed to counteract this disease of karma within the Christian church is a healthy dose of two doctrines: our adoption as sons & daughters into God's family and Christ's imputation. 

When you became a Christian, you were indwelt with the Holy Spirit and adopted into God's family.  You became a son of the Most High.  God now regards you as son!  A member of my church put it well in the sermon that he preached today.  "If my children disobey me, I love my children.  If my children continually disobey me, I love my children.  And if my children run to me and beg for forgiveness for their disobedience, I love my children."  As a Christian, God's disposition towards you does not change, sin or no sin.  He is your Father, and he is totally for you.

And secondly, when you became a Christian, something miraculous happened. Christ took all your sin - past, present, & future - upon Himself as He hung on that bloody cross and, in return, He gave you all of His righteousness, so that now, anytime God looks at you, he does not see damned sinner.  No.  He sees the righteousness of Christ himself.

So for the Christian who struggles with doing his quiet times, God does not distance himself from you.  No, God gets down on one knee and opens wide His arms to comfort His son.

For the Christian who struggles with continual sin, God does not see you as filthy sinner who has punishment coming.  No, He looks at you, counts you righteous because of the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf, and picks you up to carry you through your struggles.

And for the Christian who has done all he can to please the Lord in all he does, God treats him no differently than he does the previous two above.  He is His son, and good is coming to him.

If karma were true, we would all get what we truly deserve... immediate, eternal damnation in a place of isolation & torment.  Praise God that we live by the law of Christ and not the law of karma.

What Did Jesus Look Like?

Let's be honest.  Unlike most contemporary portrayals of Jesus, he was not a white American with long, flowing hair.  And though we cannot know exactly what Jesus look like until we get to heaven to see him face-to-face, we can make some good approximations.  Justin Taylor lays out these approximations well in his excellent post on what Jesus might have actually looked like.  Here's his visual conclusion:

Where to Quench Your Burning Thirst?

"Once my thirsty soul clamored for something to satisfy its wants; I hungered and I thirsted for righteousness; I looked to the heavens, but they were as brass, for an angry God seemed frowning on me; I looked to the earth, but it was as arid sand, and my good works had failed me. I had no righteousness of my own; all my wells were stopped up, and when the rulers dug the well with their staves, and sung, "Spring up, O well," still no water came. But I shall remember well, when my thirsty soul fainted within me, and God said, "Come here, sinner, I will show you where you may drink," and he showed me Christ on his cross, with his side pierced and his hands nailed. I thought I heard the expiring death shriek, "It is finished," and when I heard it, I saw a stream of water, at which I quenched my burning thirst; and here I am -

A monument of grace,
A sinner saved by blood;
The streams of love I trace
Up to that fountain - God;
And in his mighty breast I see
Eternal thoughts of love for me."

- An excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon entitled, "Christ - the Rock"

Biblical Storyline: Water from the Rock (Exodus 17)

Exodus 17. Here's the scene. God has rescued his people out of slavery to Egypt and is leading them to the Promised Land. He has just promised to provide them manna from heaven for the duration of their travels through the wilderness so that they will not starve to death. Now, the Israelites are thirsty. They are thirsty and begin to grumble against Moses and, ultimately, God. Surprising, huh? God has just proven himself faithful to his people, yet they still believe that they would have been better off if they were left in Egypt. How quickly I can forget the God's faithfulness.

Despite the grumbling and unbelief, God is merciful. He tells Moses to take his staff and strike the rock at Horeb, which God himself will be standing on. Once Moses strikes the rock, God promises that water will flow from the rock to quench Israel's thirst. Needless to say, Moses does just this, God is faithful, and the people drink.

Here's the big picture... This is another pointer to Jesus, who is the greater and better water. Listen to the words of Paul as he gives us the inside scoop on what was happening in Exodus 17.

"For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." - 1 Cor 10:1-4

The Rock was Christ. Moses struck the rock and water flowed that quenched the thirst of God's people so that they would not perish. But Christ was struck on the cross for our sins, and from him flowed living water that gives everlasting life. One drink of him, and we will never thirst again.

"A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again." - John 4:7-13

Related posts:

Biblical Storyline: Bread from Heaven (Exodus 16)
An Anticipation Come to Fruition

Wrong Question: "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?"

Ever ask the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Let me suggest that this is not the correct question to be asking. Why? The question is flawed. There are no good people in and of themselves.

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." - Romans 3:10-12

So, let's correct the question and restate it. "Why do bad things happen to bad people?" Nobody asks this question. Why? Because the answer is too evident... They deserve it. We all have sinned against a holy, righteous, & infinite God. Therefore, all we deserve is an immediate & brutal death.

Once we can grasp this truth, it's time to ask the hardest question of all. "Why do good things happen to anyone?" Good luck answering this one apart from Jesus Christ. I'll let Voddie Baucham Jr. take it from here.



Gotta give props to my wife. She first posted this video on her blog a few days ago, and I'm borrowing it. Thanks honey!

Biblical Storyline: Bread from Heaven

I'm still continuing to read slowly through the whole bible noting the the overarching story of the Bible. I'm currently in Exodus 18. The following few posts will be some reflections on what God has revealed to me this far through Scripture.

