Holding the Phalanx of the Christian Life

22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~ Ro. 7:22-25a

As I was reading through my devotional for this morning (which is New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp, and I highly recommend it), I was struck by something in Ro. 7 that I had never really thought about before. In vv. 22-23, Paul brings out how sanctification is a war in the Christian life. Yes, that is not really new, but the way I thought about it this morning was new to me. Sanctification being a war of sin, temptation, the world, my flesh, and the devil against my my union with Christ requires me to hold the phalanx of the Christian life and march forward always.

The Phalanx

The phalanx was an ancient battle formation that was really brought to its penical by the Spartans in ancient Greece. In the above photo, you get a pretty good picture of what it looked like (though, that photo is from the movie 300, which was really not representative of Spartan battle strategies in any other way than this one scene). The front line of soldiers would line up with shields in their left hand and spears in their right. The shields would overlap, so part of your shield protected you and part of it protected your comrade to your left. Then, the next line would do the same thing, putting their shields right up against the backs of the front line, and so on and so forth back--many ranks deep. Then, they would face another army, and the line would never break. The the Spartans would often just march over entire armies this way or even push entire armies off a cliff, if that was available.

Christian Life Warfare

Since sanctification is a war of sin, temptation, the world, the flesh, and the devil against my union with Christ and since that means I must hold the phalanx of the Christian life, it is then something constant and spiritually exhausting, when we do it in our own strength. Do you ever get tired of resisting temptation to the same sin over and over again? Do you ever get so tired that you give in? Me too. Holding the phalanx can be exhausting, and we often make the same tragic outcry Paul makes in v. 24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Holding the Line

Yet, what is Paul's answer to his outcry? It is that we never actually do hold the line on our own. We are never meant to! "Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord... There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Ro. 7:25-8:1) Our Savior--who is the only human ever to hold the line without it breaking ever in His life--delivers us and strengthens us; not just at the moment of our salvation but in every moment that follows throughout our whole life. He beckons us, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Mt. 11:28) He gives us rest, even in the midst of holding the phalanx in the spiritual battles of this life. A phalanx held by me will fail, but one held by faith in Jesus will hold until the end (cf. Php. 1:6).

The Shield of Faith

So, now that you know what the phalanx is, do you see why Paul used the metaphor of a shield for faith? In his metaphor about the Christian life and the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20), he says, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one." Faith in Jesus providing the strength we need is what protects us and what allows us to hold the phalanx, even in the midst of battle.

In Sparta, if you were a soldier, you could be caught without your sword or your spear during a time of war, and you might only receive a minor punishment. If you were caught without your shield, however, that was a capital crime. Why? Because being without your sword or spear would merely mean you could not go on the offensive in the phalanx, but if you did not have a shield, you were a weak point in the phalanx that might cost the whole army the battle. Your shield was absolutely essential, and you had to have it on you all the time during wartime.

For us, the shield of faith is something we cannot let drop for even a moment. We live by faith (Ro. 1:17) and walk by faith (2 Co. 5:7), for we must always acknowledge our need of Him and His gospel every moment. The war of the Christian life is not made of two or three "big" moments in life where temptation comes in a huge assault but of a million "little" ones in our daily, hourly, minutely life--the war is constant! And, we can face none of those moments on our own and hope to succeed. We must submit them all to Christ and His strength, praying that the gospel would drive us, strengthen us, and motivate us in Him to hold the line through them all. That is why Paul ends his metaphor of the armor of God by saying, "...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." (Eph. 6:18)

Holding the Line Together

There is one more thing I want to bring out: the phalanx was not a one-man line. That is obvious, but we need to think about the implications for us as believers. We hold the line against temptation with our shields of faith as a community of believers. I stand beside my brothers and sisters in Christ, and sometimes their shield of faith is what encourages me to keep mine up against the enemy. They might do this through their own prayers for me, through accountability, or simply through encouragement, but whatever way it is, one of the ways Jesus strengthens us to hold the line is through His body. We hold the line together.

O Lord, make this true of us today!

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: The LORD is Victorious

As we continue our way through the book of Joshua, we come to ch. 10, and, as I mentioned in the previous post, after this passage, we will skip ahead at "warp speed," covering twelve chapters of material in two posts: last Friday's and next's.In this story, we learn something important about the Christian life: God is always victorious, but sometimes His plan of achieving victory is quite peculiar.

If you have read much about Church history, you have probably read about the great persecutions of the Church in the first few centuries AD. There are many, many stories of the brutality that Christians endured, but in my opinion, one, in particular, stands out. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, persecution was not yet empire-wide, but it was quite heavy in certain areas. One of those areas was Gaul (the geographic region that would later become France). From that area, the church historian Eusebius recounts the story of a slave girl named Blandina, who suffered unthinkable tortures over the course of several days because she would not deny Christ. Eusebius reports:

Blandina was filled with such power, that those who tortured her one after the other in every way from morning till evening were wearied and tired, confessing that they had been baffled, for they had no other torture they could apply to her; and they were astonished that she remained in life, when her whole body was torn and opened up, and they gave their testimony that one only of the modes of torture employed was sufficient to have deprived her of life, not to speak of so many excruciating inflictions.

He goes on to describe how Blandina was next thrown to the beasts in the arena, along with a boy, whom she encouraged to remain faithful to his death. Finally, Eusebius says, “And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a bull,” and that is how she died.

We might look at that and think, “Is that really worth it? What good does enduring that suffering bring? Wouldn’t Christ’s blood cover her if she gave in?” Absolutely, for Christ’s blood covers all our sins, but Blandina’s suffering was worth it, for Eusebius tells us that several of her tortures turned to Christ after they saw her unwavering hope in the gospel. And, who knows how many more thousands of pagans came to Christ because of how Christians, like Blandina, showed them hope in suffering. This is why Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” God used their hope in suffering to draw those who assaulted them to Himself. And, while that plan of God seems quite strange to us, His victory was complete. William Durant writes in his 11-volume work The Story of Civilization:

There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials by a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the Word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has ever known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena and Christ had won.

God’s plan may have been strange and His methods foolishness to the watching world, but they worked and His victory was complete: the Roman Empire died but the Christian Church continued to grow.

