by HARVEYOPP | Mar 28, 2014 | RC Sproul Jr.
MAKING IMAGES
Given that I haven’t seen it, one might think I hadn’t given it much thought. But I have. I could here take a stab at solving the immediate second commandment problem. Some argue that on its face, any movie that depicts Jesus is of necessity a violation of the second commandment which forbids making graven images. It’s a rather sticky wicket given the nuances of our understanding of the incarnation. God, for instance, is spirit. The body of Jesus, while most assuredly in union with God the Son, belongs properly to His human nature. But, an image of that human body is an image of He who is one person with two natures, one human the other divine.
I could take another tack and poke fun at how we evangelicals are less than discerning about how God works. I remember the promise of worldwide revival that we expected would follow in the wake of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. I remember the giddy expectation of that preceded the release of several movies from my friends at Sherwood Baptist Church. But such is shooting fish in a barrel. In terms of soul winning strategies this is just the next great thing in a long line of failed next great things.
OLD FASHIONED IDOLATRY
While each of the above approaches indirectly exposes our propensity toward idolatry, I think it might be more fruitful to explore a more fundamental issue with idolatry, and that is this—we are prone to it, ordinary, just like in the Bible, idolatry. Because we are modernists we think the worship of idols in the manner of those who bow down before graven images is somehow behind us. Because we are Christians we admit to a nice modern version of idolatry. “Well,” we say, “money or power, or influence are the kinds of idols we suffer from in our day.” And we do. As they did in the Bible.
The root of idolatry, however, is here—images move us at a basic level, and evoke worship in us, worship that God abhors. I first felt this watching another movie that presented an image of Christ—The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. When Aslan first appeared on the screen my heart swelled and like a teetotaler taking his first drink, a health nut tasting his first Twinky, I thought, “Oh, so this is what He warned us about.” I was taken up, enraptured, spellbound because of the sheer majestic beauty of the Lion.
Truth be told it happened again as I, in a theater, first watched the trailer for Son of God. I could again take up my native language of Reformed sarcasm and crack wise about how very Caucasian, how very soft, how very hipster he looked. But the truth is I broke into tears. I wanted that man to be Jesus, and I wanted him to look at me the way he looked at those whom he loved in the movie. I wept.
LEGALISM & WISDOM
That experience is just what the makers of this film, and its promoters, want people to have. Strangely, many Christians think it a good thing. I had a profound, deep, emotional, religious experience, fueled by a man made, false presentation of Jesus. Much like the children of Israel had a profound, deep, emotional, religious experience, fueled by a man made, false presentation of God, in the form of a golden calf. The problem with the movie isn’t, in my judgment, that it is a technical violation on the edges of a law God made, that seeing it might make Him mad because He’s so persnickety. The problem is that, for me anyway, I was lead right into the vicious heart of idolatry, which was cleverly disguised as a positive Christian experience.
I am not, I hope you understand, accusing the makers of this film with being the self-conscious tools of the devil. I am not calling into question the faith of anyone involved in making or promoting the film. I am, however, questioning their wisdom. There’s a reason God warned us. The problem is in us, not the statue, whether it be stone or celluloid. Remember, the strangest fire is that which we think safe to take into our bosom.
by HARVEYOPP | Mar 28, 2014 | Kevin DeYoung
Just as crucially, if all Scripture is breathed out by God, then there is a unity to be found across the pages of the Bible. Without minimizing the differences of genre and human authorship, we should nevertheless approach the Bible expecting theological distinctives and apparent discrepancies to be fully reconcilable.
The unity of Scripture also means we should be rid, once and for all, of this “red letter” nonsense, as if the words of Jesus are the really important verses in Scripture and carry more authority and are somehow more directly divine than other verses. An evangelical understanding of inspiration does not allow us to prize instructions in the gospel more than instructions elsewhere in Scripture. If we read about homosexuality from the pen of Paul in Romans, it has no less weight or relevance than if we read it from the lips of Jesus in Matthew. All Scripture is breathed out by God, not just the parts spoken by Jesus.
