Friday, September 25, 2015

September Quotes

Faith is believing you will receive mercy, while knowing you deserve justice.
-Unknown

We did not choose this battle, but it is come.
-Pendragon (the movie)

When our will goes hand in hand with God’s then are we fellow workers with him in the affairs of the universe—not mere discoverers of his ways, watching at the outskirts of things, but laborers with him at the heart of them.
-George McDonald

I have a great need for Christ: I have a great Christ for my need. 
-Charles Spurgeon

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. 
-Martin Luther King Jr.

The path you take with your feet should never contradict the conviction of your heart.
-Joshua Harris

Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me....That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave. 
-Stonewall Jackson

...there is only one thing that can wash the blood from our hands, the blood from His. 
-R.C. Sproul Jr.

Forgiveness is the oil that keeps the machinery of the Christian home and church running smoothly. In a world where even those who have been declared perfect in Christ sin, there is much to forgive. Christians who must work together closely find themselves denting each others' fenders, now and then taking out a taillight or two, and at times even having head-on collisions. Under such conditions, forgiveness is what keeps things from breaking down completely.
-Jay Adams

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.
-Theodore Roosevelt

Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace. 
-Thomas Watson

Living becomes an awesome business when you realise that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient, omnipresent Creator. 
-J.I. Packer




Friday, September 18, 2015

The Love of God

Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 
In my Father's house are many rooms...And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth who the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends...You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me.
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours....and I am glorified in them.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one... so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
The glory that you have given me I have given to them...so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
[verses from John 14-17, emphasis mine]

See what kind of love that Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(1 John 3:1-2, 4:16)

I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
(Philippians 3:12)

Friday, September 11, 2015

The Five Women of Matthew 1

I began reading Matthew yesterday, and the first chapter opens with the geneology of Christ. (Joseph's side of the geneology, anyway. Mary's line can be found in Luke 3.) Sometimes I think we forget to really read geneologies because they can be a bit tedious to get through, but Matthew's account includes five people--five women, to be exact--who aren't always remembered.

Tamar is the first mentioned in Matthew 1:3. Her story is told in Genesis 38, where she attempted to take her future and inheritance into her own hands by living immorally. But regardless of a Canaanite woman's sin and deception, she and her twin sons are listed in the line of Christ.

Rahab is listed next by Matthew. Many of us are familar with her story: a prostitute who cares for two of Israel's spies, and is later brought into the nation of Israel for her faithfulness to guard God's people. It is likely that she also learned to love and serve the one true God. She, too, is listed in the Davidic and Messianic line.

Ruth's story takes a whole book of our Bible, and in it we find the account of a Moabitess woman who forsakes her past life--one that included serving false gods. Leaving behind all she's ever known, she embraces the land, people, customs, culture, and God of the Israelites. And for her faithfulness and loyalty to her people and God, she is blessed to marry into the line of Christ, as well.

Bathsheba is not listed as clearly, for she is only called "the wife of Uriah". Likely we are familiar with her story, as well. While the Bible doesn't tell us how much of a willing participant she was, she exposed herself to and participated in immoral behavior and actions with King David. And because of their sin, Bathsheba's rightful husband was murdered and her first son through David died. But through her second son, Solomon, the Messianic line was continued.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the last woman to be listed in the geneology. Another familiar character and story, she was the virgin chosen of God to usher in His one and only Son. She bore the shame and disgrace that was placed on her for appearing to have a child out of wedlock. Yet, as a Jewish girl, a redeemed sinner, she bore the One who would become the Savior of the world.

This list is comprised of many opposites: immorality and purity, Gentiles and Jews, prostitutes and virgins, idolatry and singlehearted service to God, reputable and unreputable, false gods and the one true God, rich and poor. But each one (including all the others listed in this geneology) was evidence of the divine grace of God, the working of God's mercy--even before He had sent the One who would be the fulfillment of that grace and mercy.

And when He came--the Messiah, the greater David, the last Adam, the Son of God yet Son of Man--He did not despise His lowly beginnings, even though He was despised of His own town. No, He came to be the Savior of them all. The Savior of those past, present, and future. "Of the four mentioned two—Rahab and Ruth—are foreigners, and three—Thamar, Rahab and Bathsheba—were stained with sin. The purpose of the Evangelist in recording their names may be to shew that He who came to save “that which was lost,” the Friend of sinners, does not scorn such descent" (Cambridge Bible Commentary).

He was born of sinners, was the Friend of sinners, and died among sinners. He saved the immoral and redeemed the pure. He was sent to His lost sheep of Israel, yet witnessed to the Gentiles. He ate meals with the unreputable, and stood before those of noble birth. He called the rich to follow Him, yet blessed the poor for giving Him all they had. He was born of a virgin, but brought redemption to the immoral.

