Solus Christus: Where Does It All Begin?

Where does it all begin? Where do the story of redemption and the road to Christmas and Advent begin? Our second meditation of Advent begins long before Jesus’ incarnation. It all begins at the very beginning with the creation of man:

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.
²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Ge. 1:26-31)

We must begin with God creating man, for we would not, of course, need redemption and the incarnation wouldn’t be necessary if we didn’t exist in the first place. We also need to remember that God the Father was not there in the beginning alone. John tells us in his gospel that Jesus, as the second person in the Godhead and coeternal with the Father, was there too at the beginning:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (Jn. 1:1-4)

Furthermore, not only was Jesus present at creation but Paul reminds us that Jesus was the member of the Godhead who actually did the act of creating (the Father commanded, the Son created, and the Spirit brought it to completion and sustained it):

¹⁶ For by him [i.e. Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col. 1:16-17)

That is where the story of Advent begins. Our Lord and Savior—the second person of the Trinity—created the human race long before He became one of us. Indeed, since He is sovereign and omniscient, He created humanity knowing He would, at the fullness of time, have to become human like us and die for His people to accomplish their redemption. Of course, this was all for the glory of God, but it was also for the “joy set before Him,” and that joy was the redemption of His people whom He loves intensely. Think about that: Jesus created the world knowing all along that we would rebel and that He would have to become one of us, suffer, die, and be raised to save His people. How deep, rich, and intense is such love! That is the love with which He has loved His people like you and me.

Dwell on that this day of Advent. Ask God to make that intense love so real to you that you can’t help but go out into the world and live a life overflowing with thankfulness to Him. Ask Him to make that love so real this Christmas season that no material thing can draw your heart away from it.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: Where Does It All Begin?

Where does it all begin? Where do the story of redemption and the road to Christmas and Advent begin? Our second meditation of Advent begins long before Jesus’ incarnation. It all begins at the very beginning with the creation of man:

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.
²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Ge. 1:26-31)

We must begin with God creating man, for we would not, of course, need redemption and the incarnation wouldn’t be necessary if we didn’t exist in the first place. We also need to remember that God the Father was not there in the beginning alone. John tells us in his gospel that Jesus, as the second person in the Godhead and coeternal with the Father, was there too at the beginning:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (Jn. 1:1-4)

Furthermore, not only was Jesus present at creation but Paul reminds us that Jesus was the member of the Godhead who actually did the act of creating (the Father commanded, the Son created, and the Spirit brought it to completion and sustained it):

¹⁶ For by him [i.e. Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col. 1:16-17)

That is where the story of Advent begins. Our Lord and Savior—the second person of the Trinity—created the human race long before He became one of us. Indeed, since He is sovereign and omniscient, He created humanity knowing He would, at the fullness of time, have to become human like us and die for His people to accomplish their redemption. Of course, this was all for the glory of God, but it was also for the “joy set before Him,” and that joy was the redemption of His people whom He loves intensely. Think about that: Jesus created the world knowing all along that we would rebel and that He would have to become one of us, suffer, die, and be raised to save His people. How deep, rich, and intense is such love! That is the love with which He has loved His people like you and me.

Dwell on that this day of Advent. Ask God to make that intense love so real to you that you can’t help but go out into the world and live a life overflowing with thankfulness to Him. Ask Him to make that love so real this Christmas season that no material thing can draw your heart away from it.

By His Grace,

Taylor

The God Who Created Everything

One of my privileges as GCPC's associate pastor is to lead our youth group. I love our youth, and being with them on Sunday nights has become one of the highlights of my week. They are a sharp bunch, who are a joy to teach (and we have a blast playing games together). In our study together, I have been endeavoring to help them become even more solidified in their faith--to take ownership of it for themselves--especially since they are approaching high school and college looms in the not-so-distant future. To that end, we are in a teaching series called "The God Who is There." It's structure and much of its content are based on D. A. Carson's excellent book with the same title: The God Who is There. I have made a number of changes to various parts because of the needs of my youth group and because of some disagreements with Carson. Overall, however, his book is excellent and well-worth your time.

Over the next months (perhaps longer), when I finish a section, I will post some highlights on here, and recently we just finished studying Ge. 1-2 together. Now, there are a lot of directions we could have gone with this creation account, and there are a lot of topics that we could have studied in it. Many of those directions and most those topics can be hotly debated in Christian circles, and I have an opinion on almost all of them that I believe is consistent with Scripture. I suppose we could have spent a lot of time studying the various opinions on those topics and I could have given them mine, but I decided to follow Carson and Francis Schaeffer's advice and narrow the focus. Instead of trying to talk about everything that Ge. 1-2 does or can say, we have focused on what it must say in order for the rest of the Bible to be true and have any intelligibility at all. These chapters set up the rest of Scripture, and there are many doctrines and foundations about God and man established here that are crucial for the rest of the Bible to make any sense at all. We focused on those essential things in our study, and I have left the rest for them to work out with their parents and in their own study.

