Let Me Think About It!

In recent studies of the Gospel of Luke, three comments about Mary grabbed my attention. They all had to do with her “pondering.”  This “pondering” happened first when Gabriel told her of her Son, our Saviour (Luke 1:29[1]). Again, it is recorded that when the shepherds approach Jesus and Mary on Christmas night, she ponders (Luke 2:17-19[2]). She ponders again when she finds Jesus in the Temple, “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured[3] up all these things in her heart.”[4]

All three recordings of Mary pondering something in her heart were about Jesus, her son, our Lord.

1. Luke 1:29 - when angel Gabriel told her she would have a son
2. Luke 2:19 - at Jesus' birth
3. Luke 2:51 - when Jesus was 12 years old 

“The word for “ponder,” σνμβάλλουνσα  means to “preserve,” “treasure,” “protect and defend.” The same word is used in the LXX of Jacob’s puzzling over the meaning of Joseph’s dreams (Genesis 37:11). This word is in the imperfect tense, connoting something ongoing; thus, “to continue to ruminate,” even “to wrestle with.”[5]  The thought that occurs to me is this: “How often am I content just to think, wrestle with, ruminate over something.”  It is quick to “Google” something, check AI, or even consult resources. Mary had not known of those. She did know her Old Testament. As these events occurred in the life of Jesus, Luke took the opportunity to note that Mary just pondered, thought deeply about them. How did Luke know that? Mary must have told him or at least told someone that Luke interviewed for his Gospel. Luke must have thought it important that his readers were made aware of Mary’s reaction. He must have thought that this was important for us to know.

Mary has often been presented to us as a notable example of Christian discipleship. Perhaps her significant times of quiet, thoughtful meditation, wrestling with the profound truth before her, is one example we need to emulate? I am reminded of what Paul wrote to Timothy: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”[6]  When was the last time any of us just pondered; just pondered for hours, days, months, years? Just pondered. The late Dr. Gresham Machen profoundly affirms, “When any new fact enters the human mind it must proceed to make itself at home; it must proceed to introduce itself to the previous denizens of the house. That process of introduction of new facts is called thinking.”^[7]

I used to make a joke with my girls when they asked for something that I never intended to give them or allow them. I would say, “Let me think about it, no.”  What was meant to be humour can often be reality in our world. We speak without thinking. I’m guilty. We think it reflects poorly on us if we do not always have a ready response. Perhaps, like Mary, we should ponder more. I recently read an excerpt from a Christmas article by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. I immediately thought, “This man has been pondering.”   Note what he wrote:

“It’s staggering to the intellect. Indeed, I think one can say, if your intellect has never been staggered by the reality of the incarnation, you don’t know what incarnation means. It doesn’t mean Jesus was a little baby. It means the eternal, infinite, divine One, worshipped by Cherubim and Seraphim, Creator of all things, sustainer of all things, infinite in His being, wisdom, power, majesty, glory, who at a word could dissolve the world that had sinned against Him was willing to come into this world and assume our flesh in order to become our Saviour. It’s overwhelming.” [8]

Of all the possible options Mary had as she heard about and then gazed at her baby, the Scriptures teach us that she pondered, thought, reflected, wrestled wth this staggering reality that God, not giving up anything, but adding to Himself humanity was her baby and the Saviour of the World.

Mary, through the Gospel of Luke, has challenged me to ponder more. What about you? Similar to Ferguson’s thoughts, have we really pondered the Incarnation — the coming of God in the flesh, the God-Man, into this world? What was Mary thinking as she looked down at her baby? What did she think when she knew he was in debate with the religious leaders of his day, even at age twelve? As she looked into His face did all those well-known prophecies of the Messiah come flooding back? What did she marvel at when Simeon said, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”[9]  What was she thinking when she sang these words:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”[10]

Christmas provides for us the call for peace, for joy, for family and love. Christmas calls to worship. Is it possible that Christmas also invites us to ponder, to think — to think deeply, wrestling with the “staggering” truths that are before us?

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[1] But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.” - The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 1:29). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

[2] And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” -The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 2:17–19). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

[3] To keep carefully in her mind.

[4] The Holy3 Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 2:51). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

[5] Edwards, James R., Pillar Commentary Series, The Gospel According to Luke, Eerdman’s Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, 2105

[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2 Ti 2:6–7). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

[7] Gresham Machen, What Is Faith? (1937; repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1991), 242.