None of the five women mentioned in Matthew's geneology were perfect, far from it, but God chose to take them, broken and sinful as they were, and use them to bring about the Righteousness they all needed. The first four listed for us all lived with the unfulfilled promise of a Messiah, the God-Man who would fulfill the sacrificial system with with one sacrifice. It took hundreds of years of waiting--never seeing that promise fulfilled, never seeing the hope of Israel, never seeing complete justice and redemption offered to a sick land, never knowing the perfect satisfaction of a Holy God--until one day, Immanuel, "God with us", was born to the fifth woman listed.

The Savior who emptied Himself for us by shedding His blood on the cross is now that same Savior who is seated in exaltation and glory at the right hand of His Father. One day, perhaps alongside all of these women and the rest of the saints who have passed on before us, we too will bow before the name of Jesus, confessing that He is Lord, praising Him for reconciling all things to Himself, and living in the peace brought about by the blood of His cross.

Friday, September 04, 2015

Guest Post: Collin McConkey

Today we have the first of a few upcoming guest posts on Facing the Waves! I blogged in April on my Bible study group's blog, but today Collin McConkey, our ICBF leader, joins us here to share the importance of reading good books. An avid reader and student of the Scriptures, Collin continues to blog twice weekly and post the study notes from his weekly Bible studies on the International Christian Bible Fellowship blog. If you're interested in joining our Bible study, details and contact information can be found on the ICBF blog; we'd love to have you! 




Leave a comment on this post and share with us what type of books you enjoy reading. 
Thank you for writing and sharing with us today, Collin. :)

"Bring the Books"--The Importance of Reading in the Life of a Christian

“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13)

Writing to Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith, the apostle Paul is languishing in a Roman dungeon awaiting his certain execution. While the emperor Nero has for many years reigned supreme over the Roman Empire, the political climate has turned utterly hostile to the Christian faith, and now Paul faces execution as an enemy of the Caesar simply because Paul served a greater Lord. And having only Luke with him, doubtless to attend to his health while he was in harsh prison conditions, Paul wants to be reunited with Timothy once before he dies. He wants to have his cloak brought to him in order to keep warm, and he also wants “the books” and “the parchments”. And in commentating on this passage, Spurgeon exclaimed the following.

“He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He has had wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up in the third heaven, and had heard things unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He has written a major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books! The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every Christian, 'Give thyself to reading.' The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves he has no brains of his own.”

Throughout the centuries of the Christian church, particularly after Christianity was no longer viewed as a hostile religion to the Roman Empire, the importance of books became a vital part of the Christian life. The most important surviving books are the great codices of the early church wherein the Bible was written in Greek, such as Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus. And throughout the church, particularly as the printing press was developed, literature was able to pour once more into the homes of Christians. Bibles such as the Geneva Bible from the 16th century still exist today, and magnificent libraries such as the library in Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland stand as testaments to the importance of reading throughout history.

Therefore, the following five principles prove helpful in integrating reading as a vital part of the Christian life. They are principles that help me leverage reading in order to benefit my soul and grow my own mind, and may they be helpful to the readers as well.

1. Read to Renew Your MindIn Romans 12, the apostle Paul begins a new section in this letter written to the Roman church. In Romans 1-8, the apostle Paul lays out a detailed argument for what the Gospel is, what it means, and why it is necessary. Then after three chapters dealing specifically with how the Gospel relates to his own Jewish countrymen, Paul now develops the practical applications of his theology in the remainder of this book. And so beginning in chapter 12, he instructs us to renew our minds in order to present our bodies as spiritual sacrifices in our worship to God.

Therefore, when we read, we need first of all to read in order to renew our minds and put on the mind of Christ. Reading Scripture is of course a prerequisite; however, interested readers may read this article I wrote, as this particular post does not deal with that subject here. When we read, we need to read books about God, about Scripture, about Christ, and about His church. We need to grow in our knowledge of God in order so that we may know Him more fully. We need to read about Scripture in order to understand its history and theology and background. We need to read about the glories of Christ, so that we may worship Him for who He really is and that we may follow in His footsteps. And we need to read about the church for which He died, in order that we might know how to exist in and serve the body of Christ in its various functions and capacities.

2. Read to Grow in Knowledge
Proverbs is replete with calls for us to gain knowledge and understanding, and reading proves a very valuable way that we can heed these calls. Reading opens windows into new worlds, allowing us to gaze on vistas we previously did not know existed. For example, growing up I would read about the history of medieval warfare and found the development of human weapons and military tactics to be fascinating. The earliest books I read on my own were books from the library on astronomy, and as a young 7 year-old I was immediately confronted with evolutionary cosmology, spurring me to collect and read many books over the years about creation vs. evolution. I would read about the Cambrian explosion, for example, or the Big Bang theory.