Focusing on these essentials also gave me the opportunity to teach our youth about giving charity to Christians who disagree with them on non-essential matters. We have talked at length about how these core doctrines are essential foundations in Ge. 1-2 around which all Christians must unite because without them we do not have Christianity at all. We have also talked a lot about how we must give charity to Christians who disagree with us about doctrines that fall outside these essential foundations. Now, that is not to say that we should not have strong opinions about those doctrines. I do, and I have told our youth that I want them to study those topics on their own and with their parents to figure out what they believe regarding them. But, we must not let our opinions divide us from other Christians when those opinions concern non-essential matters. We can have friendly debates about them, but, at the end of the day, we need to stand side-by-side on the core doctrines that Ge. 1-2 must say for the rest of the Bible to be true and give charity to our Christian brothers and sisters on other matters.

Okay, you are probably wondering by now what I believe the core, essential doctrines are. (Here, I have basically followed Carson with only a few minor changes.) There are ten:

1. Ge. 1:1 -- God simply is: The Bible does not begin by trying to prove God's existence. It begins with God, and He is the presuppositional foundation of everything. Our culture today often demands that we prove God exists because it assumes that man the ultimate measure and center of everything. This way of thinking basically started with Rene Descartes: "I think, therefore I am." That is a very man-centered way of thinking. The Bible, on the other hand, would say, "God thinks (and speaks), therefore I am." It puts God at the center of everything, and we see that right from the beginning. Now, I am not trying to say that we should not be able to give good, reasoned arguments for God's existence. We need to meet people where they are when we talk to them about Jesus, but ultimately a Christian does not consider himself to be the measure of everything or the center of anything. God is the measure of all things and at the center of everything.
2. Ge. 1:1 -- God made everything that is not God: This simple truth has a couple of important implications:
1. It means there is an irreducible distinction between the Creator and the creatures. His existence is self-existence and ours is completely derivative of and dependent on Him. Everything in the universe is dependent on God to exist. God, however, does not depend on anything to exist except Himself.
2. It means this universe is not an accident, and it has a purpose. If there is no God, then there is no purpose to this universe and no purpose to our lives. But, if God exists and created the universe, then it has an ultimate purpose and our lives have a purpose in it. Without God there is no meaning to life. With God, there is deep meaning and purpose to life, and He shows us what that is throughout the rest of Scripture.
3. Taking the account as a whole -- There is only one God: Most of the creation myths of the ancient world said that there were many gods that battled for power and the universe was the fallout from those battles. The Bible clearly tells us there were not multiple gods at the beginning vying for power. There is one. The Bible and Christianity are essentially and necessarily monotheistic. Yet, even from the beginning we see hints of a complexity to God. He is the triune God, and we get hints of this complexity even in these first two chapters: "The Spirit hovered..." "Let us make man in our image..."
4. How does God create? What does He do in Ge. 1:28? He speaks. God is a talking God: He spoke to create, and He spoke to man. He is a talking God; not an abstract God. This is important because God is going to speak a lot in the rest of Scripture (indeed, the Bible is God's Word), and He even speaks today through the Bible by the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. The Bible and Christianity have no room for deism or any of its flavors. The Bible presents a very personal God, not one who does not pay any attention to His creation.
5. Ge. 1:31 (and at the end of the other creation days) -- God made everything good because He is good: In its original state, creation was good and perfect because it reflected the goodness and perfection of its Creator. Now, if you were reading the Bible for the first time and you started in Ge. 1, you would look at the world around you and wonder, "What happened?" We get the answer to that question in Ge. 3. That account and the original goodness of God's creation set up the history of redemption that the rest of the Bible records. They set up Jesus' work from Ge. 3:15 onward, which will one day be consummated when He returns to usher in the new heavens and new earth (cf. Re. 21). The path from this beginning in Genesis to the end prophesied in Revelation is the path we will follow as we learn about the God who is there.
6. Ge. 1:26-27 -- God created man distinct from all other creatures and in His image: God made humans in His image, and the account emphasizes the special creation of Adam and Eve far more than any other creature. Humans are creatures and have much in common with the other creatures, but humans were specially created as the image of God, which makes them distinct from all other creatures (even angels), gives them unique dignity, and allows them to relate to God. Furthermore, humans are not an accidental stage or a step in the development of life that is moving to something better. They are the apex of God's creation.
7. Ge. 2:1-3 -- God rested and designated one day in seven for our rest: God rested from His creative activity when He completed it and designated one day in seven to be a day of rest His images. This means that the Lord's Day (the Sabbath) is not just a rule that God gave to sinful people because they needed it as sinners. It means that God wanted man to rest one day in seven even when man was perfect. Rest is important to God. He wants us to work, certainly, and we will talk about that soon, but He also wants us to rest.
8. Ge. 1:28; 2:15 -- God made man to work: God made man to work and have dominion, which reflects His work and dominion (albeit, derivatively) and makes man His stewards in this world. Work is not a curse. Work is part of how God created us in the first place. The reason our work is so frustrating and sometimes feels like a curse now, is because of sin and the fall. But, work itself is good. When we work, so long as our work does not violate God's commands, we are doing what we were designed to do, and it is glorifying to Him.
9. Ge. 1:27; 2:24 -- God made humans male and female: God made humans male and female, and God designed them for each other--nothing in this world can complete a man like a woman and nothing in this world can complete a woman like a man. They are different, yet complementary, and we cannot ignore either of those without breaking down human culture. Furthermore, when they come together in a marriage union, they become one flesh--a new unit--which sets up the Bible's view of marriage, the family, and even how we understand Christ's relationship to the Church (cf. Eph. 5:22ff).
10. Ge. 2:25 -- God created humans perfect: God created humans perfect, innocent, and in harmony with Him and the rest of creation. This "naked" does not just mean they had no clothes on. It means they had nothing at all to hide. They were completely innocent. What would it be like never to have told a lie, had a lustful thought, committed idolatry, or committed any other sin? We cannot imagine such innocence, and it is our lack of innocence that causes us to hide who we really are from almost everyone (if not everyone). Adam and Eve, in their original state, knew none of that. They were completely innocent, and therefore could be naked (emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically) and unashamed before each other. The rest of the Bible describes God's work of redemption that is relentlessly pushing towards a time when His people will be in that state if innocence again in the new heavens and new earth (cf. Re. 21-22).