As remarkable as it is, that basic story is not unique in the history of God’s people. In fact, it is really quite common. We see it in our episode of Joshua for today, and, as we talk along the way, we will see it in our own lives. Again, this is why this book is so applicable to our lives today: It is a story of God’s redeemed people having to fight by faith in God who truly fights the battles for them, using God’s ways to possess rest in the Promised Land, which is exactly a mirror of our lives today, although spiritually; not physically.

If you want to hear more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that God will use it to magnify His glory in your heart and fortify you for the battles of this Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: After Sin

Because we had a limited amount of time in the book of Joshua over the summer, I needed to skip some content. Ideally, we would have work through every passage on Sunday mornings, but we did not have the time for that, as I have described in past devotionals. But, as I have also mentioned before, what I could not cover on Sunday mornings, I tried to cover at least briefly in the Friday devotional emails that I sent to my congregation over the summer. Those emails I have turned into these devotional posts, and that is what we are going to do with Joshua 8 in this post.

Two Sundays ago, I posted the sermon from Joshua 7, where we saw the destructive power of sin in the camp, both individual and corporate sin. Sin is far more deadly than we often think it is, and it must be dealt with. This next part of that episode--ch. 8--tells us the story of how God restored the people after the sin of Achan was dealt with and how, even though Achan had sinned and they had sinned, His plans could not be derailed by anything. The sin of God's people cannot overcome the glorious plan and work of God.

Again, I did not have time to look at ch. 8 specifically in a sermon, so let's look at a few highlights from ch. 8 in this post:

First, note how God encourages Joshua right from the start: "And the Lord said to Joshua, 'Do not fear and do not be dismayed.... I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.'" With such a devastating loss because of sin fresh in his memory, Joshua may have thought that they had blown it and God was done with them, but, again, the sin of God's people cannot mess up the plan of God. Two quick points from that:

• Think about our battles against sin in the Christian life. When we give into sin and temptation, satan is often right there with us as the accuser of God's people, whispering, "You've done it now. God's done with you now. You might as well go on and keep on sinning." He may also say to us, "God's name will be dragged through the mud because of you. You're such a scumbag!" Those are lies from the pit of hell, and they smell like smoke. Conviction of sin is never intended by God to drive us down into the dust simply to stay there bemoaning our sinfulness. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is meant to bring to Him in repentance, hear His words "Do not fear and do not be dismayed," and then move on in gratitude to serve Him again. Sin should never spiritually paralyze us. As the old hymn goes, "Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin." Or, as the modern hymn says, "Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here. Sin would reduce me to utter despair, but through Thy free goodness my spirit's revived, and He that first made me still keeps me alive." Learn from this episode and do not listen to the lies of satan: once you have repented of your sin, move on to serve God again in gratitude for His great mercy.
• Think also about our battles to share the gospel with friends, neighbors, and family members. Again, here satan attacks us and says, "Your sin is going to drag God's name through the mud. No one will listen to you because you're such a sinner, so get it together before you go out and try to share the gospel." That too is a lie from the pit of hell and smells like smoke. Just as God dealt with their sin and then brought them to victory over Ai, so God deals with our sin in Christ and sends us out as His messengers for the gospel. And, listen: your sinfulness is part of your witness. You are a great sinner going to other sinners and saying, "Look, I have nothing for you personally. I am big sinner whose only hope is Jesus Christ, and He's your only hope too." If we give into the lie of satan and think, "I really do need to clean up my act before I witness to my friend," what subtle message does that send to them (i.e. our friends)? It sends them the message that they have to clean up their act before they come to Jesus, and that is not the true gospel. Jesus doesn't say to anyone, "Clean yourself up some and then we'll talk." No, He says like God says here, "Do not fear and be not dismayed: there is more grace in me than there is sin in you."

Second, note the sad ending to Achan's story. It is subtle, but it is in v. 2: "...its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves." When they "fought" against Jericho, all the plunder was to go to God, and Achan stole from God for himself. The sad ending of Achan's story is this: if he had just waited for a little while, he would have had all the plunder he wanted. But, Achan let his desire override his devotion to the LORD. Church family, often times our desires are not the problem. Often those desires in and of themselves are good desires. The problem comes in when we let those desires get out of order and we go after them before seeking God. For example, the desire for money to meet our physical needs is not the problem because God knows we need that for our physical needs. It becomes an idol when we go after it more than God, thinking that it will fulfill our needs. Or, the desire for sexual gratification is not in and of itself a bad desire because God created man and woman to be one flesh in marriage. That becomes a sin and an idol when we go after it more than God, seeking to fulfill it before God's timing and outside of God's plan for us, which is fulfillment in the context of marriage between a man and a woman. The sad conclusion to Achan's sin is that if he had just waited on God; if he had just sought God first, he would have had the plunder in God's timing. Is this not the OT equivalent of Jesus' teaching in Mt. 6:25-33 (cf.v. 33)?

Third, note that God's plan for His people is very different for this battle than it was for Jericho. Here, the whole army has to fight and they use an ambush strategy. Remember, while parts of God's plan for us in the battles of this life are constant, like using the means of grace (the Bible, prayer, and worship), we cannot put God in a box and think He will work the same way every time. We cannot think that because one strategy for evangelism worked for one person, it will work for all of them. We cannot think that because God met our needs in a particular way in one situation, that is always the way He will meet our needs. Our Lord is not a tame lion who shows up whenever we want and in the ways we want. So, we need to seek the counsel of God first, and then act after seeking godly counsel, knowing God may not work the same ways He has before (we will talk more about this in Sunday's sermon).

