Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and God's Sovereignty

As Friday's devotion mentioned, this sermon post focuses particularly on God's sovereignty. Sovereignty (and the providence which results from sovereignty and God's love for us) can be sometimes be a tough theological truth to swallow, especially for "modern," Western Christians who have been raised in a culture of "self-determination" and individuality. Yet, it God's sovereignty is a very comforting, wonderful doctrine when it is viewed rightly, and the episode of this narrative found in Ge. 45-46 shows us several aspects of God's sovereignty. My prayer is that this sermon will help your view of God's sovereignty to be more biblical and comforting. You can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use a question we have talked about in previous sermons: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Friday, July 25, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: Providence

This Sunday's sermon post will focus on God's sovereignty, which is clearly seen in Ge. 45-46 in several ways. One of those ways is providence. Providence has been one of the two major themes that we've seen weaving its way through this narrative thus far, and we have had the chance to talk about it in several ways in several of the past sermons. We are not going to discuss the details of providence in this devotion because the sermon will talk about that, but we are going to discuss the comfort that the knowledge of God's providence can bring to our lives.

The Heidelberg Catechism has a really good statement about the comfort that God's providence can bring to our lives. In question 28 (which will be our confession of faith this Sunday) it asks, "How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?" And, it answers:
We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.
Let's consider this a line at a time. First: "we can be patient when things go against us." When we remember that God is in sovereign control of everything that happens to us and that He is our loving, faithful, heavenly Father (which are the two parts to providence), then "we can be patient when things go against us" and don't seem to make any sense because we can know that one day He will work them out for our good (Ge. 50:20; Ro. 8:28). Joseph's sale, slavery, and imprisonment didn't make any sense to him at first, but in our passage for Sunday, we see that he finally understands (at least in part) God's purpose in it. His patience paid off. The enslavement of the Israelite nation didn't make any sense to the Jews at first, but it does now that we can see the whole story. The crucifixion didn't make any sense to the apostles at first (even though Jesus had told them it was coming), and yet they soon figured out how crucial and important it is. And, I bet there are many things in your life that didn't make sense at first, but now that you can look back on them, you can see at least some part that God worked for your good or the good of others in them. Of course, you may be in the middle of something against you right now and cannot see any good reason for it, but be patient for your heavenly Father is working it for your good. As Spurgeon once said, "When you can't trace God's hand, trust His heart."

The next line is, "we can... be thankful when things go well." This is a convicting line in a comforting answer. How often do we pray for God to act and then forget to thank Him when He answers our prayers in the way we'd hoped? How often do we attribute success or prosperity to our abilities? When we realize that God in His providence never for a moment removes His hand from our lives, we'll start to see all things as a reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving; we'll start to realize that everything good is a gift of grace from our loving, faithful, heavenly Father (cf. Js. 1:17).

The third line says, "...for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love." This is simply a restatement of Ro. 8:38-39. Since God is always in sovereign control of everything that happens to us and, again, since He is our loving, faithful, heavenly Father, then we can know that nothing will separate us from His love. Since He is sovereign over this universe, nothing can take us out of His hand, and since God loves us with a never-stopping, never-giving-up, unbreaking, always-and-forever love, He will not let us go. His providence guarantees this comfort and makes promises like Ro. 8:38-39 absolutely certain.

And, finally, the HC states, "All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved." This is the doctrinal statement that comes from passages like Ps. 115:3; 135:5-6; 145:11-13; Jer. 27:5; Ac. 2:23; 4:23-31; 17:24-26; Eph. 1:11 that makes the three preceding comforts absolute and certain. Without God working "all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11), we can't have the comforts of patience during the hard times, thankfulness for the good, and knowing that nothing can pluck us out of God's hand (Jn. 10:29) or separate us from His love (Ro. 8:38-39).