There you have it. Those are what I believe (again, mostly agreeing with Carson) to be the core essentials of Ge. 1-2 around which Christians must unite and without which the rest of the Bible is unintelligible. Do you agree? Is there anything you would say I am missing?

By His Grace,

Taylor

Advent: Day 2

Where does it all begin? Our meditation on Advent begins long before Jesus' incarnation. It begins at the very beginning with the creation of man:

²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.
²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." ²⁹ And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Ge. 1:26-31)

God created man. For we would not, of course, need redemption and the incarnation would not be necessary if we did not exist in the first place. Furthermore, we need to remember that God the Father was not there in the beginning alone. Jesus, as the second person in the Godhead and coeternal with the Father, was there at the beginning:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (Jn. 1:1-4)

In addition to John, Paul too reminds us that Jesus was the member of the Godhead who actually did the act of creating:

¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col. 1:16-17)

That is where the story begins. Our Lord and Savior, the second person of the Trinity, created us long before He became one of us.

By His Grace,
Taylor

How Should We Worship?

"[It is the] tension between the need to remain faithful to the gospel and the Christian tradition while at the same time faithfully communicating that Evangel [good news] in a changing and complex cultural milieu that presents mammoth challenges to the continued witness of the Christian church." ~ J. Matthew Pinson, Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views

How we should worship God, especially in public worship, is an important question for the Church. It is one of the more important questions because worship is one of the main ways we glorify God before an unbelieving world, and it is what we will be doing for all eternity in the new heavens and new earth. I would like to pose a list of fifteen things that I think are essential for public worship. Now, this list is a work-in-progress and I am in no way claiming that it is exhaustive. I welcome any comments on how to biblically refine these points.

Here we go: public worship should...