Finally, notice out Joshua renews the covenant at the end of this episode. This seems abrupt and even out of place in the narrative, but it is a very appropriate way to end the episode of chs. 7-8. One commentator notes: "After Israel had just experienced the curse of Yahweh’s anger (ch. 7) and the boon of Yahweh’s aid (ch. 8), what could be more appropriate than Joshua’s reading ‘the blessing and the curse’ (v. 34) of the Torah?" They have felt God's anger and seen God's blessing, and so what has happened to them in the space and time of life needs to be interpreted for them by the Word of God. But, even though it is appropriate, it is still and abrupt change: from war to worship. Yet, that abrupt changes brings back up one of the lessons we learned from ch. 1: Success for the Israelites was not primarily about defeating the Canaanites and taking the land. The land was simply a place where they could have rest from their enemies so that they could be prosperous in their relationship with God. Here, by bringing them to worship right after restoration and victory, God reminds them to keep first things first: their relationship with Him as His people. And, Church family, the same is true for us. In the battles of this Christian life, God gives us victory so that we can "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to [us]." In all the whirlwind of life, jobs, professors, family, friends, politics, struggles with sin, and everything else this life throws us, we need to keep first things first: our relationship with our Savior as His people and His Church.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Sin in the Camp

First, this week, there is not a devotional that goes with this sermon. As I have mentioned in the past, the devotionals in this series come from emails sent to my church on the Fridays before the sermons. Generally, they have something to do with the passage or subject of the coming sermon. I like to use them to fill in gaps in the sermon series. Because my series are often for a summer, there are a limited number of sermons I can preach, so sometimes I have to skip parts to finish a book or section of a book (like with my Joseph series). This was certainly true with Joshua, for I had to fit 24 chapters into eleven sermons. But, this week, there was not anything major I had to skip to move on, so, instead in the Friday email to my congregation that preceded this sermon, I sent a link to an article about the PCA's racial reconciliation efforts. You can read that article here, if you want, but it is not really pertinent to this series, so I am not going to talk about it. Instead, we will move on to the sermon itself.

Today's sermon is on Joshua 7:1-13, 19-21, 25-26. With this text, we come to the hardest passage of Joshua, I think. Of all the episodes, this is the one to which I was least looking forward. I’d rather preach on the whole conquest of the land and the annihilation of the Canaanites than this, and, by the way, last week’s Friday post covered the tough question of how the holy war against the Canaanites fits in the biblical witness. If you have not read that, you might want to because I think it will help you with a very difficult part of the Bible. But, again, I personally think that’s easier than this passage. Here we come face-to-face with the consequences of sin not only on the individual but on the congregation of God’s people, and that’s not a subject on which I want to preach. But, this is the counsel of God, and really no series on the battle of the Christian life would be complete without addressing the issue of sin, which is probably why the author includes this difficult story in the first place.

If you want to hear more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that God will use it to magnify His glory in your heart and fortify you for the battles of this Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Two Beautiful Books: Science... err... correction: Nature and Scripture (Part 6)

Over the past several blog posts, I have been in a series on thinking about science biblical and consistently as a Christian. The previous post summarized the first four posts, so you can head back there fore that summary. It also began us on the journey of moving forward, using the biblical view of science that we talked about from Scripture to learn how to live in a world like ours, which puts a great deal of weight on science. To use the analogy that I have been using in this series, we started to put "walls" and a "roof" on the "foundation" and "framework" of the intellectual houses we are building, and we are going to continue to do that in this post. 

At the end of the last post, we talked about mutual correction: the idea that proper interpretations of scientific data can help correct misinterpretations of Scripture and proper interpretations of Scripture can help correct misinterpretations of scientific data. And, I left that post with a question I was asked by a student, which is quite relevant: "How can I know where I should stand firm with my theology no matter what a scientist says and how can I know where I can perhaps let their theories alter my interpretation of Scripture?" That is a good place to pick back up the topic of moving forward to learn how to live in our day and age with this biblical view of science. 

So, how can we know where to stand firm with theology and where we can perhaps let a scientific theory affect our interpretation of Scripture? Well, we will get into this in more detail below when I will give what I think is a helpful method for handling apparent conflicts between science and Scripture, but there are few things that can be said here that should help with this question: 

1. First, you and I should never make that determination alone. Scripture is one of God's great gifts to the Church as a whole and we interpret it as a community. So, seek help from others by talking to a pastor, campus minister, Christian friends, reading books, etc. Do not try to make the determination by yourself. Sometimes you might end up disagreeing with some of the people with whom you discuss the issue, but the mere fact that you do it together will help keep you from gross error and keep you humble. 
2. Second, the creedal statements of Christianity are non-negotiable. The Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Chalcedon put parameters around the Christian faith. They leave a lot of room when it comes to many, many doctrines, but they define Christianity in its outermost limits. If we stray beyond the theology of those creeds, then we have strayed beyond Christianity. Any statement of a scientist that attempts to overthrow a statement of those creeds--like God being the maker of heaven and earth, from the Apostles Creed--is just wrong. Stand firm on them. (By the way, this does not mean we do not need to know how to defend these creedal statements to non-believers, for we should be able to give the reason for the hope they give Christians, but it does mean we cannot budge on them. If we do, we do not have Christianity anymore and therefore there is nothing to defend.)
3. Take into account the great confessions of Church history. These things are not infallible like the Bible itself, but they are great statements of theology that have stood the test of time. They have not been around as long as the creeds, but they still have a lot to teach us and we should not just haphazardly dismiss them. For example, I, as a PCA teaching elder, am bound by the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Catechisms. I can differ from them slightly, which I do in a few places, but even there I do not do that alone. My presbytery, which is the other teaching elders in my local geographic area, corrects me if I go too far in my differences from the confessions. In the next post, I will give some resources I recommend, and in it I will put links to the historic Reformed confessions that are still quite helpful here.
4. Finally, Do not jump to any conclusions one way or another right way, but pray a lot, study a lot, and talk a lot to other Christians.

Now, in what I have said here and in the previous post, let us not forget the mutual correction of science and Scripture. Scripture properly interpreted can also correct scientific theories where they misinterpret nature. Scripture does not give a lot of detail about most of the areas that scientists study, but where it does give details, they are details that are from God, have His authority, and provide interpretive parameters or corrections for scientific theories. One example of this might be scientific theories that attempt to claim that humans and animals have really no substantial difference other than cognitive abilities. Some scientists attempt to claim that animals are just as valuable as humans because the only difference between us is how smart we are. That, of course, comes from their interpretation of the evidence based on the assumption that naturalism and evolution are indisputable facts, which they are not. The Bible can help correct this error by pointing out that humans are made in God's image, while animals are not. God may have used a lot of the same building blocks to make humans as He did to make animals, but that does not mean He did not endow humans with a natural value and dignity that far surpasses animals. Furthermore, God gave dominion over animals to humans, thus further defining human value far above animal value. Now, that does not mean we can just abuse animals, but it does mean that animal life is not even close to being as equally valuable as human life.