[8]  https://www.ligonier.org/posts/why-god-man?srsltid=AfmBOoqSjxeMV8auvlwLpQDSTjfq-yYiII64jPvB-gLQ7wvMZ2HIUwv_

[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 2:34–35). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 1:46–47). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

 

John Stott - The Place of Israel

 

The Place of Israel

by John Stott [1]

Rector Emeritus,  All Souls Church, London, England

Our topic has been announced as “The Place of Israel,” and the topic that has been set for us is an object lesson in biblical hermeneutics as it’s usually called in the principles of interpreting the Bible.  But I would like to remind you right at the beginning that there are at least four ways in which the word “Israel,” whose place we are to investigate, can be used.

One:     Israel was that devious scoundrel, the second son of Isaac, whose first name was Jacob – meaning “he who deceived or he who struggles,” who amply lived up to his name – but whom God renames “Israel,” because having struggled with men all his life, he at last came to struggle with God for the blessing he needed (a blessing to which he was not entitled).

Two:     Israel is the chosen people of the Old Testament days – the 12 tribes descended from the 12 sons of Jacob called the children of Israel, because Israel (or Jacob) was a common ancestor.

Three:   Israel is the messianic community – the people of Jesus – the true descendents of Abraham because they share Abraham’s faith.  This includes Gentiles like most of us if we believe in Jesus, but excludes Jews who don’t.  When Paul ended his letter to the Galatians, “Peace and mercy upon the Israel of God,” he was referring to believers in Jesus, whatever their ethnic origin.  So Israel is the messianic community.

Four:    Israel today, for many people if you read the newspapers, is the Israeli nation, promised a national home by the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and given it in 1948.

So Israel has four meaning.  It means Jacob.  It means Jews.  It means Christians.  And it means Israelis.  And that is just the problem when you are asked who you are talking about.

To read further click HERE.

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1. John Stott was ordained into the ministry of the Church of England in 1945. He served as the senior pastor (rector) of All Souls Church in London from 1950-1975. He became Rector Emeritus in 1975 and devoted his life to a ministry of teaching worldwide, and writing.  Stott has written over 40 books. His best known, “Basic Christianity”, has been translated into more than 50 languages. Other titles include “The Cross of Christ,” The Contemporary Christian,”  “ Evangelical Truth,” “New Issues Facing Christians Today,” and eight New Testament expositions.

What Is Saving Faith?

Recently Matt Tully from Crossway Books interviewed John Piper on his new book, What Is Saving Faith?, from Crossway in a podcast entitled Can Affectionless Faith Be Genuine?  Here are some quotable quotes from the interview.

“A lot of people think that the people who have been born again out of the most horrific lives of sinning have the clearest idea of what depravity means and what salvation means. I think that’s wrong because I don’t think experience can come close to teaching us about the nature of our depravity that we find in Scripture . . . We have to see in the Bible what our condition was before we were saved, what our condition is after we are saved, and we get from the Bible that line in between, which is what we want to talk about—What is the saving thing that happened in our hearts?”

“What I’ve come to see is that I think the church, especially in certain parts of it, has many unbelievers who think they’re saved. It’s why the church is weak, it’s why the church is ineffective in so many ways, it’s why worship is so flat—because there are a lot of unregenerate, non-born-again people in the church who have been taught that they are to make a decision, so they decide to believe some doctrines, to believe that they are going to heaven, and nothing has changed in their heart.”

“The will, when it inclines vigorously with all of its force, we call affection. I prefer my wife over all other women. That’s not a small preference. I prefer life over death. In other words, the will can act without affection, and the will can act vigorously with affection.”

“America is a free will driven culture, meaning I have ultimate control over my destiny. I’m the captain of my fate! That’s all heresy. We don’t have ultimate control over our fate; God does.”

“Faith is affectional, and so it does rest on knowing and believing that I have a treasuring of Christ that ranks him above mother and father, because Jesus said, If you don’t love me more than your mother and father you don’t belong to me. I can’t get away from that. That’s real. I have to fight for that. I have to treasure him more than I treasure my wife and my children and my mother and father. Otherwise, I’m not a Christian. That’s truth from Matthew 10:37.”

“When we believe and do not work for our justification, we glorify the grace of God. We glorify grace by looking away from ourselves to the all-sufficiency of his justification by imputing Christ’s righteousness to us. However, God aims to get more glory than being a sufficient sin-forgiver, or an efficient righteousness-imputer. He means to get glory for being an all-satisfying treasure, so he built that into saving faith as well. Saving faith embraces Christ as my righteousness, embraces Christ as my Lord, embraces Christ as my treasure. In doing that it is satisfied in him, and so we arrive at the basic statement of Christian hedonism: God is most glorified in me when I, in my saving faith, am most satisfied with all that he is for me in Jesus.”

Finding Your Soul-Mate. Or Not!