1. ...be God-exalting, Christ-centered, and Spirit-filled: The second commandment, the Psalter (e.g. Ps. 134), and the rest of the Scriptures declare of the glory of the Triune God and that He is to be worshiped and only Him. Other Scriptures (cf. Jn. 4:21-23; 5:23; Php. 2:9) tell us that worship in spirit and in truth is Christ-centered worship for He is the glory of the Father and the one whom God has exalted to the highest place. Finally, passages like 1 Co. 12:3 tell us that no one can worship God unless indwelt by the Spirit, for a renewed heart is essential to the right worship of God. 
2. ...put the amazing back into grace. The grace of God to us in Christ Jesus is more than we can fathom and we can never the exhaust the depths of this grace. Every worship service must amaze us and shock us by the grace of God, for we are a people prone to wander and we need constantly to be reminded of the magnitude of what He has done for us. 
3. ...be founded on the fact that we are created to worship God and enjoy Him. The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) asks, "What is the chief end of man?" It then biblically answers, "Man's chief end is to glorify God (cf. Ps. 86; Is. 43:7; 60:21; Ro. 11:36; Re. 4:11), and to enjoy Him forever (cf. Ps. 16:5-11; 144:15; Is. 12:2; Php. 4:4; Re. 21:3-4)." It is important to note that this is one end with two aspects—when we truly glorify God, we also enjoy Him. This means that public worship (and private too) should always be an overflow from our very purpose of existence. It should also be enjoyable because glorifying God and enjoying Him are inseparable. 
4. ...be on the Lord's Day. The Sabbath was not just part of the 10 Commandments (though that is no trivial thing) but was part of the creation ordinance. Even before man fell, he was to rest and worship one day in seven. In the OT, the Lord's Day was the seventh day of the week. Now that Christ has come, He is making a people for Himself, and grace abounds, the first day of the week is the Lord's Day (Re. 1:10; cf. Mt. 28:1; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1, 19-23; Ac. 20:7; 1 Co. 16:2) for it mirrors grace—we rest in grace and then we work—and it is the day in which our Lord was raised from the dead. Though not foundational, it is also practical, for God's people need a Lord's Day to have a common day to gather for worship (cf. He. 10:25). 
5. ...be corporate. On the Lord's Day (see above), God's people gather for corporate worship. While private worship is absolutely essential, one can and should distinguish between corporate and private worship. There are few explicit commands in the NT that tell us to gather together to worship (He. 10:25 being one) but that is not because the NT does not expect there to be corporate worship. That is because the teaching of the NT apostles rests firmly on the OT view of public worship and the assumption that the NT saints gather together in a public, definable worship service. Indeed, many of the NT commands about worship are unintelligible if there is not a distinct, corporate worship service for God's people (cf. Mt. 18:20; Ro. 14; Ac. 20:17-38; 1 Co. 7-11; 14; 16:2; 1 Ti. 2; 4:6-13; 2 Ti. 4; Tt; 2; He. 4:9; Re. 1:10). 
6. ...be governed by the Regulative Principle (RP) of worship. This principle is thrown around a lot these days and sometimes quite incorrectly, so let me attempt to define it for you. The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) 21.1 states it well, "But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture (Dt. 12:32; Mt. 15:9; Ac. 17:35)." Why does it say this? It's justification is stated in WCF 20.2, "God alone is Lord of the conscience (Js. 4:12; Ro. 14:4), and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to His Word; or beside it, in matters of faith or worship (Mt. 15:9; 23:8-10; Ac. 4:19; 5:29; 1 Co. 7:23; 2 Co. 1:24)." In short, the RP tells us that pastors, sessions, worship leaders, or anyone else directing worship can only prescribe in public worship that which God Himself has prescribed. Because God alone is Lord of the conscience, man has no right to insist another man do anything in matters of faith and worship unless God Himself has commanded it. No man has a right to make another man feel guilty about anything unless it comes from God's command in Scripture (cf. Mt. 15:1-9; Ro. 14; 1 Co. 8-10). This frees man's conscience from the tyranny of man and places it under the only Sovereign who can rule the conscience without damaging it—God. It is helpful, when discussing the RP, to distinguish between elements (those things prescribed as essential to gathered, public worship), forms (the way the element is expressed in public worship), and circumstances (those considerations regarding how, when, where, and in what manner or amount the elements are to be performed, i.e. bulletins, length of prayers, number of songs, times of services, etc.). The RP tells us the elements of public worship but leaves the forms and circumstances open. The forms and circumstances are those things that are, as WCF 1.6 states, "common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word." (In the case of forms, they are open but only to things which do not detract from the element itself, and some forms can detract from the element, which is why the WCF says, "ordered by... Christian prudence." E.g. reading Scripture in Latin to a people who do not understand Latin, as the Roman Catholic church did and still does at times, is a form which detracts from the element and therefore unacceptable.)
7. ...contain the following elements: reading the Bible (1 Ti. 4:13), preaching the Bible (Ro. 10:14, 17; 1 Ti. 4:6-13; 2 Ti. 4:2), praying the Bible (Ac. 2:42; 1 Ti. 2:1-4), singing the Bible (Eph. 5:18-19; Col. 3:16), and "seeing" the Bible, i.e. the sacraments (Mt. 28:19; Lk. 22:14-20; Ac. 2:38-39; 1 Co. 11:23-26; Col. 2:11-12). Why is it that we read, preach, etc. the Bible? Because God’s Word is central to our knowledge of Him, His works, His will, and our salvation. With its content and its content alone can we be assured that we are worshiping Him properly. Therefore, as the elements of worship are derived from Scripture, so should those elements be saturated with Scripture. 
8. ...be following the one, true worship leader—Jesus Christ Himself. Everyone else who directs a worship service is merely a minister, Jesus is the one who leads us into worship (Mt. 18:20; Jn. 4:21-23; He. 2:5ff). Jesus gathers us together in Him and brings us before God as our great High Priest. If we really remembered that Jesus is our worship leader (not the man or woman with a piano or guitar), would we not worship differently? 
9. ...be the whole thing—every activity between the call to worship and the benediction. Worship is not just singing. Worship is reading God's Word, praying, preaching, singing, and participating in the sacraments. Every act between from the beginning to the end is part of public worship. When we hear God's Word read or listen to a sermon, we should be cognizant that the hearing, actively listening, and contemplating of it are acts of worship and should lift our affections toward Him. 
10. ...have music that aids in the worship of God but never gets in the way of the worship of God. I do not think it is biblical to quibble over style of music in general, yet there are things that need to be considered when we choose our style. Music is a great way to involve our affections in worship, but it can also manipulate those affections and lead us away from worship, when not used properly. Being moved emotionally is not the same thing as being spiritually changed. Music should engage the affections but always in a way that is spiritually edifying, not just emotionally charged. 
11. ...be orderly. This is a simple but very important aspect of public worship that Paul pounds into the Corinthian people in 1 Co. 14. Paul builds an argument for order in worship and then closes it by saying, "But all things should be done decently and in order." How else is it going to edify God’s people and be a witness to the lost? 
12. ...be edifying. Like the previous point, in 1 Co. 13-14, Paul tells the Corinthian people that gifts and actions in worship are to be done "so that the church may be built up." What good does it do to speak in a tongue, prophesy, or have all knowledge if it is not used in love for the edification of the body? Paul answers in 1 Co. 13:3 we "gain nothing."
13. ...be covenantal. WCF 7.1 states, "The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which He has been pleased to express by way of covenant." God's people should come before God to praise Him for what He has done, hear His Word preached, understand the new covenant in Christ, learn about His commitment to them, learn about their commitment to Him, give Him thanks for His covenant, and receive the sign and seal the covenant and be nourished by Christ in the Lord's Supper. All these are aspects of a covenant renewal ceremony, which is at the heart of public worship.
14. ...engage the affections. Jonathan Edwards, in his excellent work Religious Affections, states, "True religion consists so much in the affections, that there can no true religion without them." One can have sound doctrine and not be a Christian, but one cannot be a true Christian and not have true affections. Now, it is important to note that affections are not just emotions, they are the response of the whole person. Affections are not emotions as distinct from the other faculties but the whole lot of emotions, will, and mind. They involve the will, the intellect, and the full range of emotions (not just the happy emotions). It is only through the engagement of the affections for God that we can glorify and enjoy Him. 
15. ...be simple, transferable, and flexible. Worship should not require any elaborate ritual or prescribed book of liturgy/prayer. Since it is based on the principles of God's Word, it is simple, not complicated. Worship, if guided by the RP, is also transferable. The elements are defined (and uncomplicated) but the forms and circumstances can be adapted to every culture (when guided by Christian prudence and the light of nature, according to the general rules of the Word). Finally, worship should be flexible. Like its transferability, it is flexible because biblical worship does not and cannot produce a "cookie-cutter" pattern that everyone church must fit into. The flexibility of worship guided by the RP encourages diversity and cultural expressions. 