Now, at this point, the modern, Western sense of autonomy with which most of us grew up tends to recoil and question whether this is really good or fair. Naturally, we want to be masters of our own "fate" or "destiny." But, consider that alternative carefully. I can maybe control the way I respond to what's going on around me in the world, but I can't control the world around me itself. So, how can I possibly think that I can be the master of my own destiny? The best I can do is attempt to respond circumstances that are largely out of my control in way that helps my future, but even then, I'm a sinful man and my even responses are not to be trusted. So, with such sinful, limited ability, how is it at all good for me to be the master of my own fate? Where's the comfort or peace in that? Yet, if God is sovereign and my loving, faithful, heavenly Father, then I can trust Him and rest in His hands. That's what Joseph does, and we'll get to see more of that, Lord willing, in Sunday's sermon post.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Transformation

Continuing our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah brings us to Ge. 43-44, which is one of the high points of this narrative, at least when it comes to the theme of gospel-change working in our lives. In the previous sermon, we saw Jacob and Joseph's brothers' consciences being pricked and awakened by God; yet we didn't actually see any transformation of their hearts. In Ge. 43-44, we see God use the tools of providence and guilt to transform Jacob and the brothers' hearts. It's a wonderful development in the plot of this story, and you can hear the sermon here or read the transcript here.

As we have stated in the past posts in this series, we are also learning the questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on the page of Scripture. In this passage, we do not learn a new question but reuse one we have already learned: What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? And, when we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His work of redemption. In this sermon, we also get introduced to another way of seeing Christ in these Old Testament stories: types. A "type" is a theological term for an OT person, place, or object that God ordained to serve as a predictive pattern for Christ and what He does for us, and we see Judah as a type of Christ at the end of ch. 44. If you want to learn how, you can hear the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Sunday, July 13, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Growth

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, we come to Ge. 42, where Joseph meets his brothers after more than 20 years of separation. Now, we have seen Joseph grow a lot in the past 20+ years in this story, but we have no idea what has been going on in his brothers or Jacob. Both Joseph and we need the answer to the question: How much have Jacob and Joseph's brothers grown in the past 20+ years? What is the state of their spiritual health? Well, we find that out in this passage and we learn a little about our spiritual health and growth as well. Unfortunately, because of a mix-up, this sermon was not recorded, but you can read the transcript here.

As we have stated in the past posts in this series, we are also learning the questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on the page of Scripture. In this passage, we do not learn a new question but reuse one we have already learned: What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? And, when we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need. With this passage, we can see ways in which we can examine our own spiritual health and see our need of Jesus for growth in those areas.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: Sanctification

Since this Sunday's sermon post will largely focus on spiritual health and our growth/sanctification as children of God, a little perspective on the biblical balance of God's work and our effort in sanctification would be helpful. The senior pastor of my church, Chris Hutchinson, has written an excellent article on this balance, which will be our devotion this week. If you would like to read it online in its original venue on The Aquila Report, you can find it here; otherwise it is below:
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Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. ~ Philippians 2:12-13

There has been quite the dustup recently in the Reformed world over the doctrine of sanctification. To over simplify things, some are saying that our sanctification primarily comes from remembering our justification, while others want a more rigorous attention to the effort we must contribute. I have no ambition to provide a comprehensive answer that will settle the dispute, but there is one often-neglected paragraph in the Westminster Confession of Faith that I believe can provide some peace to both sides, and thus settle at least some of the dust.

But first, we should not be surprised that there is considerable debate about sanctification among the Reformed. After all, the only remarkable thing about the Reformed doctrine of sanctification is that there is nothing remarkable about it. We are the ones who reject any sort of “golden key” solution to the problem. Other traditions offer a “second experience of grace,” the sacraments, or some one doctrine as offering the ultimate solve-all to the problem of ongoing sin in the Christian’s life. But the Reformed say we need all of the above, and even more. We are precisely in the already/not yet stage of our salvation, and so it must be messy – how could it not? We are already perfect – justified by simple faith in Christ (Romans 4:5); and at the same time not yet perfect – glorification still awaits us (Romans 8:23).

So of course we have discussions and debates about what this messy stage of sanctification looks like. And it may look different from Christian to Christian. A word in season to one believer may be a crushing discouragement to another. That is why we need wisdom – and even more, love for one another, that we might know how to speak in order to build up as each case requires (Ephesians 4:29; II Timothy 4:2).