Do you believe the mantra that there is a perfect person out there somewhere for you to marry? Stephen Altrogge has same compelling thoughts here:

“My point is that the whole concept of finding the one, perfect soul mate, is completely absent from scripture. I suspect that the idea of a soul mate was invented by romance writers so that they would have something to write about. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that the idea of a soul mate is harmful. If you go into marriage expecting your spouse to satisfy your every need and complement you perfectly, you will be sorely disappointed. If you expect your spouse to satisfy the deepest longings of your soul, you are in for a massive let down. Marriage is a covenant between two, imperfect, very flawed, sinful people. You’re not perfect and your spouse isn’t perfect, so don’t expect your marriage to be perfect. If you’re single, don’t obsess over finding the perfect person. Don’t spend years and years waiting to find the perfect person who will be your everything. There is only one perfect person, and his name is Jesus. Unfortunately, you don’t get to marry Jesus (I realize that’s a weird analogy if you’re a guy). You can, however, marry someone who loves Jesus very much. That’s the kind of person you should be trying to find. Compatibility comes through Christ, not through some mathematical formula invented by the owner of a dating website. True love between two people only happens when those two people first love Jesus.”[1]

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[1] Altrogge, Stephen (2014-02-17). The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Thoughts On Following Jesus, Amish Romance, the Daniel Plan, the Tebow Effect, and the Odds of Finding Your Soul Mate (Kindle Locations 795-806). Blazing Center Books. Kindle Edition.

There Ain't Room For Both of Us In This Town.

Galatians 2:17–18 (NIV)

¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

“Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren’t perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin . . .?” (Galatians 2:17–18, The Message) 

Luther understands Paul's argument like this.  If we come to Christ by faith and trust in His justifying mercy --AND STILL FIND OURSELVES TO BE SINNERS -- then the false apostles are teaching taht we need to go back to the Law to be corrected.  Then Christ is actually doing the job of the Law -- revealing sin; and the Law is actually doing the job of Christ -- justifying.  "One of these two must needs be false. Either we are not justified by Christ, or we are not justified by the law." [1] 

If Christ does not justify then He is a minister of sin.  Now, Luther takes that as a Hebrew euphemism. "Now a minister of sin is nothing else but a lawgiver, or a schoolmaster of the law, which teacheth good works and charity, and that a man must suffer the cross and afflictions, and follow the example of Christ and of the saints." [1]  For example in 2 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV), Paul writes, "⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  Gospel preachers are ministers of the New Covenant.  If preachers are going to preach Law to be saved, then they are ministers of the Old Covenant -- ministers of death -- ministers of sin. "We must conclude therefore, that either we are justified by Christ, or else that we are made sinners, culpable and guilty through him." [1]

You cannot mix Law and Grace.  To do so makes Christ the condemner and Moses the savior. "If we being justified in Christ, are yet found sinners, and cannot be justified but by another mean than Christ, that is to wit, by the law, then cannot Christ justify us, but he only accuseth and condemneth us: and so consequently it followeth, that Christ died in vain . . .." [1]

Can we do that?  Paul answers: “. . . Absolutely not!” (Galatians 2:17b, NIV); may it not be (γένοιτο, ghin·om·ahee, God forbid!) "Wherefore Paul separateth Christ far from Moses. Let Moses then tarry on the earth; let him be the schoolmaster of the letter, and exactor of the law; let him torment and crucify sinners. But the believers, saith Paul, have another schoolmaster in their conscience: not Moses, but Christ, which hath abolished the law and sin, hath overcome the wrath of God, and destroyed death. He biddeth us that labour and are oppressed with all manner of calamities, to come unto him. Therefore when we fly unto him, Moses with his law vanisheth away . . .." [1]

In verse 18, then Paul says that if preach such things as the false apostles is makes him a transgressor. He has labored to position the Law in its rightful place, i.e., overcome by grace.  To rebuild the Law would make him a liar and deceiver. “If I was “trying to be good,” I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.” (Galatians 2:18, The Message).

 "For when the new guest Christ Jesus cometh into the new house, there to dwell alone, Moses the old inhabiter must give place unto him, and depart some whither else." [1] 

Father, the brilliance of Paul as an arbiter of wisdom is a shadow compared to Your all-encompassing wisdom, knowledge and Truth.  You have left no room for error.  We are either saved by grace through faith which is a gift -- or we are not.  Grace cannot coexist with self-effort, good works and Law-abiding.  To do so makes Christ grace-less, savior-less, and hope-less.  Thanks be unto God who has not left us with this option.  Law has been evicted.  Jesus occupies the house. Christ leads us to holiness.  Holiness does not lead us to Christ.  Hope lives.  Peace endures.  Christ is magnified.  Joy is restored.  Praise is authentic and pure.  Thank you Lord.

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1. Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians (Ga 2:17). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.