As I stated above, this list is not exhaustive and I welcome any comments that may help me biblically refine what is said above.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Loneliness, A Prayer

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." ~ Matthew 28:20b

In some previous posts I have mentioned that I am taking a class on worship and our professor, Dr. Derek Thomas, has encouraged us to write out prayers on various subjects so that we can think about how we would lead a congregation in prayer before a sermon. This is not so that we would memorize prayers but so that we would engage in the practice of "studied prayers" and be prepared to pray well before a congregation.

Below is one I wrote about loneliness. I hope you find it helpful, perhaps something you can pray through, and perhaps a blessing to your soul.

Triune God, we have praised You this morning for Your mighty deeds. Father, You planned redemption from the beginning and You have sent Jesus to die, be raised, and be glorified for our justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. Jesus, after You accomplished redemption for us, You poured out Your Spirit on us so that we might be united to You and receive all the benefits of redemption that You won for us. Spirit, You live in us, convict us of sin, remind us of the gospel, and remake us into the image of Jesus more and more every day. Triune God, we cannot help but praise You for this. However, some here probably find it hard to praise You right now. In this sinful world, it is difficult not to feel alone sometimes.

There are times, Sovereign Lord, when we know the truth of Your salvation to us, yet, at the same time, feel so alone. Sometimes we feel abandoned by those around us and even You feel further than the moon. We feel like the psalmist who wrote, "I, O LORD, cry to You; in the morning my prayers come before You. O LORD, why do You cast my soul away? Why do You hide Your face from me?" We feel, like the psalmist, that You and our companions have become darkness to us. We ask, like David, "Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?" Show us that You are not far from us. Father, remind us of Your love. Jesus, remind us of Your promise to be with us always. Spirit, life up our souls and comfort our hearts in the joy of our salvation.

Forgive us, Father, for our unbelief and help our unbelief. Remind us of Your love, Your promises, and that if our friends leave us, even if our fathers and mothers forsake us, You will receive us. Jesus, remind us that You are our great High Priest who knows our weakness. You know what it is like to be forsaken and alone. Remind us that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Your disciples could not even stay awake to pray for You. Remind us that Peter betrayed You and all others felt in Your hour of need, save for John. Help us to hear those words You cried on the cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me," so that we can remember that because You were forsaken, we will never be. Spirit, comfort our souls with the knowledge that You have united us to Christ and sealed us for all eternity. Help us, Spirit, to never doubt in the dark these things we have known to be true while in the light.

O, Sovereign Lord, bring community around us to help us battle the loneliness. We need Your Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ. If we have isolated our selves, break down our pride and drive us to lean our brethren. Bring us a loving friend to listen and give us the strength to open our hearts to them. You have given us this great community of believers, help us to make use of it. If there are any here who feel that no one cares, raise up support for them from our community.