But in all this, I believe that our forefathers wrestled through this problem well and produced a very helpful paragraph that is not as well known or used as I think it might be in these discussions. And that is Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2, from the chapter on Saving Faith, found just after the chapter on sanctification:
By this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein; and acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
Now to place this section in context, this chapter on saving faith follows the chapters on justification, adoption and sanctification – the three main benefits of redemption in this life (WSC 32). And so this chapter is written to ensure that we see salvation as full orbed. True saving faith is more than just a one-time decision to receive Christ, but is a life long and growing faith (cf. I Thessalonians 2:13 and I Peter 1:2, in which we are said to be “saved” by sanctification, which I take to be more than definitive, positional sanctification).

So WCF 14 begins with the reminder that saving faith is the work of the Spirit in our hearts “ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word,” and only then increased and strengthened by all three means of grace – Word, sacraments and prayer. This reminds us of the priority of the Word in Reformed ministry. The spoken promise of the Gospel is where we must begin all ministry, to believer and unbeliever alike. Sacraments and prayer assist this ministry, but nothing avails anyone unless they first passively receive the Word – not as actors but as those acted upon. Justifying faith is always and only passive as the Larger Catechism makes clear (WLC 72). If we lose this we lose any hope of providing a sure and certain assurance of salvation.

But then, unless we think that the Christian life is an entirely passive affair, the divines give us 14.2, as quoted above. This paragraph reminds us that following on our justification, the Christian life involves life-long repentance and obedience and even trembling. Every passage of the Bible must be believed and – once properly understood – applied. The Christian life involves action. It is Philippians 2:12b, straight up: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So is that it? Does that settle the debate? The “effort” side wins? It is almost as if the divines anticipated our present day dispute. Which, of course they did, since it was a dispute in their day as well (cf. The Rise of Moralism by C. Fitzsimons Allison). And so they went on to write this important sentence:
But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
The authors remind us that even though the Christian life must involve action, that which is principal is still passive – accepting, receiving and resting upon Christ alone. And note that this is not just for justification, but for sanctification as well. So the divines state that the principal acts of sanctification involve resting on Christ, not our own actions! And so now, it is Philippians 2:13: for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Now, I am not sure what that always looks like in any given situation. We have all known people who “try too hard” to live the Christian life and just end up making themselves and everyone around them burdened and depressed. I would suspect that most of us have been that person at some time in our lives. And so our word to them must be to rest. To remember their justification. To somehow depend upon Christ for the strength to be more holy. To slow down and relax a little. To enjoy their life and remember that in Christ, God has already approved their works and they should not try to be more than they are (Ecclesiastes 9:7; Colossians 2:8-23).

But we have also all known believers who take their salvation for granted and seemingly have little interest in increasing their faith and repentance. They need to be reminded of the first part of this paragraph; that if they have true saving faith, then they will respond to the Word with particular repentance, change and action, as various passages of the Bible are learned and understood. This is why pastors and elders must be involved in their parishioners’ lives so that the general Word in sermons may be specifically applied to individual situations through discipleship, with gentleness and patience (cf. Philippians 3:15; II Timothy 2:24-25).

And so this section of the Westminster Confession provides important guidance and balance to these discussions. To the “rest” side, it reminds us that the Christian life involves effort – God empowered effort, but effort nonetheless. And effort that at times even trembles at the threatenings of God’s Word. To the “effort” side, it reminds us that we must not make principal what God’s Word does not – that the principal acts of sanctification remain accepting, receiving and resting on Christ alone, and never our own efforts.

Now no ministry ever gets this balance perfectly and so we must be careful not to pick and pull at each violation lest we devour one another (cf. Galatians 5:15). But if, as a whole, a Reformed ministry does not remind its people that their sanctification involves ongoing repentance, change and trembling, then it fails its own confession at that point. Believing the Gospel leads to concrete application (cf. Romans 12:1ff; Ephesians 4:1ff).

And likewise, if a Reformed ministry fails to emphasize resting in Christ for sanctification, then it too falls short of the Confession. I have heard many preachers and conference speakers who have done just that. I have left such talks wishing that the speaker had first meditated upon WCF 14.2 before burdening their hearers with so many strong, specific and fleshly exhortations. They had reversed the Confessional order, making effort principal, rather than rest.

