For Tom, Michelle & Tommy J. Part IV

Dear Tom & Michelle & Tommy J.,

Matthew 6:9-13

9After this manner ought you to pray:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Today we take notice of how Jesus informs His disciple to address God as “Our Father who art in Heaven.”

By teaching the disciples to address God as in heaven what is emphasized is,

1.) The idea that there is a vast difference between the Creator and the creature. God is the Creator and He is “Our Father,” but we must never forget that at the same time that God is completely other than His creatures — His people — who come before Him speaking with Him in prayer. If addressing God as “Father” is to remind us of God’s willingness to receive us, then recognizing that God is in Heaven reminds us that God is great beyond our ability to comprehend. If addressing God as “Our Father,” makes us bold in our approach, then recognizing that God is “In Heaven,” keeps us humble at the same time.

The Scripture reminds us this truth when it teaches that

“God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers…”(Isaiah 40:22)

Tommy J., Jesus puts the idea of God as “Our Father,” together with the truth of God being in Heaven to teach us that God is both approachable and yet majestic. All to often we tend to forget one of those two truths. When we so remember how approachable He is to the neglect of remembering how majestic He is we tend to treat God with a unhealthy familiarity that communicates a lack of respect and awe. When we so remember God’s majesty to the neglect of how approachable He is we tend to forget how ready He is to receive us and how much joy God takes in us as His children.

2.) When we recognize that God is in Heaven it reminds us that heaven and earth are likewise distinct. Tommy J., you may be a little to young to understand this but there are people out there who tend to want to squish heaven and earth and God and man together so that heaven and earth and God and man are synonymous. The big word for this is “Pantheism.” When Jesus teaches us to address God as “In Heaven,” we are reminded that God and Heaven are independent from man and earth. All things are dependent upon God but God is distinct from all of creation.

That second point will become clearer and more important to you as you get older.

Let us close with a prayer that shows how we can pray incorporating this idea that God is in Heaven.

Father in Heaven we are thankful that the Scriptures teach us that you are completely other than us and that you do not depend on us in the slightest for you being who you are. We thank you that you are exalted above the heavens and that you are great above our ability to understand or speak. We ask of you Father that you would give us an understanding throughout our whole lives of how full of majesty and splendor you are. Holy Father, teach us to live all of our days keeping together in our minds and lives both your approachability and your high royalty. Thank you giving us Jesus to die for us so that we can call you Father.

In Jesus name we Pray … AMEN.

For Tom, Michelle & Tommy J. – Pt. III

Dear Tom & Michelle & Tommy J.,

Matthew 6:9-13

9After this manner ought you to pray:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

When we pray to God as “Our Father” we should realize what a privilege that is. In the Old Testament in your Bible God was very seldom addressed as a Father. However in the New Testament God takes upon Himself more frequently the title of “Father,” and Jesus Himself teaches us to address God as “Father.”

This addressing God as “Father” reminds us that God has adopted us and put us in His family and made us His children. So every time we pray Tommy J., we are reminded that God is to us a Father. As a Father we can be confident that God will always love us, provide for us, protect and defend us, discipline us, guide us, and give us all things necessary for life and for death. When we address God as “Father” we are reminded that God has taken responsibility for us and that we need not fear the devil or any mortal being. God as our “Father” is for us and so nobody of any consequence can be against us. Since God is “Our Father,” who of any import can be against us? Realizing and embracing that God is our “Father” because of Jesus dying for us, makes us a very brave, bold, and confident people.

One more truth that addressing God as “Our Father” reminds us of Tommy J., is that God is not a far away or distant God. God is as near to us as our earthly Fathers. Our relationship with God, because God is our Father can be intimate and tender. Our God is not a God far away but a God near to us.

Tomorrow Tommy J., we will look at why Jesus taught the disciples to recognize that God is in Heaven. Today we have learned of some of the benefits there is in having God as “Our Father.” We have learned of some of the character that creates in us when we know God is “Our Father.”

Let us close with a prayer,

“Our Father, we thank you that you are not a far away God who takes no interest in us but rather you are to us a Father. We thank you that because you are “Our Father,” we no longer need to have any fear except the fear of disobeying you. Father, we thank you that you are for us in all trials and rejoicings. Teach us to trust you and your ways with us knowing that a Father always does what is best for his children. Thank you again for Jesus who is our Elder Brother and whose death for us turned away your displeasure with us so that we might be able to call you “Father.”

In Jesus name we pray,

AMEN.