Understanding how scientific data can help us correct a misinterpretation of Scripture and Scripture can help us correct misinterpretations of scientific data (mutual correction) is one way that we start putting "walls" and a "roof" on our intellectual and spiritual houses. The last thing we need to discuss is how to handle apparent conflicts when they arise because they will arise, and we need to know how to deal with them wisely. This will also help us put "walls" and a "roof" on our house. 

So, how do we handle them? Well, let me say upfront that there is probably more than one "right" way to handle these things. What I am about to give you is a method I have found helpful and others have found helpful too. It is not foolproof, for nothing is, but I think it can help you make your "houses" livable enough to help you live confidently and comfortably as a Christian in our day and age.

1. Remember what the biblical view of nature and Scripture is: Remember, as we learned in the previous posts, God is the author of both books, as we talked about yesterday, so this conflict that arises is only apparent; it is not real. Now, sometimes it may take a lot of work to figure out which book is being interpreted incorrectly and how to think about them properly, but while we work on that, we can rest in this truth. And, rest keeps us from anxiety, which helps us think more clearly about the issue. Christians have nothing to fear from scientific research because the scientist is researching God's domain--God's book. I meet many Christians who are afraid of science, but it is a tool God has given us to discover truth from His universe, so we have nothing to fear from it. 
2. Remember the world in which we live, and do not be surprised: As we discussed in part four, we should expect there to be cases where a scientific theory appears to conflict with our interpretations of Scripture. Many scientists are interpreting the data from the worldview of naturalism, which does conflict with Scripture's theistic worldview, and, as we have talked about a lot, we are simply fallible beings, so we make mistakes. Because of those things, we know apparent conflicts will arise. A biblical view of science tells us to expect this, so do not be shocked when they come. Shock only increases our anxiety of these issues, which, again, clouds our ability to think through them, but if we can look at it and say, "Huh, that's odd, but it doesn't really surprise me that they might think that," then we will remain calm enough to think through the issue biblically and rationally.
3. Remember not to jump to any conclusions too quickly: A biblical view of science and Scripture reminds us that either our interpretation of Scripture or the scientist's interpretation of nature is incorrect or both, and we need to be humble enough to jump to any conclusions before we have thought it through. 
4. Check the source and wait: Things that come up in popular media via news, blogs, books, etc. all have a source behind them that points to the scientific research, and very often claims in the popular media are either reported incorrectly, too early, or are overturned by further scientific research. For example, here as some things to think about:
1. When you read something in the news, did it come from a research paper in a peer-reviewed journal like Science, Nature, or The Astrophysical Journal or did it come from something someone present at a conference? There can be a big difference in the reliability of the data. At conferences, researches often share raw, infant ideas that can range from Nobel prize concepts to junk and dead ends. Sometimes unpublished, un-peer-reviewed claims are portrayed as scientific fact by the media when even the researchers would not say that. Whenever I presented a paper at a conference, I cringed when I saw journalists sitting on the front row because I new generally that they would not understand what is going on or report it as fact when it was not. Now, luckily for me, my research was not really important enough for them to report, but it does happen often. Check to see if the source is a journal or something less reliable like a conference. 
2. If you have the ability, check out the source yourself. Even if it comes from a journal article, I have seen several occasions where the author was not saying anything close to what the news article claimed. If you do not have access to the journal through a university or a friend, then see if you can find someone who does. There are great ministries on that can help you think through these things here. One I really like is called Reasons to Believe. Email and ask them. They may have a resource that can help you or they may plan to comment on it. I would not mind helping you either, though I would be a distant second to the brilliant men and women at RTB, but feel free to ask me. 
3. And, remember to wait. Stuff in the best journals is still debatable, and further research may change the claim. For example, does anyone remember the fossil Ida that was introduced back in 2009? It was claimed to be a "missing link" that would totally change the way scientists view human evolution and would solidify the theory of evolution. It was introduced with a huge media circus and got so much hype that even Google dedicated a logo to it. Well, after several months, other papers started coming out questioning how helpful the fossil really was, and eventually the scientists who introduced it had to admit that their claims were far overblown. Just waiting would have shown many stressed-out Christians that this "discovery" does not really change anything at all and does not solidify anything with Darwinian evolution. 
4. So, check the source and wait. And, waiting can be done very easily with Google's handy "Google alerts" tool. If you are concerned about an apparent conflict, create a Google alert that will send the most recent information your way without you having to go looking for it, and then see what comes up. 
5. Attempt to separate the data from the interpretation of the data: Again, a biblical view of science reminds us that science is a tool that produces data and then that data is interpreted within a worldview. The data itself will not conflict with Scripture if it is properly extracted and recorded, but the interpretation might easily conflict because it might come from a scientists whose worldview is naturalism. But, if we can separate the data from the interpretation, then we can take a clear look at it and see how it fits within Scripture. Sometimes a biblical interpretation will look almost identical to the original; other times there will be significant differences. Now, this may take a lot of time and discussion with colleagues, friends, or consulting books or ministries that help Christians with apologetics, but if we really believe God wrote the books of nature and Scripture, then we know the data will fit within a biblical model, we just have to do the work of separation and interpretation within a biblical worldview. If you want an example of this, check out my posts on Adam and Eve here, here (this one especially illustrates this point), here, and here.
6. Remember to consider your interpretation of Scripture as well: In these apparent conflicts our goal is not to prove ourselves right (at least it should not be). Our goal should be to discover God's truth in order to bring Him glory. While we have considered so far how to think about the scientific side of the apparent controversy, we cannot skip over the possibility that the error may be on the theological side. We need to examine our exegesis of the Scripture passages that address the issue, we need to consult others like a pastor or campus minister, we need to do some reading on the subject, and we need to be as certain as we can be that the error is not in our interpretation of Scripture. And, like with the scientific research, sometimes this takes time. Sometimes we have to consider a number of different views before we can try to determine which seems the most faithful to God's revelation in Scripture and in nature. But, if we are resting in a biblical view of science and Scripture, we can take the time without becoming anxious because know there is a resolution, even if we cannot find it right away. 
7. Strive to be humble: Honestly, this is contradiction in terms because one cannot "strive" to be humble, but what I mean is that in this whole process, we must remember that we are just as fallible, biased, and sinful as the most hardened, virulent "new atheist." The only difference between us and them is that we have God's grace, forgiveness, salvation, and Holy Spirit (not from anything in us but as a gift so no man can boast, Eph. 2:8-9). The only reason that you and I understand and believe the Scriptures is the Spirit's illumination (1 Co. 2:9-12), therefore we need to be humble when responding to critics, evaluating someone's work, or discussing apparent conflicts with others.
8. Do not go it alone: I have already said this several times, but this is not something we need to be trying to do alone. We need the wisdom of the Christian community. We need friends, family, campus ministers, pastors, etc. to help us think through these things. Some of the people we consult might not be helpful in the pursuit of truth but some probably will be, and even if we end up not agreeing with them, their viewpoint will help us refine our own. 
9. Pray: When Nehemiah stood before the King Artaxerxes to request permission to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls around the new Temple, he was in a tenuous spot. He could have been killed for his request. In 2:4 the king asks the question "What are you requesting?" and before Nehemiah responded, Scripture tells us that he prayed. In that moment--a second or two--he prayed for wisdom and God gave it to him. We need to pray for wisdom when trying to figure these things out. Sometimes they are very difficult. We need to pray that God will help us sort out the truth from interpretation, and we need to pray that He will help us come to a proper understanding of both His Word and His world, for His glory and our good. 
10. Remember that God is still God and Jesus is still coming back: Sometimes you will not be able to figure it out, even after having studied the scientific data and Scripture. Sometimes you will not be able to figure out which interpretation is in error. Even the best scholars and academics have to say, "I don't know" sometimes. Hopefully these times will be rare, but they will probably happen every now and then. In those times, a biblical view of science and Scripture reminds us that just because we cannot figure it out does not mean there is no solution, and we need to be humble enough to admit that. The issue might be a paradox, but a biblical view of science and Scripture reminds us that it is not a contradiction, so we can rest in that truth. Do you know the difference between a paradox and a contradiction?
1. A paradox is something that seems contradictory but actually is not. The reason it seems contradictory is because we cannot find the solution, but we know there is one. Every theology and scientific model has its share of paradoxes. For example, in theology, Scripture upholds the sovereignty of God over everything, including man's salvation, and Scripture also upholds human responsibility for their actions. Are those contradictory? No, because God teaches them both and cannot contradict Himself. There is a solution to how those two work together, but God has chosen not to share it with us. When Paul considers this paradox, he does not even try to pose a resolution but simply says, "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" (cf. Ro. 9), and if it was too much for Paul writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit, it is too much for you and I. Another example from the sciences would be wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. This is the evidence from nature, that a subatomic particle exhibits both particle and wave properties. How can something be a point in space and also a wave at the same time? No one really knows, but we do know that it happens. It is a paradox because there is a solution, we do not have it yet.
2. A contradiction means there is no possible solution. It is like saying 1+1=2 and 1+1=5. There is no way to reconcile those statements, so they are contradictory.
3. A biblical view of science and Scripture tells us that God is the author of both books, so there is no contradiction, but sometimes paradoxes will arise because either God has chosen not to give us all the information we need to solve the problem or we just have not figured it out yet. We live in a fallen world full of sinful people who do not know everything and make mistakes, so sometimes the solution is beyond you and me, and that is okay because God is still God and Jesus is still coming back. I hate not being able to figure something out as much as the next guy, but sometimes (rarely but sometimes) we need to admit it is too much for us, trust God, and go get a milkshake.

