All posts by Bruce Henry

Growth/Pursuit, Theological

Shai Linne Gets His Theology Right!

“Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Saviour of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficient souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show.” (A.W. Tozer Man: The Dwelling Place of God)

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Faith, Quotes/Lyrics

Quotes from Battling Unbelief

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“Jesus says that the root of anxiety is inadequate faith in our Father’s future grace.  As unbelief gets the upper hand in our hearts, one of the effects is anxiety.  The root cause of anxiety is a failure to trust all that God has promised to be for us in Jesus.”  (page 25, see Matthew 6:25-34)

“The itch of self-regard craves the scratch of self-approval.” (page 49)

“You must think that your protection hangs on you.  And even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in future grace.”  (page 52)

“Because pride does not like to admit that it has anxieties.  And if pride has to admit it, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.”  (page 53)

“The opposite of impatience is not a glib denial of loss.  It’s a deepening, ripening place of obedience, and to walk with God at the unplanned pace of obedience-to wait in his place and go at his pace.”  (page 71)

“Patience is an evidence of inner strength.  Impatient people are weak, and therefore dependent on external supports-like schedules that go just right and circumstances that support their fragile hearts.”  (page 74)

Battling Unbelief by John Piper (page 49)

Faith

The faith of Mary

Mary looks on as her first born son is crucified.  The price that Mary paid for her obedience was high, but the eternal joy that she now experiences far surpasses any sacrifice that she made.  What a picture of faith – in the midst of suffering!  Chosen by God to give birth as a virgin, as the rumors swirled about, a Son that the world did not understand nor embrace, the loss of a husband who was a faithful man (or else who would have left her when she was pregnant as a virgin), and ultimately the horrifying death of her first born.  No prosperity gospel here.  ““Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:26–27 ESV)

Growth/Pursuit

Religion Blinds Us to the Things of God

Religion blinds us to the things of God and drives us to justify ourselves to further our own agendas, thinking that we are working for God.  All men are under God’s sovereign control, and nothing that we have is a result of our own efforts, but rather His grace.  Jesus’ restraint in the face of His creation’s ridicule, mocking and belittling is something that we cannot grasp; how the Creator of all things would allow his creation to torture, belittle, and kill him is mind boggling.  God is much more glorified in the cross than if we had never sinned.  The restraint that the Creator displays in the cross is something that we cannot grasp.

John 18:25-19:26

Aside, Faith

Has Jesus Been Worth It?

Aside

“you care less for God and truth than for security and comfort. Your fear of losing them powers your unbelief. Jesus once said, ‘whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?’ So I need to ask you: is security and comfort worth that,”

–Has Jesus Been Worth It?

Faith, Gospel Centrality, Growth/Pursuit

Jesus trusts in God’s Sovereign Rule & Reign

Praying according to the will of God and reveals that they were were in eternal, loving community prior to the creation of the world – why would He create?  He did not need community – as if we provide Him with anything that He is lacking!  He created to display His glory:  “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24 ESV).

How did Jesus extend mercy and grace to Judas, whom he knew would betray Him?  It is only because He trusted in God’s sovereign control over all things.  As we submit and follow God’s plans, it is easier to extend grace because we see a bigger picture, the world is no longer just about us and our plans – it is about God and His plans.  And God is in control of those plans.  “Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him” (John 18:4 ESV)

Jesus accepts God’s plan for His life – do you?  ““Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”” (John 18:11 ESV)

Caiaphas is pawn in the hands of God.  “It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.” (John 18:14 ESV)

How does the Creator of all things allow His creation to hit him.  Wow!  Power under control, meekness is portrayed.  Only powered by love, mercy and grace.  The mission was ultimate, not his own life.  Jesus is the high priest (see Hebrews 4:14-15)!  “When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”” (John 18:22–23 ESV)

Growth/Pursuit, Quotes/Lyrics

Christ Formed in You

Aside

“The Heart Is the Organ of Worship Because the heart is so active with its passions, affections, and desires, it is the organ with which we worship. Deuteronomy 11:16 warns, “Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.” Jesus says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8–9).” (location 1307 Kindle edition)

“We need more than moral reformation and behavioral modification. We need inner cleansing, spiritual renewal, and new hearts, and God does that for us!”  (location 1522 Kindle edition)

–Christ Formed in You by Brian Hedges

Gospel Centrality, Quotes/Lyrics

The Gospel Grid

“The apostle Peter teaches that a lack of ongoing transformation in our lives comes from forgetting what God has done for us in the gospel (2 Peter 1:3-9). If we are to grow into maturity in Christ, we must deepen and enlarge our understanding of the gospel as God’s appointed means for personal and communal transformation.”

[The gospel] “is not just the means of our salvation, but the means of our transformation.  It is not simply deliverance from sin’s penalty, but release from sins power.  The gospel is what makes us right with God (justification) and it is also what frees us to delight in God (sanctification).  The gospel changes everything!”