Finally, Lord, give us the strength to always praise You, even when the loneliness closes in. Even when we complain to You in prayer, lead us always back to praise. As You did with David, help us to still say, "But, I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me." Bring us back to that praise always, Lord, as You heal our hearts.

It is in the name of Jesus, the one who was forsaken for us so we do not have to be, that we pray. Amen.

By His Grace,
Taylor 

The Holy Spirit, A Prayer

"We believe in... the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets." ~ The Nicene Creed (First Council of Constantinople version, 381 AD)

In some previous posts I have mentioned that I am taking a class on worship and our professor, Dr. Derek Thomas, has encouraged us to write out prayers on various subjects so that we can think about how we would lead a congregation in prayer before a sermon. This is not so that we would memorize prayers but so that we would engage in the practice of "studied prayers" and be prepared to pray well before a congregation.

Below is one I wrote on the Holy Spirit. I hope you find it helpful, perhaps something you can pray through, and perhaps a blessing to your soul. (If you want some more theological writing on the Spirit, I suggest you check out this post.)

Sovereign God, we want to exalt and praise You this morning for Your Holy Spirit. You are glorious and mysterious to us because You are three-in-one—one in essence yet three in persons with Your Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. We cannot understand this mystery fully but we can praise You for it.

Spirit, though You don’t desire the spotlight and even turn it from Yourself to the Father and the Son, You are equal in glory and worthy of our praise. You bring the work of the Father and the Son to completion by continually acting in and on the world and we want to praise You for that today.

We praise You, Spirit, because in creation You hovered over the chaos—sustaining, guiding, and protecting all that was created. Because of You, beauty robed the world and life sprang forth. As the Psalmist says, when You hide Your face, creation is dismayed, but when You come forth, life is created and You renew the face of the ground. We ask, Spirit, that You bring order to our chaotic hearts and minds. Take away our unbelief, our doubts, our lusts, our unloving attitudes, our racists thoughts, our prideful arrogance, and our idolatrous worship of things that cannot satisfy. Reorder our hearts and minds towards Jesus. Don’t hide Your face but come forth and bring life to our hearts. Lift the cloud of unbelief and enlighten our minds in the knowledge of Christ. Focus our chaotic minds on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, reorder our minds toward these things, Spirit, for the glory of the Godhead and our good.

We praise You, Spirit, because You inspired the prophets of the Old Testament period to write Your word and record for us, without error, the history of redemption. We praise You because You inspired the apostles and disciples of Christ to record, without error, His work in the gospels and its theological significance for a new covenant people in the rest of the New Testament. We praise You, Spirit, because for the past two thousand years You have been building, shaping, and guiding Christ’s Church, His Bride, for the glory of the Godhead and for our good. We praise You because even now You illuminate our hearts so that we might understand the written Word that You inspired long ago. Keep these words on our hearts. Help us to mediate on them day and night. Help us to teach them diligently to our children, and talk of them when we sit in our houses, when we walk down the street, when we lie down and when we rise up. Bind Your inspired Word to our hearts and minds, for the glory of the Godhead and our good.

Spirit, we praise You because You made it possible for us to receive salvation and be called children of God. By Your power and work, Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary and became incarnate. You anointed Him for His ministry, qualified Him for His work of salvation, led Him through this life to the cross to be our sacrifice, and raised Him from the dead for our salvation. You, Spirit, applied this salvation to us—You regenerated our hearts, gave us the gift of faith, and united us to Christ for our justification, adoption, and sanctification. And, even now You continually work in us, both to will and to work for the glory of the Godhead and our good. Keep our eyes on Jesus, remind us of His sacrifice, and remind us of the intensity of the love that led Him to the cross. Open our hearts to the depths of truth in His words, “It is finished.” Take our thoughts and hearts away from our selfishness and point them towards the cross and all thing things it represents to us. Increase our faith in the knowledge of the atonement received, the propitiation of God’s wrath, the guilt destroyed, the debt paid, the sins forgiving, the death defeated, the righteous imputed, and heaven opened, all for God’s elect. Sanctify us with these truths so that we might die unto sin more and more and live unto righteousness more and more, for the glory of the Godhead and our good.

Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, for sending Your Spirit. Thank You, Spirit, for continually sustaining, protecting, and guiding to completion the work of the Father and the Son. Sovereign God, we praise You for Your work as the three-in-one God and especially today for the work of the Holy Spirit. Help it bring our hearts to praise and never to leave our minds.