Alright, that is my general "method" for handling apparent conflicts between what scientists say and what we read in Scripture. Hopefully you will find it helpful enough to help you put "walls" and a "roof" on your intellectual and spiritual "house." This also brings my discussion of a biblical view of science to a close. Certainly there is more that can be written on this topic, but I hope and pray this will give you a solid start as you consider the tool of science. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have or check out my "science" tag for stuff I have written on various subjects. 

In the next post, I will list out a number of resources that you might find helpful for various sub-topics of science and Christianity. It will not be an exhaustive list by any means, but it will give you enough material to keep you reading for a while. 

By His Grace,

Taylor

Hope for a New Year

So, in the week leading up to this past New Year's Eve, many people were making resolutions, as they do, of course, every year. And, of course, since Jan. 1, 2015, the number of broken resolutions has been growing steadily. This year I got a little curious about the resolutions people were making, so I went to Twitter and searched #NewYearsResolution, and, as you might imagine, a bunch of tweets came up. Most were about the standard resolution stuff—losing weight, eating healthier, stopping doing _____, travel to _____, change my life, etc.—but there were also many tweets that reflected a loss of hope for many individuals—people who have made many, many resolutions and know they never stick to them.

Now, you may not be into New Year's resolutions (like me), but when we Christians come up on mile markers in life like a new year, it's not uncommon for us to reflect on the previous year and maybe even feel a little twinge of that loss of hope—I want to change, but I never stick to it. Sometimes I think about how I'm still struggling with the same sins that plagued me a year ago or two years ago. Sometimes I wonder if I'm increasing in personal holiness and growing in the likeness of Christ at all. Now, that may be partially because I'm the kind of person who tends to focus more on the negative, and you may be a more positive thinking person. But, even so, I'd venture the guess that all of us would like to grow more in Christ and get over certain sins faster or altogether. Paul expressed the common human experience when he said, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" We know God's moral will for our lives and then we see what we're doing and how we've been doing it for a long time, and it's easy to think, "Is there any point? Is there any hope?"

