Posts from — May 2004

We have had a slight ant problem in our bathroom since it has gotten warm. We have some of those traps that are supposed to kill the whole colony, but other than that we haven’t taken much action.

But today Geneva was overheard in the bathroom asking a half squished ant on her finger, in all earnestness, “Why do you live in our bathroom?”

Just a moment ago, I was reading some website junk, and Geneva came into the room, singing “We all live in a submarine. We live in a submarine. Ashley lives in a submarine”.

John Frame:

The controversy about Shepherd has become so heated that some of his critics, including official statements of two denominations, have accused him of denying the gospel or of preaching “another gospel.” In the light of Shepherd’s writing here, quite consistent with his writings elsewhere, it should be plain that such criticisms are stupid, irresponsible, and divisive. Theological professors who make such comments, in my judgment, do not have the intellectual, theological, or spiritual maturity to prepare students for gospel ministry. Similar comments can be made against pastors, writers, and web gurus who try to turn this debate into some kind of new reformation.

Thanks for pointing this out, Barb

I sent an attachment via my Gmail account this morning, and made a startling realization.

You can use your gmail account as a gigabyte of online storage.

Of course, you can’t share the files. But still… I think it’s a pretty cool way to have access to files while you’re away from your computer.

I spoke to our elders about Ashley being admitted to the Lord’s Table, and she was accepted. This coming Sunday – Pentecost – she will have her first Lord’s Supper.

Glory to God.

A while back Megan received a doctor’s bill for some treatment having to do with Ashley’s birth. As I recall, it was for some tests that were done that our insurance company required further documentation in order to pay for. The doctor’s office was supposed to have sent the information. Anyhow… there was this bill that was due some time after Ashley was born. In other words, it had been many months since the treatment, and the first bill, and the talking with the insurance and all that. So when I called the doctor’s office, and began discussing the issue with them, they were not very cooperative. Eventually, the lady I was talking to laughed at me and told me I was not responsible for the bill anyhow, since Megan’s name is on the account, and not mine. I informed her that I was responsible for the bill, since Megan is my wife, and I am responsible for her. Long story short, they finally sent something to my insurance company, and the insurance company agreed that the test was reasonable, and paid the bill. Happy ending for us.

But yesterday’s quotes from Hoekema, and Jason’s comments about those quotes, reminded me of this incident and the close analogy it is to what Christ has done for us.

Can you imagine how strange the relationship would be if Megan got the bill, and then we made a transaction in our separate bank accounts… she gave me her bill, and I gave her the money for that bill, and that was the end of it? That is such a sterile, external, mechanical type of relationship. Instead, what happens is that I am responsible for all of Megan’s needs and burdens. Because she is my wife, everything that is hers is mine, and all that is mine is hers. There is no individual, one-to-one transactions between us. The bill comes in her name, but immediately without a second thought I take responsibility for the bill, and take care of it. It is a living, organic relationship. We are united.. we are one.

That is what Christ has done, and is doing for us. We are in Him, and He therefore take responsibility for all our needs and our debts.

Also, yesterday, I receive more beer from Trevor! Woo Hoo!

I got two kinds, two ‘a’s and an ‘f’. I don’t know what they are, but I bet they’re good.

Thanks Trevor! You’re awesome!

And this post from Mark Horne reminds me of a joke I made one time while in Sam’s club.

Megan started looking at all the big boxes of chocolate and other candy they have, and I warned her that she was going to ‘Temptation Aisle”.

ha.

Everythiing hinges on whether I get to a computer or not.

It reminds me of that stupid line from a movie, “We must get the viceroy. Everything depends upon it”. There’s just some slippage between Douglas Wilson and Natalie Portman.

Yesterday I listened to a lecture by Anthony Hoekema entitled Union with Christ and Justification. It was worth listening to. I have an mp3 that I got free from wordmp3.com. It is still available on the free mp3 page, if you’re interested. Here are some quotes…

In his book, Dr. Stewart [James Stewart, A Man In Christ] expands in eloquent language the various ramifications of this thought. He says, and I quote again, “The conviction has grown steadily upon me that union with Christ rather than justification, or election, or eschatology, or indeed, any of the other great epistolic themes is the real clue to an understanding of Paul’s thought and experience”. And so he finds union with Christ central in the teachings of the Apostle Paul. I think that we too must keep this thought centrally in our minds. And I believe that we touch here a weakness in reformed theology. I think that we tend often to think of the work of Christ in purely impersonal or commercial terms. Or forensic terms. For example, a common conception of the atoning work of Christ is something like this: “Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt for us. He satisfied the justice of God for us. He suffered the wrath of God against our sins. And by doing so, He enabled God to forgive us our sins.”

Now all of this is true. I agree with every bit of it. But it’s quite inadequate to describe the work that our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. Sometimes we think of the work of Christ after the analogy of the way we pay a bill. We write a check, we put the check in an envelope, and send it to the store without ever stepping inside the store. Without ever talking to anybody. Without having fellowship with anybody. And if we think of the work of Christ in this way, we have, I think, a most inadequate conception of His work. This tendency to think of the work of Christ almost exclusively in terms of the paying of a debt, or the satisfaction of justice in a kind of impersonal way, is, I think, part of our western theological tradition.

After discussing briefly some western theologians and their views of the atonement, and the lack of emphasis on union with Christ, he goes on to say how eastern theologians had an emphasis on the more mystical aspects of the work of Christ. That Christ saved us by becoming one of us.

Then, near the end of the lecture, he says…

A family can be supported in two ways, by alimony payments and by the support of a loving husband. Now, I am saying that justification is not like an alimony payment made by a husband that has abandoned his family. But rather, it is like the support given by a husband who lives in loving fellowship with his family. Jesus does not justify us on the alimony payment analogy, but on the loving husband and father analogy. Christ gives us the blessing of justification only by bringing us into and keeping us in union and fellowship with Him. And we can only continue to enjoy the blessing of justification as we continue to abide in Him.

As the preacher whom I heard yesterday morning put it, “God” he said, “is not like a vending machine.” You put a quarter in the slot and out comes the forgiveness of sins. There’s nothing mechanical about justification. Justification is not received in that way. Justification is only received along the way of a living faith. And a living faith, as James reminds us, must always be accompanied by works. James is not suggesting that we are justified by merit when he says that a man is justified by works. Rather, he is saying, that the faith by which we are justified must be a genuine faith. And a genuine faith can only reveal itself in works. A dead faith, James is saying, never justified anybody. And never will justify anybody.

So the very point I am trying to get at this afternoon when I stress that justification is received only in union with Christ. Though we usually say that justification is a once for all act rather than a process, our appropriation of it must always be by means of an ongoing, continuing, living faith. No one has any right to say, “because I accepted Christ for justification many years ago, I will always continue to enjoy this blessing whether I continue to abide in Christ or not.” Paul puts it very strikingly in Colossians two verses six and seven, “As therefore ye receive Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him. Rooted and builded up in Him, and established in your faith.” John Calvin once put it this way, “we are justified by faith alone, but faith whereby we are justified is never alone.”
When we thus continue to grasp Christ with a living faith, we enjoy a most wonderful assurance.

Yesterday, while in Target, I saw an automatic jar opener. It was $39.98, or something like that.

I said to Megan, “Anyone that has forty dollars to buy an automatic jar opener has too much money”. And do you know what she did? She called me a liberal democrat.

ch.