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Soon after God rescued his people from Egypt out of slavery, the Israelites began to grumble against Moses, Aaron, and, ultimately, God. They had little food to eat while traveling in the wilderness. "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full!" (Ex 16:3). Now remember... God had delivered his people out of the hands of the Egyptians. Would he not also provide food for their long journey to the Promised Land? Sadly, the Israelites had already forgotten all that God had done for them.

But God is merciful even when we sin against him. He replies, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you" (16:4). Every morning, God will rain down manna from heaven for his people to eat, and they are to gather only what they can eat for the day. By doing this and not gathering as much as possible for as long as possible, they are showing that they trust God to continue to provide food for them. And so it happened. God sent manna from heaven to his people so that they would not die as they traveled through the wilderness.

So what does this have to do with the overarching message of the bible? Skip ahead to John 6. The day after Jesus fed the 5000, he is stopped by the same crowd. After a short discourse, the crowd asks Jesus what sign he could give to prove he was sent by God. "What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus replied,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

To steal the phrase of Pastor Tim Keller, Jesus is the greater and better bread from heaven. The story of the manna from heaven during Israel's journey in the wilderness not only serves as a story of God's provision for and preservation of his people, but it also serves as a pointer to Christ. I believe God is saying, "Israel, I will rain down manna from heaven every morning for you eat so that you will not die of hunger. But there is a a greater and better manna coming. I will send him once, and if you take just one bite of this bread, you will never hunger again."

As I was reading through these passages, I created a comparison table of the manna in the Exodus and the true manna. Praise God for satisfying our hunger by giving us the true manna from heaven.

How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice

I really like to listen to sermons. Maybe I'm a sermon junkie. I opened up iTunes today and noticed that I have 513 sermons via podcast on my iPod... and that doesn't include a couple hundred others that are not counted as podcasts. Have I listened to all of them? No. Will I ever? Probably not. So why have all of them? My weary soul needs the Word of God preached to me all the time.

I do have my certain pastors/churches that I listen to consistent basis: John Piper, Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll, Covenant Life Church, Paul Tripp, Mark Dever, Tim Keller, my old church from college (Clear River Church), and most importantly, my home church (Sovereign Grace Church). In addition, I'll even listen in on some seminary classes from Covenant Theological Seminary and Reformed Theological Seminary. All of them have been great resources to make my soul happy in God and to teach me doctrine.

However, once in a while, I will come across a sermon that I will listen to over and over and over again. For the past year, that sermon has been How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice by John Piper. It is a fervent reminder to consider the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the fleeting pleasures of sin (Heb 11:24-26). It is a call to live with a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial, Christian flavor.

If you want to listen to it, you can either listen to the audio or video via the web, or you can download the audio to your PC. Here's a short excerpt. I hope it serves you as much as it has me this past year. I think I'll be listening to this on the way to work tomorrow.

"When he bids us leave the securities and comforts of life and take up a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial way of love in his service, it is not a path that we take alone. In fact, Jesus is there outside the camp in a way that he is nowhere else. He is not just telling us to go out there. He is inviting us come out here. Here is where I am. Come to me outside the camp.

The supremacy of Christ is not just his perfect fitness to bear our sins, and not just the supremely valuable future Reward that frees us from fear and greed and worldliness, but in his supremacy he is also now our present, personal Treasure.

And there he is outside the camp bidding us come. The sweetest fellowship with Jesus you will ever know is the fellowship of his sufferings.

So I say it one more time: My desire and prayer to God for you is that your life and ministry have a radical, risk-taking, sacrificial flavor.

Let us go to him outside the camp. For here we have no lasting city. But we seek a city which is to come, whose builder is God and whose light is the Lamb."

Calvin on Christ and Man

Having become with us the Son of Man, he has made us with himself sons of God.
By his own descent to the earth he has prepared our ascent to heaven.
Having received our mortality, he has bestowed on us his immortality.
Having undertaken our weakness, he has made us strong in his strength.
Having submitted to our poverty, he has transferred to us his riches.
Having taken upon himself the burden of unrighteousness with which we were oppressed, he has clothed us with his righteousness.

       - John Calvin

Thanks to: Zach Nielsen

What's the Purpose of the Parables?

Recently, D.A. Carson preached a message entitled, "The Purpose of the Parables" from Matthew 13:10-17, 34-35. Andy Naselli has published some of the notes from the message.

Thanks to: Andy Naselli

We Believe Him

"Our faith is a person; the gospel that we have to preach is a person; and go wherever we may, we have something solid and tangible to preach, for our gospel is a person. If you had asked the twelve Apostles in their day, 'What do you believe in?' they would not have stopped to go round about with a long sermon, but they would have pointed to their Master and they would have said, 'We believe him.' 'But what are your doctrines?' 'There they stand incarnate.' 'But what is your practice?' 'There stands our practice. He is our example.' 'What then do you believe?' Hear the glorious answer of the Apostle Paul, 'We preach Christ crucified.' Our creed, our body of divinity, our whole theology is summed up in the person of Christ Jesus."

C. H. Spurgeon, "De Propaganda Fide," in Lectures Delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association in Exeter Hall 1858-1859, pages 159-160.

Thanks to: Ray Ortlund