Well, Ro. 4:13-25 is a passage that talks about the true hope of the gospel, even when it seems hopeless, and I had the blessing of being able to preach a sermon on that passage a couple of Sunday's ago. If you are interested in hearing more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here. I pray that it is a blessing to your soul and increases your joy in Christ.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Solus Christus: A Branch from the Stump

I know we’ve looked at a lot of prophecies from Isaiah. It may seem like he’s the only one through whom God spoke to the Israelite people about their Redeemer, but Isaiah was not the only prophet to prophesy about the coming Messiah. Prophecies of the coming Christ are all over the Old Testament. There are more than I can write about in these short devotions, but we have time to look at some of them. For today’s devotion we’re going to look at how both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be a branch from the stump of Jesse—the house of David—and would be our righteousness before God:

¹ There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
² And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Is. 11:1-5)
⁵ ”Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Je. 23:5-6)

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the Messiah would come from the line of Jesse (David’s father), and both likened him to a shoot or a branch. Both declared that He would save God’s people, and both proclaimed that He would be a man of righteousness. Then, of course, centuries later Jesus came and was exactly that. He’s the one through whom we have righteousness (cf. Ro. 5:12-21). Indeed, as Jeremiah prophesied (above) and Paul declared the Corinthian believers: Jesus is our righteousness (1 Co. 1:30). God demands righteousness from humanity and He provides it for His people in Jesus—the shoot and branch from the stump of Jesse. As the Westminster Confession of Faith states in 11.1:

Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. 

As Moses reminded the Israelite people, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty.” To stand before God, we must be righteous. To be judged by Jesus in righteousness and not be sent to hell at the Final Judgment, we must be righteous. We can’t do that on our own, but God knew that and provided a Messiah whose is Yahweh Tsidkenu—the Lord is our righteousness (Je. 23:6). Thank God for that branch—that shoot from the stump of Jesse—for we have no righteousness of our own that would ever be acceptable to God.

By the way, did you notice the Messiah arose from the stump of Jesse? He didn’t come from a thriving tree or even from a sickly tree. He didn’t come from a people who just needed a little extra help to be acceptable to God. He came from the stump, i.e. spiritually dead humanity (Eph. 2:1). Indeed, He arose from the very same dead humanity that He came to save and give new life.

On this day of Advent remember where God found you, where God found all humanity when He sent His Son to be our sacrifice and our righteousness. We weren’t just sick in our sins. We weren’t just a “basically good” people who just needed a good example to follow. As Paul tells us in Eph. 2:1, we “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked.” Dead men have no hope of life except by a miracle. Remember on this day of Advent that the Miracle was born two thousand years ago in the little town of Bethlehem from the stump—dead humanity. Praise Him for coming down to walk amongst those dead in their sins so that they might have life again in Him. Praise Him for giving you new life and for giving you righteousness when you deserved the exact opposite. Praise Him for being the Lord your righteousness.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: The Great High Priest

In yesterday’s meditation we saw that Jesus is our prophet and that He fulfills that office by revealing to us (through His Word and Spirit) God’s will for our salvation. For today’s devotion, we need to remember that Jesus fulfills other offices for us as our Redeemer and one of those is the office of a priest. Remember, the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks in question #23, “What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?” and it answers, “Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.” Indeed, Jesus is our Great High Priest.

But, why do we need a high priest? What advantage does the high priest give us? The Westminster Shorter Catechism answers that question for us as well by telling us how Jesus serves as our Great High Priest:

Q. 25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.

The author of the book of Hebrews, looking back on the Old Testament law, also tells us in a similar, inspired, and concise fashion why sinful man needs a high priest, "For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."

Since man is sinful, deserves God’s judgment, and cannot make atonement for himself, nor can he stand before God himself, he must have a representative who intercedes for him and who makes atonement for his sin through a blood sacrifice. In the Old Testament, this representative—the high priest—stood between the people and God and offered sacrifices for their sins. The high priest was a man chosen from the line of Aaron. He would go into the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle (or the Temple) to offer sacrifices and intercede for the people as the representative of the people before God. Yet, all those Old Testament high priests with all their sacrifices couldn’t themselves make permanent atonement for God’s people:

¹ For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³ But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (He. 10:1-4)

A once-for-all sacrifice was needed from a once-for-all high priest. The “shadow of the good things to come” had to eventually make way for the “true form of these realities” or mankind would have forever been lost in their sins. We needed a better high priest than any of those in the Old Testament, even Aaron himself.
Jesus came into the world to be that better high priest. Indeed, He came to be our once-for-all Great High Priest. The author of Hebrews, after showing our need, tells us that Jesus is our Great High Priest:

⁵ Consequently [i.e. because no earthly high priest with an earthly sacrifice was good enough], when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body have you prepared for me;
⁶ in burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you have taken no pleasure.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
⁸ When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.¹¹ And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.… (He. 10:5-12)

As our Great High Priest, Jesus offered the once-for-all sacrifice that His people needed to take away their sins. It wasn’t a sacrifice of a bull or a goat or any other earthly animal; it was a sacrifice of Himself. Jesus is our Great High Priest—our final and perfect representative before God—who offered Himself to God as “a single sacrifice for sins,” and then “He sat down at the right hand of God” showing that His work of redemption—atonement for the sins of His people—is done. Yet, even though His work of redemption is done, His work as our Great High Priest continues. He is ever before the throne of God the Father making continual intercession for us as our eternal and perfect representative, so we can never again be condemned before God:

³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Ro. 8:34)
²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (He. 7:25)
²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (He. 9:24)
¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 Jn. 2:1)

Christian, Jesus came into the world to become your permanent, eternal Great High Priest. Because you are in Christ, you can never be condemned before God the Father. Not satan, not our hearts, not anyone in this world, nothing can condemn us before God because Jesus is ever before the throne as our Great High Priest. Consider that on this day of Advent. Remember that He came into the world to be your Great High Priest so that you’d never have to make atonement for your sin. Indeed, you can’t! But, that’s okay because Jesus has offered the once-for-all sacrifice you needed and continually intercedes on your behalf before God. Remember that you have confidence before God of which the Old Testament saints could only dream of having—you “have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus” and “draw near” to God in Christ. Bask in that on this day of Advent. Go to God confidently with your sin and your needs because Christ is your perfect representative interceding for you before God.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: Where Did It All Go Wrong?