In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Spirit, we pray these things. Amen.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Trinity, A Prayer

Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit,
  I adore Thee as one Being, one Essence,
  one God in three distinct Persons,
  for bringing sinners to Thy knowledge and to Thy kingdom.
O Father, Thou hast loved me and sent Jesus to redeem me;
O Jesus, Thou hast loved me and assumed my nature,
  shed thine own blood to wash away my sins,
  wrought righteousness to cover my unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, Thou hast loved me and entered
  my heart, implanted there eternal life,
  revealed to me the glories of Jesus.
  Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise Thee,
  for love so unmerited, so unspeakable,
  so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost
  and raise them to glory. ~ "The Trinity" from The Valley of Vision

In a class on worship that I am taking, our professor, Dr. Derek Thomas, has encouraged us to write out prayers on various subjects so that we can think about how we would lead a congregation in prayer before a sermon. Leading a group of dozens, hundreds, or thousands in prayer is much harder than you might think (that is, if you have already imagined getting past your fear of public speaking, which almost all of us have). The practice of extemporaneousness prayer is a good one and one for which our puritan and Presbyterian forefathers fought hard to maintain. But, even these traditions called for what they termed "studied prayers"--prayers that had been planned and thought through and then delivered without notes. That is what he is encouraging us to develop.

Below is one I wrote on the Trinity. Now, I know it is not going to compare to the above poetry from The Valley of Vision, but I hope you find it helpful, perhaps something you can pray through, and perhaps a blessing to your soul.

Triune God, this morning we want to praise You and the glories of Your existence as thee-in-one. We praise You because You are one being, one essence, one God; yet three persons. We praise you because You are three persons of one substance, power, dignity, and eternity; yet distinct in roles and authority. We praise You because You show us the meaning of equality amid authority and submission.

Father, we praise You because You are neither begotten nor proceeding, You are coequal with the Son and the Spirit, and You exercise supreme authority among the Godhead. Son, we praise You because You are eternally begotten of the Father, You are coequal with the Father, and You submit to His authority. Holy Spirit, we praise You because You eternally proceed from the Father and the Son, You are coequal with them both, and You submit to their authority. Truine God, we praise You because Your existence shows us what it means to be one in essence and to have equality, authority, submission, and love. This is a great mystery to us that brings joy to our hearts, though, nay, because we will never fully comprehend the beauty of Your Triune subsistence.
Father, we want to particularly focus on praise to You now. We praise You because You are the supreme Architect of creation, redemption, and consummation. By Your intense love, You chose us in Jesus before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in Your sight. By Your eternal wisdom, You spoke the creation of this universe in which we exist, this world in which we live, and our very lives with which You have blessed us. By Your gracious immanence, in times distant past You revealed Yourself to Your people through covenants, promises, and prophecies until the fullness of time came and You revealed Yourself to us through Your incarnate Son, Jesus. By Your justice and justifying love, You sent Jesus to redeem Your people—to be our perfect and eternal sacrifice—so that we might be saved from Your wrath and adopted as Your sons and daughters. By Your mighty plan, You will one day send Jesus again to finish what have You have started and bring us home to glory forever.

Son, we want to particularly focus on praise to You now. We praise You because You are the Accomplisher of creation, redemption, and consummation. By Your power, You were the word of the Father that brought this universe, this world, and our very lives into existence. By Your humility and for the joy set before You, You condescended to our level, were born of a woman, lived a sinless life, revealed the glory of the Father, suffered for our sins, died for our sins, and were raised to break the power of death and secure our justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. By Your wisdom and experience as our High Priest, You stand before the Father, always interceding for Your people as our Advocate. By Your obedience to Father and love for Your Church, You will one day return to finish what You have started and bring us home to glory forever.

Holy Spirit, though You turn the spotlight from Yourself toward the Son, we want to particularly focus on praise to You now. We praise You because You are the Sustainer and Finisher of creation, redemption, and consummation. By Your grace, You hovered, even brooded over creation, sustained it, and continue to uphold it, even as I pray. By Your power, You anointed Jesus for His ministry, guided Him through this world to the cross, and raised Him from the dead. By Your love and Your grace, You were poured out by Jesus at Pentecost, unite believers to Jesus, and sanctify us so that we might daily be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. By Your wisdom, You help with our infirmities, show us our need of Jesus, draw us to repentance, give us the words to pray when we can only groan, and strengthen and unite the Church for the task the Father has for us during this life. By Your glory, You will one day give us new bodies for the new heavens and the new earth when Jesus returns to bring us home to glory forever.

Triune God, we can only marvel at Your equality, love, authority, submission, and perfectly united work in this universe, redemption history, and our very lives. How great is the mystery of You as one, yet three! Please allow beauty of that mystery to sink down into every nook and cranny of our lives so that we might learn how to love, learn how to lead, learn how to submit, and learn be united in our work in our individual lives, in our marriages, and as Your Church.

Glory be to the Father, glory be to the Son, and glory be to the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Book Review: "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance" by Bruce A. Ware

"As God is one, so human beings are created in that one image, fully human and fully equal. Yet, as God is three—and particularly by virtue of the eternal taxis [economy] that orders the relations of the divine Persons—so human beings must embrace the created taxis of their human relationships. Equality exists alongside authority and submission in human life, as God has designed it to be." ~ Dr. Bruce A. Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance, pg. 158.

