That Terrible and Wondrous Love

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” -John 11:5,6

This comes from a story we all know. Lazarus dies. Jesus shows up. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. We’ve heard it, we get it: Jesus has authority over life and can raise the dead. But, the thing is, there is so much left in the story, there is so much Jesus teaches in the meantime, and today, I want to bring our attention to the little word at the beginning of verse six, “so.”

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Jesus stays when he hears Lazarus was ill. The connection is nothing like what we would expect. We would think it should go like this, “Jesus loved them, but he stayed.” “Jesus loved them, nevertheless he stayed.” We expect some kind of contradiction. We need a contrast. But we don’t get one. Jesus loved them, so he stayed. We get a so, a therefore. And it is shattering.

And the reason it is (or should be) so disturbing, is that it means the reason that Jesus didn’t come right away to help Martha and Mary and Lazarus was that he loved them. It means for us, that there is a love of God that lets our brothers die. It means that there is a love of God that lets the messengers return with no news. There is a love of God that has us sit there and wait as the illness gets worse and worse with no news and no sign that help is on the way. There is a love of God that lets us sit in mourning for days and wait and wait and wait.

And that’s not what we’re looking for. We want the answer to come right away. We want to get better. We don’t want to have to wait in the silence where doubt has a chance to creep in.

But Jesus has Mary and Martha go through all that. He has them see Lazarus get worse and die and be buried without any sign of his appearing, and he does it because he loves them.

And the reason that it’s loving is that there is a love of God that works salvation against all hope. They were looking for healing, Jesus gave them resurrection. They were looking to postpone the death of their brother, Jesus showed them the beginnings of the death of death. There is a love of God that allows us to go through the darkest of times to behold a greater light than we could ever have imagined.

No good is withheld. If ever for a moment we lack, it is to prepare us for something far greater. In distress and loss, Jesus gives us of himself. He reveals his provision and majesty and power and life. Because while the love of God may lead us through death and sorrow, it is only to provide us with true life and true joy

Such is the love of God.

-djstevens

PS – a wonderful study in careful exegesis. The wonders of “so”

What is love (that is, the agape (ἀγάπη) kind)?

Very often we say that when the Bible speaks of love, it speaks chiefly in terms of an unconditional commitment to a sinful person. We say that the definition of agape is primarily in terms of sacrifice, and extol the virtues of giving things up for others. But I think that doesn’t quite get the heart of what biblical love is. It begins to fall apart when we talk about loving one another after the last vestige of our sin has been gone for eons. It falls short when we speak of our love for God (for in that there is surely no true sacrifice, nor a sinful recipient) or the Father’s love for the Son (which is perfectly and eternally given with, as far as we can imagine, nothing that would constitute loss or sacrifice in it). So what then, is the heart of the biblical definition of love?

What I would suggest is that love is not so much inherently self sacrificial, but rather, love, at its heart, is self-giving. It is a surrender of the self, a giving of all that you are, over to another. And perfectly, it is a complete self-giving.

Loss is not central, sacrifice is not central, rather they are implications of how love must work in light of fallenness. But at it’s core, love is the unconditional yielding over of the self.

And this matters. It means that when God says he loves us, it doesn’t just mean that He is committed to our well-being despite our imperfections. It meansHe gives us Himself. God’s love is His undeserved provision of the ultimate good, it’s Him giving Himself to us.

-djstevens

P.S. A working definition.

Idolatry.

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one. (1 Corinthians 8:4)

Paul knew, that the “gods” behind false idols did not exist, and yet he also knew, that this truth did not make the fight against idolatry any easier. Idolatry is relentlessly seductive and subtle, and yet God makes no attempt to shy away from explaining the destruction that befalls idol worshippers. Though most of us do not experience idolatry in the way that the Corinthian church did, it does not make idolatry any less deadly. It is for idolatry that Jesus wrote to the Church at Pergamum in Revelation 2:14 warning that he would come with judgment. It is for idolatry that God slew 24,000 Israelites (Numbers 5:1-9). It is for idolatry, in thinking that the sinful pleasure was greater than the savior’s pleasure, that all have sinned. In idolatry we elevate good things, to ultimate things. Even we, the people of faith, can fall into the open rebellion of idolatry.

Idolatry will probably seldom tempt you to burn a young calf or a stick of incense to a fertility God, yet idolatry can take many more culturally acceptable forms. Martin Luther in his extended catechism suggested that in our idolatry, we make our “god” to be anything that we put all our strength, value and trust in. So where are the idols in your life? Some of idols may be easy to spot, like hundred foot gold status of Nebuchadnezzar that demanded regular homage. But others may be subtle, like the small household gods that Rachel hid, thinking no one would every find out. Wherever they are, we need to eradicate them. Where do your idols lay?