Carrie Prejean, Christian Reaction, and The Matter Of Deviancy

I’m sitting here listening to a internet radio interview that is produced by Liberty University with Miss California, Carrie Prejean.

http://www.afr.net/index.php?option=com_sermonspeaker&task=singlesermon&id=11203&Itemid=0

Thus far she has been compared to Eric Liddle and Queen Esther of the Bible. Carrie has been lionized for her bathing suit high heeled stand for Jesus for saying that she was raised to believe that marriage was to be between a man a woman when asked about her thoughts on that subject during the Miss USA contest.

This post is not so much about Miss Prejean. I spoke to that in a previous post. Really, I’m quite pleased that Carrie answered the question the way she did as opposed to saying that she hopes one day herself to marry another woman. Further, I’m even willing to grant that it took admirable character of a sort to answer the question the way she did knowing full well that it would likely cost her the Miss USA contest.

This post is instead about the evangelical / fundamentalist reaction to Miss Prejean. Remember, a scant generation ago fundamentalists, such as those who created Liberty University, were the ones who frowned on card playing, movie watching, and women wearing pants. The fundamentalists have come a long way baby. Now the fundamentalists are talking about how the barely dressed Carrie Prejean is a role model and that they intend to tell their youth groups and Sunday Schools about the parading nearly naked and faithful Carrie Prejean.

Please don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with playing cards, watching movies or women in pants. Indeed, the rapacious side of me has no problem with ogling soft porn models in their underwear. However, the better Angel of my nature still does think that a young lady publicly displaying her under wear and selling herself as a sex object in order to win a beauty prize probably still defies the Scripture’s call for modesty. Just call me old fashioned.

I don’t know what to attribute the Christian community’s exalting of Miss Prejean to. Maybe it is because there is such a desperate need for heroes that the Christian community will glom onto anybody. Maybe everybody else grew up and I’m just being my usual curmudgeon, “why can’t anybody else see this except me” self. However, I think it more likely that what has happened is that even the Fundamentalists have defined deviancy down. In 2009 homosexuality serves as the definitional bar for deviancy, and so today a soft porn model can be seen as a hero for Jesus by Evangelicals and Fundamentalists for taking a mild stand against homosexual marriage. In 2049 it may be that Liberty University will be giving an award to and singing the praises of a transsexual Beauty Queen who took a stand for Jesus by mildly denouncing the push for mainstreaming bestiality.

Obviously the problem here is that the Christian community is allowing the culture to define deviancy, which has the added advantage of allowing Christians to partake in the deviancy of soft-porn, whether by being a soft porn model or by lusting after the soft porn models, while still giving them the ability to be self-righteous about homosexual marriage. This is a deal if there ever was one as Christians can satisfy both their lusts to be a Sex object or to objectify women and their need for feeling superior to other people all at one time.

If your a sinner like me any deal that allows me to be a horndog and sanctimonious at the same time is better than 2 for 1 coupon day at the adult bookstore peep show.

Egalitarian Democracy

Unbridled Democracy when under the influence and control of egalitarians yields the anarchy engendered by the inevitable flattened sameness that egalitarians favor, a rampant polytheism due to the equality of all gods, and finally an anarcho-tyranny where the worst elements of culture are allowed to create anarchy in the name of egalitarian Democracy while the best elements of culture are tyrannized and punished by the state because the best elements are opposed to egalitarian Democracy.

In Light Of Carson’s Warning McAtee Invokes Lloyd-Jones

“Failure to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long haul, to replace the good news as to what God has done with a moralism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.”

D. A. Carson
Thelimos

I couldn’t agree with this quote more. However, as D. Marty Lloyd Jones used to teach one can fall off the razor’s edge of truth on both the left side and the right side. Dr. Carson has given us a proper warning regarding falling off one particular side of the razor’s edge of truth. The reality that Dr. Carson would have us to be aware of is, is the danger of failing to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the Gospel. However, there is another warning that needs to be raised against another danger and that is the danger in failing to articulate the reality that the Gospel does have effects and consequences.

If we were to frame it in similar ways to Dr. Carson we might say something like this,

“Failure to articulate to the Church that the Gospel has effects tends, on the long haul, to replace the truth that because we have been raised with Christ we are to walk in newness of life, with an anti-nomianism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.”

I am more than willing to admit the danger of which Dr. Carson speaks. There is a great danger in the Church today to exchange the Gospel for moralism. However, I wonder if those who are so excited to raise their voices in warning against moralism will also raise their voices in warning against anti-nomianism.

We must remember Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones warning that one can fall off the razor’s edge of truth in two different directions.