In Ge. 1, Moses tells us that God created everything good. When God completed the crown of His creation—man—and looked back on all that He created, He called it very good. When He was done creating it was all perfect. Of course, we merely have to wake up in the morning and look around to see that creation didn’t stay in the perfect state in which it was created. Where did it all go wrong? That question brings us to today’s devotion for Advent:

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”
¹⁶ To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
    and he shall rule over you.”
¹⁷ And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”
²⁰ The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. (Ge. 3:1-23)

Adam’s transgression plunged humanity into sin and made us all in dire need of a Savior. Paul tells us that the “one trespass [i.e. Adam’s sin] led to condemnation for all men.” But, why did Adam’s sin affect the rest of humanity? The sixteenth question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is helpful here. It asks in question 16, “Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?” and it answers, “The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.” When God made His covenant with Adam, He made it with all humanity, and therefore, when Adam broke the covenant he did so as the representative of all humanity. His sin was our sin; because of Adam’s sin, we’re all sinners in desperate need of redemption. Since biblical covenants include posterity (cf. Dt. 5:1-3), we fell with him in his first transgression and consequently lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and are made liable to all the miseries of this life, death, and hell itself. We are certainly in desperate need of a Savior.

I have a friend who likes to say, “Don't forget the pigs... the further they get away the better they start looking... Always remember where He found you; don't forget the pigs....” He is alluding to the story of the Prodigal Son from Lk. 15, where the wayward son eventually finds himself in a pig sty, finally comes to his senses, and goes home to his father. His point is that we can’t forget where God found us, and if we do, the greatness of God’s grace and love for us wanes in our eyes and we start to feel like we deserve it. For God’s grace to us in Jesus to look as glorious as it truly is, we need to remember the sinfulness from which He saved us. We need to remember the pigs. During Advent, for the incarnation of Christ to look as glorious as it truly is, we need to remember that He came to save His rebellious people—a people “dead in [their] trespasses and sins.” We weren’t just sick, hurt, or injured. We were dead in our sinfulness. We need to remember the sinfulness we inherited from Adam. We need to remember where He found all of us when He came into the world.

On this day of Advent remember where God found you; don’t forget the pigs. Remember the sinfulness and rebelliousness of your life before He found you. Remember that, because of Adam, you, like the rest of the human race, were dead in your sins when He found you and that you’d still be there without Him. But, also remember that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,” saved you from those sins, gave you new life in Christ, and gave you a heart of flesh for your heart of stone. Ask God to remind you of both the greatness of your need for redemption and the vastness of His grace to you in Jesus. Ask Him to work that truth into your heart so that you can’t help but love Him more and more every day.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Reformation Day

In honor of Reformation Day, I would like to share my favorite quotes from Martin Luther, a few posts I have written concerning some of his theological statements, and a few of his works.

These are my two favorite quotes from Luther, and I think the reasons will be obvious:

"A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to every one." ~ Concerning Christian Liberty

"Good God, what a lot of trouble there is in marriage! Adam has made a mess of our nature. Think of all the squabbles Adman and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, 'You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, 'You gave it to me.'" ~ Quoted in Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Here are a few posts I wrote on some of Luther's theology:

• A Life of Repentance
• Sin Boldly
• Sign Posts vs. The Road

For a biography of Martin Luther, the premier is Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. My favorite works by Luther are his commentary on Galatians, The Freedom of a Christian, and The Bondage of the Will.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Temptation and Godly Living

As we talked about in the first sermon of The Gospel According to Joseph series and as Pastor Hutchinson pointed out in his first and second articles about preaching Old Testament stories, we must avoid the extreme of treating these stories as simply self-improvement stories and teaching them merely as moral lessons. Yet, at times, we can still find some examples that our Lord Jesus would have us follow (cf. He. 11:1-12:2). In the episodes covered in the sermon that will be posted this Sunday, there is such an example, and because of time and scope, it won't brought out in Sunday's sermon. So, we'll look at it here.

In Ge. 39, Joseph finds himself sold as a slave to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard. There, because God's personal presence is with Joseph, he is quite successful and eventually Potiphar makes him overseer of his entire household. Well, apparently Joseph caught more than Potiphar's eye. Potiphar's wife took an interest in Joseph, but for a very different reason. Moses tells us in 39:6b that "Joseph was handsome in form and appearance," which caught the attention of Potiphar's wife. "Day after day" she made sexual advances and propositions to him, but he refused. And, I believe there are four things that we can learn about temptation and godly living from Joseph's response to Potiphar's wife.

First, Moses tells us in the text that Joseph refused even "to be with her." Joseph refused even to spend any time around her. Her temptations were strong, but Joseph protected himself by not even flirting with the danger. Joseph probably knew that if we crossed that line and spent time around her, resisting her advances would be even more difficult, so he stayed as far away from her as he could. We can learn from Joseph's example here. Sometimes we put ourselves in situations where we know the temptation to a certain sin will be strong, and when we do that, it should be no surprise at all when we give in. Joseph shows us that in the battle against sin, we need to stay far away from places, times, and situations where we know temptation will assault us. In 1 Co. 10:13 that God will always provide a way out for us, and sometimes that way out is never to approach the places, times, and situations of temptation in the first place.

Second, what happens when we can't avoid a place, time, or situation of temptation? Well, in v. 12, Moses tells us that Potiphar's wife "caught [Joseph] by his garment," and Joseph "left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house." Joseph got out of there as quickly as he possibly could, so fast that he didn't even take the time to remove his garment from her grasp. When we find ourselves unavoidably in a place, time, or situation of temptation, we need to flee it. Here, Joseph points us to Jesus' teaching by the pen of Paul in several NT passages: "flee sexual immorality" (1 Co. 6:18), "flee from idolatry" (1 Co. 10:14), "flee [false teaching, quarrels, and the love of money]" (1 Ti. 6:12), and "flee youthful passions" (2 Ti. 2:22). Joseph and Paul show us that we aren't to mess around with temptations to sin. In such cases, don't try to be a hero, run from it. Now, sometimes our "running" might be in a figurative sense, which often looks like Jesus' example in Mt. 4 of using Scripture to battle temptation thus redirecting our thoughts "on things that are above," and sometimes our running might mean literally removing ourselves from the situation as fast as we can. (It is worth of note in the literary context of this story, that Joseph's flight is in stark contrast to Judah's solicitation of the Tamar as a prostitute. Judah walked right into temptation in Ge. 38:15-16. In slavery, because God's presence was with him, Joseph was faithful. In freedom, Judah descended further into sin.)