The idolatry of relationships? The idolatry of academic achievement? Career success? Reputation? Family? Acceptance? Wealth? or maybe even the idolatry of appearing pure and holy on the outside, though being full of dead man’s bones?

Upon the realization of the pervasiveness of idolatry of man, John Calvin said that man the human mind was like an idol factory. (Institutes I.XI.8) It’s upon this realization that 1 John ends his letter with the seemingly abrupt warning. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

If we have one new year’s resolution, or rather, a life time resolution, I pray that it would be that we keep ourselves from idols. And not only that we keep ourselves from idols, but that we set our eyes on the person who deserves every affection we have ever known, Jesus Christ.

-rbc

“The Gift,” Part 4: The Point

Well, I think it’s about time we put this thing to rest:

“This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.” – 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

It’s not in every passage that we have the luxury of Paul interpreting Paul, but here in 1 Corinthians, he does just that. After saying that he would rather spare people the troubles of being married, he anticipates the backlash (which there is no shortage of 2000 years later), pauses and says “this is what I mean.” And this is his point: there isn’t much time left.

There isn’t much time left, and we really need to focus on what’s important. And what’s chiefly important isn’t family, it isn’t finding the love of your life and settling down. What’s important is Jesus.

And if you get married, that’s fine, but you better serve Jesus with so much of your energy that it’s like you weren’t married. In fact, everything you do should be so centered on him, that it seems like you’re not really doing the things (buying, owning, grieving, rejoicing) themselves, but that you’re serving Jesus as these things happen to happen. Paul’s goal isn’t divided lives, it’s unified hearts. By talking to us about the earthly thing that matters most and saying that it’s not all that great, he’s trying to turn our eyes towards the fact that this world and all the things that go with it, like marriage, isn’t going to be around for much longer, and the things that you have here won’t really matter much in a little while.

There’s an old saying (though not quite so old) that goes like this, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
That’s what Paul’s saying in all this. Our eyes should be on Christ, and we should get to distracted by the baubles the world flashes at us. The present form of this world is passing away. All those things are fading and will soon be gone. They don’t, ultimately, matter. What matters is whether or not you’ve been wholly devoted to the Lord. And a spouse is distracting. So if you can, try to serve Him wholeheartedly. If you can’t, find a way to serve in the distraction.

Because in this, we have not only the point of singleness or marriage; we have the point of our lives.
So let’s realize that the time left has grown very short. Let’s stick to the point. Let’s devote ourselves to Christ.

-djstevens

On Thanksgiving

Today, it being Thanksgiving and all, I thought about gratefulness, and I came to an odd realization.
The point of a gift, whether it be from God or from someone else, isn’t gratitude. And that’s because the point of gratitude isn’t just to end in itself.
The point of gifts, and even of gratitude, is love.
Gifts don’t, or shouldn’t, only fill us with a gladness over the gift itself, but rather they ought to draw us to the one who gives them. And not only is it that we are grateful and then, as if reminded by the emotion, thank the giver; but rather, we ought to see the giver in the gift. In every blessing of God, we should see its divine origins not only secondarily, but essentially. Gratitude for the goodness of the gift should culminate in, not only lead to, love for the giver.
For example (to borrow a trope from Piper, for my own purposes), no wife (hopefully) has delighted in a gift of roses simply as roses. If all she feels is gratitude for the flowers, then it’s clear that they are what ultimately matter to her. But the flowers aren’t the point. The flowers are a manifestation of love. They are representatives. As such, the gratitude for the gift finds its proper end, its culmination and consummation, in love for the giver, because the gift itself originated in love.
So it should be with every gift we receive from God. In everything that you are thankful for today, even in everything you have, be grateful, but don’t stop at gratitude for gratitudes sake. Let the goodness of the gift be seen as coming from the goodness of the giver, let gratitude bloom into love.

-djstevens

“The Gift” Part 3 – But what about?

“I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another” – 1 Corinthians 7:7

So to recap, last post we established a conclusion about singleness, namely that it is better than marriage. Now it’s better because of one attribute, being able to devote oneself more wholly to God, but still categorically better. To say otherwise is, I believe, to be untrue to Scripture.

But that leaves us with a question, “If singleness is better than marriage, should I be single for the rest of my life?”

And the answer is maybe.

Maybe you should. I don’t know, quite frankly. It may be that you genuinely could and would use that extra time and energy for the service of God. If so, I hope you do. Maybe you shouldn’t though. Maybe you would be too tempted with various sins and desires to the point where you would actually serve less. It’s different for everyone, each has his own gift.