But not only can we read about science, as that is only one example, we can read about a great many fields. We can read to learn about the historical and modern sociological factors of cultures and nations. We can read about the academic disciplines, such as mathematics, science, philosophy, literature, and the arts. We can read about politics and economics. We can read about significant individuals in history in the form of biographies—or even better, autobiographies. Reading the autobiography of Davy Crockett, for example, is not only entertaining but demonstrates that the level of biblical literacy of this famed outdoor hunter is greater than the average level of biblical literacy of mainstream evangelicals, reflecting the changes in culture from that day to our own.

3. Read to Connect with History
“’Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read.” So said Mark Twain, and his wry comment demonstrates that all too often we praise books from history or about history without actually reading them. In the Old Testament, the Lord repeatedly impressed upon the Israelites that they greatly needed to know their own history: how the Lord had redeemed them out of Egypt, how He had given promises to the patriarchs, and how He had established them in the Promised Land. Those who do not read their history are doomed to repeat it. For example, a common argument from the homosexual left today is that the ancients had no understanding of “sexual orientation.” But is that true? No, for reading the ancient Greek writers reveals that they very much espoused the darkened thinking of marred sexuality that has been resurrected by modern writers today. It is reading history that affirms to us that there truly is nothing new under the sun.

Therefore, what type of history should we be reading? In my own library, the books about history I own primarily deal with early church history and the history of the United States. Growing up, I read much historical fiction (and some nonfiction) about the Civil War and World War 2, as those eras of American history have always fascinated me. As Christians, we need very much to know how Christ has built His church throughout the ages, and so we must read the history of the church from the time of the apostles all the way until now. How exactly did Christianity spread under intense persecution? What brought about the Council of Ephesus, for example? These questions and more are vital to ask, and can be answered by the pages of history.

Not only should we read church history, however, but also the history of western civilization. How did the Roman Empire thrive and flourish? What social factors created “the powder keg of Europe” in the Balkans? How did World War 1 massively rearrange empires and nations? How did the U.S.S.R. develop, and how did it pose such a threat to the free world? Also, included in this history should be the history of missionary endeavors. Who was the first missionary to China? How did the Gospel spread across South America? Connecting with the great examples of heroic missionary service encourages us to better follow the Great Commission today.

4. Read to Interpret Texts
Lastly, the more we read, the better equipped we will be in analyzing and interpreting literary texts. Why should this be important? If we know not how to follow an argument in literature, we will not be able to trace Paul’s argument from Romans 1 to the end of Romans 8. The more we read, the better we will be with our tools of literary analysis. Grammatical and syntactical analysis become more ingrained. We can see the importance of modifiers and prepositions and clauses—and this need not be wearisome, as in studying grammatical textbooks, but becomes more greatly intuitive the more we develop our minds to analyze written texts.

Honing our ability to interpret literature enables us to understand the significance, for example, of the storm in Matthew 8:23-27. This was no ordinary storm—it was a “great” storm, for the adjective sets apart this storm from any other. And using literary contrast, Matthew then describes the result of Jesus’ rebuke to nature as a “great” calm. What was a great storm turned into a great calm, and this contrast is intentional on the part of the author. A man who can turn a great storm into a “great calm” demands an answer to the question: who is this man that even wind and waves obey Him? Being able to understand how authors use literary devices helps us understand how the authors of Scripture use them and enables us to come to the conclusions they wish us to make.

Reading in the 21st Century
In conclusion, having covered a few points as to the nature and necessity of reading, how should 21st century readers approach this wonderful discipline? First, while I greatly prefer the printed page over the digital page, Kindle books are much more cost effective than purchasing them in softcover or hardcover. You can store a few thousand books on an iPad, while it would take a room to store them in printed form. Digital books can be carried anywhere, while printed books take up much space. You can highlight them, add notes, look up definitions to words, and navigate cross-references very easily with digital books, in contrast to printed books.

However, for reading comprehension, being able to physically hold a book in your hands and read right-to-left, top-to-bottom, page-to-page is better for remembering what is read. I can remember some extracts from books simply because I can remember the page and where on the page it was. A digital book on a Kindle does not offer these same benefits for memory comprehension. And admittedly, having a bookshelf full of books warms the reader’s soul more than scrolling through a list of e-books in an app. Also, the constraints of screen sizes sometimes makes printed books more practical. For example, one of the tools in my library is Throckmorton’s Gospel Parallels, a volume that measures 11 inches high and 8 ¾ inches wide. The large size of this book enables him to lay out the synoptic gospel accounts side by side for easy comparison with each other. Doing so on a smaller digital screen, however, would be impractical.

Therefore, having given reasons for reading and considerations for the modern reader, let us—like Paul—continue to say, “Bring the books.”