Third, Joseph's words to Potiphar's wife show us that he kept a God-centered perspective on his service and on sin. In vv. 8-9, Joseph tells her that Potiphar has trusted him with everything and not kept anything back from him (except her), and we might expect him then to say, "How can I sin against him, your husband?" But, Joseph ends his statement with "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Joseph realized what David did after his sin with Bathsheba: "Against you [God], you only, have I sinned." (Ps. 51:4) Sometimes it's easy to rationalize sin when it's against someone whose also a sinner like us. If Joseph had been thinking only in reference to Potiphar, he could have rationalized it by saying something like, "Potiphar bought me as a slave, so, for that reason alone, he deserves it." He, however, had a God-centered perspective on sin: that every sin is ultimately against God Himself. That changes our perspective on sin, and it gets at our primary motivation to resist sin: thankfulness to God. The Heidelberg Catechism states in the answer to question 84, "We do good... so that in all our living... we may show that we are thankful to God for all He has done for us."

Fourth and finally, this story also shows us that sometimes obeying God means incurring the wrath of men. Joseph resisted Potiphar's wife, and she was so upset by his final flight that she took revenge on him and lied about him to Potiphar. She told Potiphar that Joseph tried to tempt her just as she had done to him, which is a little bit of irony for you, and Potiphar threw Joseph in jail. Sometimes following Christ and living for Him will cost us greatly. Sometimes telling the truth gets you fired. Sometimes playing by the rules gets you in last place. But, our hope as Christians is not in our jobs or winning. It's in the ultimate justice and providence of God secured for those who are in Christ. Ro. 8:28 is going to come up a lot in this series because Joseph's story is a real-world example of this promise to those who are in Christ: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." The key here is God’s purpose. We cannot separate providence from purpose or substitute our purpose for His. Yet, since God has given us everything in Christ (cf. Ro. 8:29-32), we can trust His purpose, even when it costs us materially in this life.

These are four things that we can learn from Joseph's example, but I do want to make it clear that Joseph's example is not the emphasis of these two chapters. Moses emphasizes the impact of God's personal presence on our lives by highlighting how "the LORD was with Joseph" and what that did in him. That will be the topic of the sermon that will be posted Sunday afternoon.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Sin

In the previous post, I talked about the summer series I am presently preaching at GCPC called "The Gospel According to Joseph," and I also posted a short prequel to the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, briefly summarizing the first 36 chapters of Genesis. Well, the first sermon in this series comes from Ge. 37: 2-8, 18-28, 36, and it is entitled "The Gospel and Sin."

Now, our culture doesn't like to talk about sin and doesn't want us to talk about it. And, honestly, you'd be a strange person indeed if you actually enjoyed talking about sin, but to be faithful to God's Word and truly Christ-centered people, we have to talk about it. The good news of the gospel isn't really good and doesn't really affect our lives until the bad news of our sin first drives us to Christ. Well, that's where Moses begins in the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, and it's where we begin in the first sermon—clearing seeing our sin, so that we're driven to our Savior. You can listen to the sermon here or read it here.

Also in this series, one of the things I am trying to do is teach how to study these Old Testament (OT) stories and how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming work in Jesus. For Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease for this series of sermons, I will be teaching some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Now, all these questions do not always apply to each OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture. In this sermon, there are two that come up:

• 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. 
• 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. 

If you want to learn how to apply those questions and see it done with Ge. 37, you can listen to the sermon here or read it 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

Solus Christus: A Branch from the Stump

I know we’ve looked at a lot of prophecies from Isaiah. It may seem like he’s the only one through whom God spoke to the Israelite people about their Redeemer, but Isaiah was not the only prophet to prophesy about the coming Messiah. Prophecies of the coming Christ are all over the Old Testament. There are more than I can write about in these short devotions, but we have time to look at some of them. For today’s devotion we’re going to look at how both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be a branch from the stump of Jesse—the house of David—and would be our righteousness before God:

¹ There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
² And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Is. 11:1-5)
⁵ ”Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Je. 23:5-6)

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the Messiah would come from the line of Jesse (David’s father), and both likened him to a shoot or a branch. Both declared that He would save God’s people, and both proclaimed that He would be a man of righteousness. Then, of course, centuries later Jesus came and was exactly that. He’s the one through whom we have righteousness (cf. Ro. 5:12-21). Indeed, as Jeremiah prophesied (above) and Paul declared the Corinthian believers: Jesus is our righteousness (1 Co. 1:30). God demands righteousness from humanity and He provides it for His people in Jesus—the shoot and branch from the stump of Jesse. As the Westminster Confession of Faith states in 11.1:

Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. 

As Moses reminded the Israelite people, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty.” To stand before God, we must be righteous. To be judged by Jesus in righteousness and not be sent to hell at the Final Judgment, we must be righteous. We can’t do that on our own, but God knew that and provided a Messiah whose is Yahweh Tsidkenu—the Lord is our righteousness (Je. 23:6). Thank God for that branch—that shoot from the stump of Jesse—for we have no righteousness of our own that would ever be acceptable to God.

By the way, did you notice the Messiah arose from the stump of Jesse? He didn’t come from a thriving tree or even from a sickly tree. He didn’t come from a people who just needed a little extra help to be acceptable to God. He came from the stump, i.e. spiritually dead humanity (Eph. 2:1). Indeed, He arose from the very same dead humanity that He came to save and give new life.

On this day of Advent remember where God found you, where God found all humanity when He sent His Son to be our sacrifice and our righteousness. We weren’t just sick in our sins. We weren’t just a “basically good” people who just needed a good example to follow. As Paul tells us in Eph. 2:1, we “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked.” Dead men have no hope of life except by a miracle. Remember on this day of Advent that the Miracle was born two thousand years ago in the little town of Bethlehem from the stump—dead humanity. Praise Him for coming down to walk amongst those dead in their sins so that they might have life again in Him. Praise Him for giving you new life and for giving you righteousness when you deserved the exact opposite. Praise Him for being the Lord your righteousness.

By His Grace,

Taylor