The wrong way to approach it, however, is to do what we usually do. The argument I usually hear is, “Well I’m attracted to members of the opposite gender, therefore, I should get married.” Not every pastor begins his Christian life with a desire for ministry. And many a missionary is created by an unexpected short-term experience.
Also, I believe we have Scriptural support to believe that Paul at least entertained some desire for a wife, but denied himself what he saw as an obvious pleasure for the sake of ministry.

So how should we go about thinking about singleness?

I think the most helpful answer comes by analogy to another possible state in the Christian life, one that everyone believes is both better and more difficult, that of becoming a pastor.

Most of us would probably agree that the pastoral life has both it’s unique benefits, one of the chief of which is being able to completely devote one’s time to the study and ministry of God’s word (note a similarity here?), in addition to being able to share in the joys of others and gain greater insight into the things of God. But, it certainly has it’s peculiar difficulties, such as the weight of multiple souls, numerous thankless responsibilities, long hours, low pay and so on. There’s quite a lot to deter one from pursuing this lifestyle. Yet some still do. And they do so because of God’s gifting them to do so (the parallels continue!). Despite initial desire or lack thereof, what ultimately determines whether one should go into the ministry is whether God has so gifted you. And, as with all other gifts, it is certainly possible to ignore and leave useless because of a will set stubbornly against it.

So what am I getting at here? My proposition is that singleness, like full-time ministry, is position of devotion to God that should be both highly esteemed and considered. I honestly think that most, if not all, Christians ought to seriously consider serving the Lord in a lifelong state of singleness. The lure of a greater opportunity to devote ourselves to God and the heavenly reward that comes with such service ought to turn our heads and inspire us to think long and hard about whether or not we can go down such a road, whether we have been gifted by God to be able to live in devoted singleness, which is not the same as having no desire to marry.
I also think that most people will, rightfully, end up saying that no, they cannot. No, they’re not gifted this way.
I say that because it seems to be the norm of how God’s worked throughout history. It may be that He will raise up a generation of Christians that can only propagate itself by evangelism. If so, I hope the world takes notice of how great God is in the forsaking of earthly comforts for something better on a grand scale. It does not seem He has done so in the past, and so I assume that the norm still is that most are not given this gift.

But we all should consider it. We should want to be able to devote ourselves wholly to God. We should want to serve Him to the full extent we can.
The methods may be different. Marriage showcases Christ and the Church. It needs to be done as well. But those “who have wives” will need to find a way to “live as though they had none.” Not indifferently, but devotedly to Christ in, through, and (it seems in line with the logic of the passage) in spite of marriage.

More on this next post.

-djstevens

“The Gift” Part 2: The Giftening.

As I continue this series on singleness, today we’re going to look at what it is the bible says about the state of singleness largely irrespective of everything else. What I mean by that is, I’m not going to factor in extenuating circumstances or issues of “calling.” Those will be reserved for my next post, so if you intend any comments along the lines of “but not for everyone!,” I know. The weakness of a series is that you won’t address everything in every post.

Having said that, I will now turn to my reading of 1 Corinthians 7.

And any honest reading has to come to one conclusion: Singleness is better than marriage.
It’s not the popular conclusion, but I think it’s the textual one. And here’s why.

“I wish that all were as I myself am (that is unmarried)” verse 7a.
“To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am” verse 8.
“Are you fee from a wife? Do not seek a wife” verse 27b.
“So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better” verse 38.

I think that from these passages it is safe to infer that Paul saw the state of singleness as preferable to that of marriage, so much so that he wished that everyone (or at least everyone in the church) would be unmarried. Marriage is good, Paul says, but singleness is better.

And so we should ask (indeed, we naturally do ask), in what way is singleness supposed to be better?

And I think one thing we need to be clear on off the bat is that we’re not talking about a legal, moral better here. Paul’s clear that he who marries “has not sinned.” (To which we say, “of course,” but his argument does run the risk of leading to that conclusion otherwise.) The way Paul views this decision is one between to good options. Both are good. Both are glorifying to God. It’s just that one is, in some way, better. And this does correct the way we think. We tend to think of the choice as between an obvious good and a “good.” Something like becoming a monk or fasting 8 times a week. But in Paul’s mind what we’re facing here is a decision between two legitimate, robust goods.

And so we’re again faced with the question, how is singleness better?

“I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord” verses 32-35 (emph. added).

Paul sees singleness as better than marriage universally. It is better as a category to him. And the reason why is because Paul sees that an unmarried person has greater possibility to focus solely on God. The unmarried person is able to have less distractions, less anxieties, and less divided devotion to the Lord.
This is no small thing. To push singleness off as some second-rate gift is to say that you value a desire for another person more highly than the opportunity to give more of your time, attention and affection to God. And that is serious.

