Deep Creek Anglican Church Blog

^{John 3:16} “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jerry Vines in his ‘Sermon on John 3:16′ in Whosoever Will tries to put into words the magnificence and magnitude of God’s love:

“God’s love is not like a trickling stream; instead it is like a flooding river.  It is not like a leaky faucet; instead it is like a bottomless ocean.  It is not like a flickering lightning bug; instead it is like a blinding sun.”

Chapter Seventeen: Our Mission from the Risen Jesus

Mission should always be at the forefront of our prayers and activity as followers of the Lord Jesus.  It is particularly so as I read chapter seventeen of Raised with Christ, having just completed our Sunday series on the Acts of the Apostles.

Our Mission from the Risen Jesus is Adrian Warnock writing at his best.  His obvious love for the Lord and joy of being part of God’s saving mission shines forth in paragraph after paragraph.  Here are some highlights (but make sure you read the chapter for yourself!):

• the church (“Jesus now lives on earth through His Body”) has been formed and empowered by the resurrection – so let’s declare and demonstrate it!
• the church is the only Jesus the world will see until He returns
• the Spirit gives us an infectious hope and joy – so share it!
• Jesus should thrill us more than anything or anyone else
• Jesus will accomplish the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) – He sends us out as a “direct command  of the ruler of the universe.”  It is not simply a suggestion
• “Jesus leads us to plunder the enemy’s kingdom, pushing forward in eager anticipation of what God will do through us”
• making disciples?  We need to train other Christians to love Jesus.  When we love Him, His commandments will not be burdensome
• Jesus is with His people to accomplish a specific goal – “if you want Jesus to go with you, than go and make disciples”

What’s the bottom line?  ”If we love, honour, and glory in Christ, we will find that we want to talk about Him with others.”

As we come towards the end of Raised with Christ, we’ll briefly look at two chapters:

Chapter Fifteen: A relationship with the Risen Jesus?

Chapter Sixteen: Assured by the Resurrected Christ

At the end of Chapter Fifteen, Adrian Warnock suggests we ask ourselves: “Do I really love Jesus?  Am I aware of His love for me in such a way that I have a strong desire to be holy?  Am I devoted to Jesus?”  These are very pertinent questions and ones that, although perhaps phrased a little differently, regularly cross my mind.

Our author notes that the goal of the Apostle Paul’s life was a relationship with the resurrected Jesus.  The testimony of Scripture and that of saints of old is that we can experience living in resurrection power.  Martyn Lloyd Jones dismisses a purely intellectual approach to the faith as “dead orthodoxy” and warns against setting experience and doctrine against each other.

In Chapter Sixteen the focus is on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in believers’ lives.  It was the risen Jesus who gave us the Holy Spirit.  Adrian emphasises a truth that I often chew on: we receive the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.

Our author then gets into a discussion about receiving the Spirit, baptism with the Spirit and receiving the Spirit.  In wrestling with these important aspects of the Spirit’s work, I find the following works particularly helpful:

• God’s Empowering Presence by Gorden Fee, and
• He Who Gives Life by Graham Cole.

I really connect with Adrian’s appeal towards the end of the chapter:

“Let’s resist becoming sidetracked by our various differences over these matters and instead simply cry out to God for more awareness and evidence in our lives of the power that raised Christ from the dead.  Then we will know the joy of living our lives not in our own strength but in God’s enabling.”

Here’s a short post on a really helpful section at the very end of:

Chapter Eight: Life Between the Cross and the Coming.

Graham Cole highlights three ‘commissions’ that Christians are to obey, as we live for Jesus in the world:

1. Creation Commission (Gen 1:28).  Our exercise of dominion is one of both care and control (eg. Gen 2:15).  I would put it this way: care for the environment is one aspect of being a follower of Jesus and a citizen of God’s Kingdom.
2. Discipling Commission (Matt 28:18-20).  God calls His people to make disciples – of all nations.
3. Moral Commission (Matt 22:37-39).  The Creation and Discipling Commissions are “to be shaped by love of God and love of neighbour.”  Indeed, as Graham rightly concludes: “Without love, creation care and discipling others become vacuous.  We gain nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3).”

Chapter Six: The death and vindication of the faithful Son

In this most important chapter in God the Peacemaker, Graham Cole explores the cosmic-impacting atoning death of the faithful Son, Jesus and His vindication through the resurrection.

Early on, our author makes a critically important statement:

“…in our broken world no shalom can come without sacrifice.”

 The sacrifice of Jesus was a “cosmic necessity” integral to God’s atoning project.  Graham digs into what has been achieved through the sacrifice of Jesus, namely;

Victory over the devil – Christus Victor.  Our author takes us through Scriptural data (Gen 3:15; Actis 10:36-38; Col 2:13-15; Heb 2:14-18; Rev 12:11) and historical expressions of this victory through Church history.

But how exactly is victory over the devil and evil secured?  This question is explored at some length and with wonderful biblical insights; developed around the concept of ‘satisfaction,’ defined as:

“…meeting the divine desires, longings, expectations and wants as well as realising divine purposes and intentions.”

 Satisfaction of divine holiness, divine righteousness and divine love through Jesus’ sacrifice. 

• in regards divine holiness, Jesus’ sacrifice provides satisfaction because He offers Himself as a perfect Lamb in our place (1 Pt 1:18f cf. Lev 22:21; Heb 9:14).  Graham highlights two images that bpseak so powerfully into my own walk with jesus – His sacrifice is ‘once-for-all’ (Heb 9:12, 26, 28; 10:10) and the rending of the Temple curtain (Matt 27:50f).
• in regards to divine righteousness, Jesus’ sacrifice provides satisfaction because through it, God demonstrates His justices (sin must and is dealt with) and shows Himself the Acquitter of the guilty who benefit from Christ’s intervention (Rom 3:21-26).