“The more I grow in my Christian life, the more I grow in my awareness of God’s holiness and of my flesh and sinfulness.” … “But my awareness of both is growing.  I am increasingly seeing God as he actually is (Isaiah 55:8-9) and myself as I actually am (Jeremiah 7:9-10).” … “As my understanding of my sin and of God’s holiness grows, something else grows:  my appreciation and love for Jesus.” … “The cross looms larger and more central in my life as I rejoice in the Savior who died upon it.”

“Because of the indwelling sin that remains in me, I have an ongoing tendency to minimize the gospel or ‘shrink the cross.’ This happens when I either (a) minimize God’s perfect holiness, thinking of him as something less than his Word declares him to be, or (b) elevate my own righteousness, thinking of myself as better than I actually am.  The cross becomes smaller and Christ’s importance in my life is diminished.”

“We need to identify, admit, and feel the depth of our brokenness and sinfulness.”

“Our hope is not in our own goodness, nor in the vain expectation that God will compromise his standards and ‘grade on a curve.’  Rather, we rest in Jesus as our perfect Redeemer – the One who is ‘our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Corinthians 1:30).”

-Exerted from The Gospel-Centered Life by World Harvest Mission, pages 8-10.  Download a sample of chapter 1 here

Depravity, Gospel Centrality

Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually

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“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” (Genesis 6:5–6 ESV)

Just six chapters prior to this section, we see Adam and Eve enjoying a peaceful existence in the perfect paradise of the garden of Eden.  They walked in the presence of the Almighty and enjoyed His favor and provision; life was not fraught with hardship, difficulty and discord.  Life functioned harmoniously and in rhythm, like that of a spectacular symphony.  But that is no more.  The consequences of sin are catastrophic:  death (Genesis 2:17), difficulty in child-rearing (Genesis 3:16), distorted roles in marriages (Genesis 3:16), creation opposing man’s efforts to cultivate it (Genesis 3:17-20) and the creation itself is broken (Romans 8:20).  So in Genesis 6:5-6, we find ourselves a far cry from the “very good” of Genesis 1:31.

There is no more comprehensive assessment of the total depravity of mankind than what we see here in verse 5.  The verse tells us not that man’s behavior or periodic inclinations were evil, but that their evil was so deep seated that it saturated every intention of the thoughts of his heart.  The heart’s motivations and drives are evil continually, that is in opposition to God and His glory.  Natural logic would lead us to think that the difficult circumstances outside of the garden would have led man to repentance – to throw himself on the mercy of God.  This is not the case, sin becomes more perverse and more depraved and without God’s grace-filled intervention, this is the pattern of the human existence.  And in case you think that things have gotten better, Paul reminds us that ““None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”” (Romans 3:10–12 ESV).  What is painted for us here is the picture of the fallen soul – and it is not a pretty one!

God’s response to the total depravity of those who were created in His image is interesting, “and the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”  Contrary to God being a distant and disconnected deity that created all things and then just lets them play out, we see a God who is greatly invested in His creation – so invested that it grieved Him.  God’s grief is connected to his loving care for His image bearers.  Matthew Henry’s comments help us here:  “He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child, which not only angers him, but grieves him, and makes him wish he had been written childless.”1.  The more jarring question here is the fact that the text tells us that God “was sorry that he had made man on the earth.”  This is interesting, is God not soveriegn in His rule and reign?  Did He not know that this would be the outcome?  Is God shocked by the way things are playing out?  Of course not!  God’s immutable (unchangeable), sovereign rule and reign is one of the central themes of the bible.  Malachi 3:6 tells us “For I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6 ESV).  Additionally, “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.” (1 Samuel 15:29 NIV).  So what is going on here?  Why does it say that God was sorry (or repented in some translations)?  Moses is using what is known as an anthropomorphism which is the use of human terms in an attempt to describe God.  This is limited and falls short, but that is how we should view this section of scripture as Moses attempts to describe how God views humanity.  It is important to understand the Hebrew word, “nacham”, that is translated “sorry.”  The primitive root of this word means to sigh or breath strongly; to express remorse.  So the picture that the text is conveying is one of a Holy sigh over the total depravity of his image bearer’s hearts.  It is the physical manifestation of the sorrow and pain that is within, like when one receives bad news and all that can be mustered is a deep sigh that is marked with guttural tones.  God feels pain, remorse and hurts over the wickedness of His creation – and a heartfelt sigh is what is the result.

It amazes me that God did not destroy the entire human race at this point, I would have.  But God was (and still is) willing to experience profound grief at our wicked hearts that rebel against Him and He still provides us with a way to be reconciled with Him.  He not only provides the way, but also provides us with the faith to believe (Ephesians 2:8-9).  If this does not move you to be absolutely grateful then you don’t understand the meaning of the text!