So I believe that there is enough in Westminster Confession 14.2 to satisfy and challenge both sides of the discussion. And if heeded, that some of the dust of this debate may peaceably settle, with all sides better able to listen well and balance out what may be imbalanced in their own ministries, rather than everyone else's.
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Pastor Hutchinson has many other excellent articles and resources that he has written, which you can find on this resource page on our church's website. I hope the above article has been a blessing to you, and on Sunday we will see God beginning growth in Joseph's brothers and Jacob.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Sunday, July 6, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Perspective

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, Joseph shows us what it means to have a God-centered perspective and how that carries us through both affliction and prosperity in Ge. 41. As we saw in the previous devotion, Joseph shows remarkable humility in this passage, and that's because he finds his core identity in who he is in relationship with God. Well, the sermon that goes along with this passage explains that perspective further, and it also talks about God's work in this world and our true hope in this life, all of which gives us a perspective that will carry us through both affliction and prosperity, just as it did for Joseph. You can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use the question we learned in last week's sermon: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Friday, July 4, 2014

The Gospel According to Joseph: Humility

As we continue through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, there are so many great aspects of this story that we won't be able to cover from the pulpit. The passage at which we will be looking this week, Ge. 41, is one of the high points of this whole narrative. In it we see the climax of God's providential work in and through Joseph, and in it we also get a great look at Joseph's character.

Remember, one of the things we noted in the very beginning of this series is that we can often see the gospel in the development of characters in OT stories, i.e. gospel-change working in their lives. In the previous chapters of this narrative, we have seen Joseph become a man who endures and serves God faithfully wherever God has put him. However, in Ge. 41 we get the clearest picture of Joseph's developing character so far, and one of the things that stands out is the humility that God has developed in Joseph.

Humility is a tricky virtue to nail down. It's the one fruit of the Spirit that when we look at it or gaze upon it in ourselves, it immediately becomes something else. That's because true, gospel-driven, Christ-centered humility isn't what we might normally think of as "humble." I think we often think that the opposite of pride is self-abasing, but that's not true humility. True humility isn't talking or thinking about how bad we are and constantly bemoaning our flaws or sin in our own minds or before others. Constantly thinking about or pointing out how lowly we are is just another way of putting ourselves at the center when it is Christ that should be at the center. Furthermore, when do debase ourselves in our minds or before others, what creeps into minds after that is how great it is that we're so humble, and we become proud of being humble! Listen to what Jonathan Edwards has to say about this aspect of humility:
If on the proposal of the question [Are you humble?], you answer, "No, it seems to me, none are so bad as I." Don't let the matter pass off so; but examine again, whether or no you don't think yourself better than others on this very account, because you imagine you think so meanly of yourself. Haven't you a high opinion of this humility? And if you answer again, "No; I have not a high opinion of my humility; it seems to me I am as proud as the devil"; yet examine again, whether self-conceit don't rise up under this cover; whether on this very account, that you think yourself as proud as the devil, you don't think yourself to be very humble.
C. S. Lewis called this cycle of fighting self-admiration and then admiring yourself for defeating your self-admiration "like fighting the hydra... There seems to be no end to it. Depth under depths of self-love and self-admiration."

That's because humility is the one fruit of the Spirit that flourishes when our thoughts and our gaze are on Christ and others and not at ourselves at all! Humility isn't thinking less of ourselves, it's thinking about ourselves less. It is "blessed self-forgetfulness," as Tim Keller calls it. Lewis has a great statement about this in Mere Christianity:
Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a bit envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. [Emphasis added]
And, in Ge. 41, we see this kind of humility in Joseph when he stands before Pharaoh. In that moment, he has the chance to put himself in the spotlight. He has the chance to show Pharaoh how useful he could be to him or how he's been treated so unjustly, but he doesn't take it. In fact, it is remarkable how Joseph points the spotlight away from himself towards God. He doesn't give any hint of trying to impress Pharaoh with his abilities, self-abasement, or anything else. He simply serves God faithfully and let's God handle the rest. Before Pharaoh, Joseph isn't thinking about himself at all. He's self-forgetful, and that's because he finds his true, core identity in his relationship with God and nowhere else. And, that will be one of the things we talk about this Sunday from Ge. 41: true identity in Christ.

In the mean time, when you read through Ge. 41, make note of Joseph's humility and how it is in his self-forgetfulness, not self-abasing.

By His Grace,
Taylor