God's Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

The Knockout Punch

"God wants us to obey His commands!" Was the cry by the majority of people when asked this question regarding Joshua Chapter 1: Summarize the message of this chapter in one sentence.

One lone voice answered, "Faith displays itself in action."

If you recall, Joshua 1 tells us how God commissions Joshua to take the place of Moses, God promises Joshua that he will conquer the land and no one will be able to oppose him, if he meditates on the law and does not swerve to the left or to the right. Refresh yourself by reading it, dear Reader.

God's command in scripture is that we believe Him and walk in the confidence that He does not lie. To some they hear scripture say: if we obey all that God commands us to do, we will have success. They want to climb a ladder up to God, rather than believe what God tells us when He comes down that ladder to us.

Climbing up a ladder to God is no different than all other religions of the world. There is a penance one must do to achieve Nirvana, by emptying all self; Allah weighs your good deeds against your bad deeds and may capriciously disregard your good deeds. Christianity is completely upside down from the idea that we can climb up a holiness ladder to have a relationship with God. God became man for us and for our salvation.

Joshua 1 is a wonderful chapter on faith and what it looks like. Joshua believed God and put that faith into action. To obey is to believe. It is faith that obeys, without faith we cannot please God. Faith acts on God's promises. Faith sees God's promises. Faith believes.

Jesus, Lord of All

Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

John 6:32-33

He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.

John 3:31

These few verses verify that Jesus is Lord of all. Jesus tells us that He came from above in John 6. Then in John 3 He tells us that He is above all. To say that Jesus is not Lord of all is to deny that He is God.

Lordship salvation teaches that we must "make Jesus Lord of our life." What surprises me is that this teaching comes from a Calvinist camp. Some, not all Calvinists, tell you you must make Jesus your Lord after you are saved. How is this any different from the non-Calvinists who tell you that you must decide and ask Jesus into your heart? It is a teaching that turns Calvinists into non-Calvinists, denying the sovereignty of God.

that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

John 5:23

I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:5-6

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
"I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.

Isaiah 44:6

These three sections of scripture tell us that if we deny Jesus, we deny the Father, that there is no other God, that God is the Redeemer. Jesus is indeed Lord of all. Amen.

It is foreign to my ears to hear Calvinists denying God's sovereignty in salvation. Writing this is almost the same arguments used against those who deny Jesus' deity. I reject Lordship salvation as non-Christian teaching. Is it a result of having faith in their faith, rather than knowing that faith is properly placed in Jesus? Or a result of needing to look at works for assurance? Or a result of the limited atonement that puts Calvinists in the awful position of having to look at creation rather than the Creator dying for us? In any case, Lordship Salvation is problematic.

If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.

Refreshment

The setting sun and cool breeze beckoned me outside. I harnessed and leashed Roxy. Her tail wagged, and eyes brightened. Bidding adieu to the homebodies, we made our escape to the schoolyard. We reached the corner and in usual fashion I said, "Sit. Good dog. Let's go." We were off. Ah, refreshment.

After going through the gate, I unleashed Roxy. She was following behind me. True to her nature, her nose was investigating many things. Up ahead were some California Quail. I didn't show her because I wanted to watch them for awhile. The quail were looking for bugs and seeds. Once Roxy caught glimpse, her cocker spaniel came to the fore and chased them into the bushes. They always escape her through the chain link fence.

The corner of my eye caught sight of the blue heron in the middle of the field. This was something I had never seen here before. Roxy had so much fun chasing the quail that I pointed out the heron to her. She watched it for a minute, and I watched her. She saw it move, then she ran after it, haltingly. I kept walking and watching. Full out run now. The chase was on! The heron flew over to another part of the field. Roxy thought that was so much fun she chased the heron again. Once more, the heron just flew to another part of the field. Roxy's tongue was almost touching the ground. She was watching that heron, while lying in the grass. Roxy had enough of that big bird and returned to her business of scouting scents.

As I cornered the last bend on our walk around the field, I saw some wild rabbits. They were small, and sweet with little white tails. I slowed down so I could watch them. They were eating the green grass, or so it looked to me. Flash! They were off like lightning, back to the safety of the bushes.

Roxy was a great walking companion that night. When we reached the front door, there were a few rays of sunlight left and the breeze was still refreshingly cool. Sans leash and harness, we plopped on the couch together. I know I was thinking about all the critters we saw; I imagined Roxy was, too.

The Gift of Worship

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand. Psalm 95:6-7 ESV

And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27 ESV

Worship sets us apart from other animals. Some say that it is our thinking that sets us apart from animals; or the way we use tools. But research has shown that animals also think, and also use tools. There is something we do, that no other created thing does. No other created thing worships. Worship is not an afterthought of God, but it is a gift for us.

Worship satisfies our desire to know God. God is present when we sing, during prayer, in Scripture, and when we celebrate the sacraments. We gather together to celebrate the One we have in common. We confess our sin together, we confess our faith together, and we hear the absolution together.

Worship is where God meets us, and we respond. It is a communication with God.

In worship, God renews us. It is like finding North on the compass and reorienting ourselves to God. It is with great joy that He renews our minds in worship. We see our brothers and sisters in the pew across the aisle, worshipping, provoking us to worship alongside them. We hear pastor announcing the absolution for us. We receive Christ's blood and body. We remember our baptism and the promises attached to that baptism: remission of sins, discipleship, salvation, eternal life.

Witness takes place in worship. We show our neighbors that worship is important just by attending. As we leave our driveways to go to church, our neighbors know that we are Christians. Walking into church, the neighbors of the church know we are Christians. It is this witness that may allow us to give these neighbors the good news of Jesus' forgiveness for us sinners.

We respond to God meeting us with joy and thanksgiving. Leaving weekly worship with a song of praise on our lips!

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 ESV

The Problem With Peter

1 Peter 3:20-22 ESV

because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

There are many promises attached with baptism.When one is baptized, it reminds us our sins are washed away, we are saved, we are in Christ, we have died with Christ, we are Christ's disciple. That list is not exhaustive. Baptism is a sacrament that Jesus instituted, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".

When theologies explain away verses such as this to say the passage doesn't mean baptism saves, they end up not knowing where to look for their assurance. Some, such as reformed theology and their step daughters, the Arminians, will place their faith in their faith. Looking within, they are assured by their faith. On days when doubts pursue us, faith in faith does not help us. Pentecostals and charismatics, tend to substitute speaking in tongues for the sacraments. When those gifts don't flow, the doubts creep in.

Father knows we are weak, so He helps us by giving us the visible sign of baptism to remind us to whom we belong. Peter tells us that baptism saves. Don't cry, "baptismal regeneration!" as if it is a nonbiblical thing. Peter tells us very plainly it saves.

Baptism does save, as scripture declares. We, too, are brought safely through water.

Begone Unbelief

Doctrineless doctrine. What is that? A doctrine is a principle, position, or policy that is taught or advocated. It is impossible to have a doctrineless doctrine. It is an undefineable phrase. One cannot say, "We have no doctrine", because that, by definition, is a doctrine.

In matters theological, it is all about doctrinal distinctions. A doctrineless doctrine would have us denying essentials of Christian beliefs, and declaring unbelief not a sin; after all, there can be no doctrine. Yet this phantasmagorical doctrineless doctrine would be overstepping its bounds.

On the other side of the road is the idea that you must have all your theological ducks waddling behind you in a straight, orderly, logical fashion. They must all waddle together, with the same step. The cries of "consistency" and "logic", often attend with the little ducks. Logic, while we do need and use it, is a worldly wisdom that at times opposes what God says in His word.

Beware of both of these ditches.