I have written about the Trinity before here and here and thought I would post this review that I recently wrote on Dr. Ware's book on the Trinity. The Trinity is one of the most mysterious doctrines of Christianity and yet it is also one of the most important. R. B. Kuiper once said (and I agree) that it "is no exaggeration to assert that the whole of Christianity stands or falls with it." One of the problems with writing or talking about the Trinity is that since it is mysterious and something that we cannot completely comprehend, when we talk about it for longer than five minutes we run the risk of drifting into heresy. I like this book because it is short, accessible, worshipful, and, from what I can tell, does not drift into heresy and it is quite an achievement to combine all four of those.

My full review of this can be read on Google Docs here but below is part of my final conclusion about Dr. Ware's book:

Overall I am very impressed with Bruce Ware’s work on the Trinity. He presents an accurate historical overview of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, and he gives compelling biblical arguments for the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. At the same time, in his presentation he does not leave the reader with just the bare facts about the Trinity but applies these glorious truths to the lives of Believers. Also, writing about the Trinity is never simple because it is easy to fall prey to the temptation to step over biblical lines and attempt to explain how God can be one in essence and yet three in Person beyond what Scripture supports. Ware does not do this. In his explanation of the Trinity he acknowledges the mystery of this doctrine, describes the biblical case for the orthodox view of the Trinity, and describes the historical development of the orthodox view of the Trinity without erroneously attempting to explain how God can be one in essence and at the same time three in Person... 

One of the things I appreciated most about Ware’s overall structure of his book is how accessible it is for the average churchgoer and how worshipful it is. Theological descriptions can often be too “heady” for the average layperson in “the seats”, yet Ware has, I think, successfully described the Trinity accurately, within orthodoxy, and accessibly. In a similar vein, theological descriptions can also often be dry, yet Ware constantly describes the doctrine of the Trinity and his applications to our lives in a worshipful manor. One only has to look at the chapter titles to see the heart of worship—“Beholding the Wonder of Our Triune God”, “Beholding the Wonder of the Father”, “Beholding the Wonder of the Son”, “Beholding the Wonder of the Holy Spirit”, etc.—but also as one digs deeper into the book one can see that this worshipful attitude extends to every page of the work...

I hope from this and my review that you pick up this book and read the whole thing. It is small, about 160 pages, and easy to read so it will not be taxing on you but it will bless your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Basis

"The Trinity is the basis of the gospel, and the gospel is a declaration of the Trinity in action." ~ J. I. Packer

Martin Luther said that justification is the doctrine by which Christianity stands or falls. With much respect to the one of the most important men in Church history, I think he has not moved deep enough. Justification by faith alone was Luther's great contention with Rome and I am afraid that because of that he placed it at the center of all things. Now, I am not trying to in any way diminish the importance of this great doctrine but I do think putting at the basis of all Christianity is unwise. I agree with Packer's statement, the Trinity is the basis of the gospel and justification by faith alone is part of the gospel. Without the covenant of redemption taking place in the Trinity before time began, without the Father ordaining the plan of redemption, without the Son achieving redemption, and without the Spirit applying the benefits of redemption to the elect, there is no gospel, no justification. In the doctrine of the Trinity is understood in Christ's divinity, the self-sufficiency of God, the glory of God, union with Christ, and the redemption of man. R. B. Kuyper held, "The doctrine of the Trinity is basic to the Christian religion. It is no exaggeration to assert that the whole of Christianity stands or falls with it." I agree.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Triune God

Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit,
  I adore Thee as one Being, one Essence,
  one God in three distinct Persons,
  for bringing sinners to Thy knowledge and to Thy kingdom.
O Father, Thou hast loved me and sent Jesus to redeem me;
O Jesus, Thou hast loved me and assumed my nature,
  shed thine own blood to wash away my sins,
  wrought righteousness to cover my unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, Thou hast loved me and entered
  my heart, implanted there eternal life,
  revealed to me the glories of Jesus.
  Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise Thee,
  for love so unmerited, so unspeakable,
  so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost
  and raise them to glory.

O Father, I thank Thee that in fullness of grace
  Thou hast given me to Jesus, to be His sheep,
  jewel, portion;
O Jesus, I thank Thee that in fullness of grace
  Thou hast accepted, espoused, bound me;
O Holy Spirit, I thank Thee that in fullness of grace
  Thou hast exhibited Jesus as my salvation,
  implanted faith within me,
  subdued my stubborn heart,
  made me one with Him for ever.
O Father, Thou art enthroned to hear my prayers,
O Jesus, Thy hand is outstretched to take my petitions,
O Holy Spirit, Thou art willing to help my
  infirmities, to show me my need,
  to supply words, to pray within me,
  to strengthen me that I faint not in
  supplication.

O Triune God, who commandeth the universe,
  Thou hast commanded me to ask for those
  things that concern Thy kingdom and my soul.
  Let me live and pray as one baptized into the
  threefold Name.

The Trinity, "The Valley of Vision"

Enough said...

By His Grace,
Taylor