And it’s compounded by the fact that most of the people who read this blog are unmarried. So the question arises, what are you going to with that? How are you going to view it? As a time to spend waiting for some better situation? Or maybe, just maybe, as a position in which you can serve the Lord wholeheartedly, joyfully, with fewer distractions and limitations? Maybe as an actual gift, maybe one you get to keep, as opposed to a temporary setback on the road to a good life?

-djstevens

P.S. Comments/disagreements/questions are welcome.
P.P.S. There are two more posts coming, God willing, one on individual application, and another on the point.

The End of the Law

“And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” – Deuteronomy 34:9-12

The Law ends with a story of transition. For the last three books, we’ve followed the life of Moses as he guided the nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land. Under his leadership, Israel met their God, they received the law, they learned the punishment of disobedience and the wondrous provision given to those who obey. In his lifetime Moses is commended more and given more blessings than the patriarchs, and yet here, at the outset of the real adventure, at the border of the Promised land, Moses dies. He climbs a mountain never to be seen again, and the leadership of the nation is left in the hands of Joshua. And by the end of verse nine we might be feeling pretty confident about his leadership.

But the thing is, he’s not Moses. God doesn’t meet with him the same way. He’s not as special. You see there’s prophet that’s supposed to arise that will be like Moses, and Joshua isn’t him.

Deuteronomy may end with Moses’ successor, but ultimately, that’s not Joshua. He’ll do quite a bit, but he won’t be able to give Israel rest. There’s a promised prophet coming, but the road from here will be long until his day. Another successor has to come, a better Joshua, someone who can bring the people of God home. But Deuteronomy can only wait for him.

And we look and we look and it isn’t Joshua, it isn’t Samson, it isn’t even David. So the end of Deuteronomy waits and waits, until a voice is heard.

“And you shall call his name Jesus (Yehoshua/Joshua) for he will save his people from their sins.”
He will give his people rest.

You see, the law isn’t some dry, self-contained book of regulations. The law ends waiting for someone to come like Moses. The law ends waiting for a prophet who will be able to redeem his people. The law ends waiting for Jesus.

-djstevens

“The Gift”

As a whole, we do not have a biblical view of singleness. What’s worse, we don’t really want to have one either. Instead we tend to stay away from the topic with a peculiar mixture of fear and loathing.

And it’s evident in how we talk and how we act. We obliquely refer to perpetual singleness as “The Gift,” much in the same way the ancient Greeks called the Furies, “The Kindly Ones.” We think as long as we pay lip-service we’ll be spared.

But that’s so far from the view of singleness offered in the Bible, so far from the joyful lives of Paul and Christ himself. And we can’t be content to stay this way. When the Bible speaks, we should listen and we should agree both intellectually and emotionally. It can be hard to do (that is properly bringing one’s understanding in line with Scripture), but it’s necessary. And so, here, I propose a series to help us better understand this oft neglected topic.

Stay tuned

-djstevens

Resolved: 16-25

For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corithians 3:15-18)

For the sake of our faith in the Gospel, do not lose heart friends! No matter how many of life’s torrents come our way, remember Paul’s encouragement here. Each day’s affliction is nothing compared to the future glory when we come before the throne of grace. Let us be resolved for steadfastness, resolved for vigilance, and resolved in our passion for God’s glory. May these resolutions that God has placed upon my heart, be fruitful to you.

16 Resolved, in view of the calling which I have received, to outwork, outserve and outlove the world.
17 Resolved, to teach the Word in such a way that it does not rely on eloquence and rhetoric, but one that is a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that the faith of other’s may rest on the power of God alone (1 Corinthians 2:4)
18 Resolved, to live with a sense of gospel urgency, understanding that hellfire awaits the lost, and that heaven’s glory awaits the saved.
19 Resolved, to never lose the wonder of the cross by cherishing the gospel as my utmost treasure, renewing my fresh affections for the gospel daily, and to never graduate the gospel, nor allow its glory to ever grow cold.
20 Resolved, to align my heart with the heart of God, that I may discern the will of God, his good, acceptable and perfect will (Romans 12:2).
21 Resolved, never to succumb to the flames of anger, understanding that the only just anger is that of God’s wrath from which I have been ransomed.
22 Resolved, to root and saturate myself in the Word of God so that the fruits of his wisdom may grow as abundantly as Eden, and the steadfastness of my faith like that of a tree planted by streams of water.
23 Resolved, to speak in such a manner that scripture pours out of every orifice and paints each word with the riches of holy wisdom.
24 Resolved, to live in such a way that the deeds of my life point to a daily understanding of a future grace that surpasses the greatest riches of the world.
25 Resolved, to spend my time, money and energy in such a way that makes it clear to the world that I hold no stock in the temporal titles of this life, but longingly await the worthy crowns of heaven.

-rbc