At this point, our author provides a brief biblical and histroic overview of penal substitution.  He expands this topic in the appendix – this is very worthwhile reading, as graham interacts with some modern (of which some are not so modern) criticisms of understanding the sacrifice of Jesus as penal substitution.  Such as:

- how important is this doctrine?  Answer: it lies at the centre of Christ’s work.  Christus Victor depends on the ground of satan’s accusations being removed.  Satisfaction of justice deprives satan of his hold.  Having recently preached through Hebrews I found Graham’s summary of Heb 6-10 stimulating.  He sees Heb 9:28 describing a penal substitutionary sacrifice (righlty, I believe).  In the light of Heb 6:1, our author asks the rhetorical question: ‘Can there be Christian maturity without grasping penal substitution?’

- is the doctrine moral?  Jesus is not only innocent; He is righteous.  And a righteous person does what is appropriate in a relationship.  As the God-Man, Jesus’ bearing of our sins was appropriate.

- is the violence in this understanding of the atonement ‘Divine Child Abuse’?  As always, Graham respectfully interacts with the critics and then provides, what I believe is a compelling response in the negative, by way of Derek Tidball’s analysis of the cdriticism (254). 

This is very meaty stuff, but well worth chewing on, given criticisms of traditional understandings of the atonement, including by some who are self-confessed evangelicals.

Our author, still dealing with the topic of sacrifice, examines the biblical evidence as to what kind of sacrifice it was.

Propitatory?  Sacrifice directed towards the wrath of God.

Expiatory? Sacrifice directed towrds sin.

Answer? Both (see Heb 9:5; 2:17; 1 Jn 2:1f; 4:10).

Covenant-making through sacrifice.  The Last Supper is ‘Passover-like’ (approvingly quoting one of my favourite authors, Scot McKnight) and through Jesus’ sacrificial death He establishes a new relationship (covenant) between God and His people.

Well, this is a BIG post – but why not?  This is a key chapter in God the Peacemaker.  Importantly, growing in our understanding of what Jesus has achieved through His work on the cross is essential food for all followers of Jesus.

In the next post (which will be much shorter!) I will look at the final section of Chapter Six – the vindication of Jesus though His resurrection.

As our author sets out on his journey of God the Peacemaker he begins by wrestling with our understanding of holiness, righteousness and love when applied to the biblical God.

Do you, like me, relate to Graham Cole’s opening statements:

• understanding holiness does not come easily
• divine righteousness does not immediately resonate with modern sensibilities
• the idea of a loving God comes more easily?

Our author explores the character of God.  In so doing, we are provided with some wonderful illumination of God revealed in Scripture:

• divine righteousness and holiness inform the need for atonement
• divine love provides atonement
• divine righteousness means that God acts as a relationship morally requires or allows ie. we get our due.  This is seen in rescuing the disciplined exiles (Isa 51:11) and judging the Babylonians (Isa 51:8)
• divine holiness means that God is separate from creatures (Isa 40:25) and pure (Hab 1:12f).  Helpfully, Graham points out that holiness in some contexts expresses itself in wrath (Lev 10:1-3) but in others it saves (Isa 41:14)
• divine love (Ex 34:6; 1 John 4:8, 16) shows itself in the cross.  but unlike divine holiness asnd righteousness, divine love does not judge
• at the cross, all three perfections are revealed:
  • divine love (Rom 5:6-8)
  • divine righteousness (Rom 3:25f)
  • divine holiness (Heb 10:11-14)

Graham concludes this first chapter with an examination of the question: “Is divine love in conflict with divine wrath?”  Simple answer: No.  But in exploring the question (to which often answers fail to do justice to God revealed in Scripture) our author gives excellent insight:

• holiness is an essential attribute of God – wrath expresses holiness in certain contexts
• love is an essential attribute of God – mercy is how love acts in certain contexts.

As I read this fine opening chapter, I was again reminded that we cannot properly worship God when we do not know Him, as revealed in Scripture.  Chapter One is an excellent summary of the character of God – essential reading for every child of God.

Today, we completed the second message in our Christmas series Who is this baby? As we considered Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus in Matt 1:17-25, we turned our hearts to the wonderful mission opportunity of Christmas.  And in doing so, we were encouraged in praying for our friends in the words of Prayer for a friend by Casting Crowns, off their album The Altar and the Door:

Lord I lift my friend to You.
I've done all that I know to do.
I lift my friend, to You.
Complicated circumstances
have clouded his view.
Lord I lift my friend up to You. 

I fear that I won’t have the words
that he needs to hear.
I pray for Your wisdom , oh God.
And a heart that's sincere.
And Lord I lift my friend up
to You. 

Lord I lift my friend to You.
My best friend in the
world, I know he means much
more to You.
I want so much to help him, but
this is something he has to do.
Lord I lift my friend up to You. 

There's a way that seems so right to him.
But You know where that leads.
He's becoming a puppet of the world.
Too blind to see the strings.
And Lord I lift my friend up to You. 

Lord I lift my friend to You.
I've done all that I know to do.
I lift my friend, to You.

I love the words of the third verse: “Lord I lift my friend to You. My best friend in the world, I know he means much more to You….”  What a great testimony to the love of God; to the truth of John 3:16 and 1 Tim 2:3f.