God’s gracious self-disclosure comes to us through the Word made flesh and by the inscripturated word of God. These two modes of revelation reveal to us one God, one truth, one way, and one coherent set of promises, threats, and commands to live by. We must not seek to know the Word who is divine apart from the divine words of the Bible, and we ought not read the words of the Bible without an eye to the Word incarnate. When it comes to seeing God and his truth in Christ and in Holy Scripture, one is not more reliable, more trustworthy, or more relevant than the other. Scripture, because it is the breathed-out word of God, possesses the same authority as the God-man Jesus Christ. Submission to the Scriptures is submission to God. Rebellion against the Scriptures is rebellion against God. The Bible can no more fail, falter, or err, than God himself can fail, falter, or err.
by HARVEYOPP | Mar 28, 2014 | Scott Henry
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
When it comes to religion, most people in our society think there are many roads leading to heaven. They say if a person is sincere and lives a moral life then surely they’ll go to heaven … no matter what they believe. But our text teaches there’s only one way to heaven, and anyone who teaches any other way is a liar who is deceived by Satan. Scripture teaches only one way to be saved from the guilt and consequences of our sin and that way is the person & work of Jesus Christ alone! Only by the love and grace of God raising sinners up from spiritual death and uniting them to Jesus Christ is there salvation.
Do you believe Christ is the only way to heaven or do you think there’s more than one way of salvation? Do you think if a man is faithful and sincere in what he believes, no matter what it may be, that he will be saved? Sadly, many church members think this is the case. Too many people, who profess to be Christians, say foolish things like, “Oh, yes, Christ saves, but let’s not be unloving by saying Christ is the only way to heaven. That would mean all other faiths are condemned.” You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ will be tolerated by most people if it’s presented as one way among many. But when it’s proclaimed as the only way, the exclusive way, then it becomes offensive to a pluralistic society.
However, is it a loving thing to tell people there are many roads to heaven, and if they’re sincere and do their best then God will accept them? No, it’s unloving because it’s a lie, and love always rejoices in the TRUTH!! (1 Cor. 13:6). Our text is very clear … apart from true faith in Jesus Christ you will perish! Jesus doesn’t say He is one way among many … No! He says He is THE ONLY WAY a sinner can come to the Father. Our text teaches there is salvation only in Jesus Christ! There is no salvation in the superstitions, philosophies or man-made religions that abound in our world. All other beliefs apart from true faith in Jesus Christ are doctrines of demons sent among men to deceive, and the ONLY loving thing a Christian can do is boldly and loudly proclaim the truth that Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life, and that NO ONE comes to the Father except through HIM! (John 14:6). As we read in Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” Be faithful in your Christian witness to say what God has said in His Word and let the chips fall where they may.
by HARVEYOPP | Mar 28, 2014 | Martyn Lloyd-Jones
We have to spend time in understanding and studying…[the] great doctrines of the Christian faith. It is only as we do so that we shall become strong, and become men, and be able to take the stronger meat, and so grow, and be powerful and able to teach others. There is no doubt but that the most unhappy and discouraged Christians today are those who do not exercise their senses with respect to this Word of God.
We cannot live on snippets in the spiritual realm. We have to get down to these profound truths of the Scripture; we have to make time to read them and to read books about them. The trouble today, as it has been for so many years, is that Christian people have not been reading their Scriptures, not troubling to understand them. They say, ‘Oh, I am too busy, I have too many things to do, and life is very harassing at the present time’. But our forefathers, who worked much harder, and for much longer hours, and for much smaller wages, found the time.
Those men used to read their Scriptures and study them. They generally bought a Bible which had a commentary at the bottom of each page, and they studied it and spent time with it. They also read other books which helped them to understand the Scriptures. They were ‘exercising their senses’; and that is what made them strong.
That was the secret of the Protestant martyrs. It was the secret likewise of the Covenanters in Scotland in the seventeenth century. Those men were strong because they knew their Scriptures, and they knew the truth of the Scriptures. They had exercised their senses. They gave time to the exercise; they lived by the Word. And thus they ceased to be babes and became mighty, strong men.
You and I must behave in a like manner. There is no substitute for that. We do not sit back and ‘just look to Jesus’ to do it all for us. That is a false doctrine: I do not hesitate to use such a term. We must exercise our senses, we must build ourselves up in our most holy faith. It will not happen to us automatically; there are no shortcuts in the Christian life. If you want to build yourself up, exercise yourself in the Scriptures.
(Taken from: D.M. Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Soldier)
by HARVEYOPP | Mar 28, 2014 | CH Spurgeon
“It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, ‘Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.’ All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that ‘Christ is all in all.’
Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.
‘My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.’”
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