October 2004 Archives
This photo was taken four days before Daniel died with the intended purpose that it testify to the glory of the Gospel of Christ in the midst of suffering.
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I recently had the opportunity to preach to one of our guy’s dorms. My text was Ephesians 1:15-17, Paul’s first recorded prayer for the Ephesians. Of course, I knew that if we were to understand this prayer rightly, we had to discern its connection with Paul’s river of doxological doctrine running through verses 3-14. God used my meditation on 1:3-17 to provide rich food for my faith.
The central request in Paul’s prayer (vv. 15-23) is in verse 17. He prays that “the Father of glory may give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” The question that arrested my attention as I studied was why does Paul refer to the Father as “the Father of glory”. Why didn’t Paul just say, “the Father”? Why did he add the words “of glory”?
“Glory” is one of those words that is extremely difficult to define or explain. It is a word that we use very frequently in our Christian circles, but I often think our understanding of it is lacking in substantive content. So, what is meant by “glory”? Well, we could go to Psalm 19 to fill out our understanding. “The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). What David is saying is that what we see in the sky is the glory of God. In other words, the sun is the glory of God. The moon is the glory of God. The stars are the glory of God. Romans 1 tells us that the sun, moon, and stars make known the eternal power and deity of God (Romans 1:20).
Several years ago, I received an e-mail about a Hubble Telescope discovery. The e-mail reported that Hubble focused on a spot the size of a dime seventy-five feet away. That is a really small spot to focus on. What scientists discovered is that in that small spot they were able to identify 1,500 separate galaxies! I could not believe what I was reading, but it got better. The e-mail went on to say that no matter where on the horizon Hubbell focused on a spot that size, there would be approximately 1,500 galaxies! Let that sink in. That is way more than my dime size brain can get its comprehension around! Now that is some glory of God!
However, I don’t think that Paul has Psalm 19:1 glory in mind when he refers to God as “the Father of glory.” Verse 17 is not the first time Paul refers to glory in this great chapter. In verses 3-6, Paul says that God blessed, chose, and predestined us TO the praise of the glory of His grace. In other words, God did these great things to us so that we might display the glory of His grace. In verses 7-12, Paul says that we have the forgiveness of our trespasses and an inheritance so that we might be to the praise of His glory. Then in verses 13-14, Paul says that we have been “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Verses 3 to 17 are consumed with God’s glory, particularly His glory in bestowing unbelievable blessings upon sinners. It is His glory that He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, that He chose us before the foundation of the world, and that He predestined us for adoption. It is His glory that we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, that we have obtained an inheritance, and that we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. However, there is a huge question that should press in against our minds at this point, namely, ”How can God do that?” How can God bless sinners with all the unbelievable spiritual blessings in the heavenly places? How in the world can God predestine lawbreakers for adoption as sons? How is it even possible that God can forgive all the trespasses of those who have exchanged His glory for that of the creature? The question that should fill our small minds is, “How can God possibly bless sinners with these infinitely extravagant blessings?”
Consider what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he (that is, the Father) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In other words, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). God could bless us with the blessings of Ephesians 1 because He cursed His Son with the curses that we justly deserved (notice how many times Paul uses the phrase “in him” in Ephesians 1:3-14). We are blessed because His perfect Son was cursed! That is THE glory of God! The sun, moon, and stars can only dream of declaring the weight of glory that we who are the works of God’s saving hands declare.
Therefore, when Paul prays that “the Father of glory might give [the Ephesians] a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,” he is praying to a God who is more FOR them than they can even begin to imagine! He is a God to be worshipped, treasured, adored, trusted, loved, hoped in, obeyed, and praised with all that we are and ever hope to be (understatement of understatements)! And get this, “the Father of glory” has “raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6-7). Glory to the Father of glory!
This quotation came to me from Scott Anderson. May you be encouraged even as I was.
"In the day when He casts our sins into the depth of the sea, He views us as pure in His sight, and we stand accepted in the Beloved. Then He says, 'As far as the east is from the west so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.' They cannot be removed and be here still. Then if thou believest in Christ, thou are no more in the sight of God a sinner; thou art accepted as though thou were perfect, as though thou hadst kept the law for Christ has kept it, and His righteousness is thine. You have broken it, but your sin is His, and He has been punished for it. Mistake not yourselves any longer; you are no more what you were; when you believe, you stand in Christ's stead, even as Christ of old stood in your stead. The transformation is complete, the exchange is positive and eternal. They who believe in Jesus are as much accepted of God the Father as even His Eternal Son is accepted; and they that believe not, let them do what they will, they shall but go about to work out their own righteousness; but they abide under the law, and still shall they be under the curse."
~ Charles Spurgeon
You were born 8 years ago today. We can still remember the sense of awe we felt when we held you in our arms for the first time. We were parents! God had given us a beautiful little daughter! We could see in you the glory of a loving heavenly Father who gives unspeakably good gifts to His children. You were and continue to be glory in our lives, the glory of God.
Our prayer for you, Hannah, is that there would be an overabundance of glory in your life. Not the glory of fame or popularity or accomplishment or prestige, but the glory of God. May you daily know the glory of His goodness, the glory of His saving name, and the glory of His sovereign graciousness. May you be a woman who seeks for glory and honor—not the glory and honor of your name, but the glory and honor of God in Christ Jesus.
Our prayer is that you be satisfied with the glory of God, that it be your great delight, your single passion, your rock of contentment, and your joy in the face of an unknown future. May your life be filled with the glory of God.
Happy Birthday, Hannah! We love you!!
"The good news is that in Jesus Christ we finally find what our hearts truly long for and thirst after, that which our idols can promise only in vain. It is the good news that we do not have to live in fear of God’s condemnation anymore. No matter how great our sins may be, God promises we can now be completely forgiven through Christ’s shed blood in our place.
"It is the good news that we do not need to be crippled by the fear of rejection anymore, always building and defending our reputation, for we can know the riches of God’s eternal acceptance through Christ’s perfect righteousness, counted to be ours through faith.
"It is the good news that we don’t need to go on living and feeling like unloved spiritual orphans anymore, for we can now know the comfort of Jesus Christ as our compassionate older brother, the one “who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin” (Heb 4:15).
"It is the good news that, although we can grieve and displease God because of our sin, there is nothing we can do to cause our Heavenly Father to love us any less, and there is nothing we can do to cause him to love us any more. God’s love for us in Christ is the same eternal love he has always had for his one and only Son. Because we are his children, God promises to use all the trials of our lives not for our punishment but for our good, to help us grow and mature to be all he designed us to be (Heb 12:10).
"It is the good news that no matter how alone we may find ourselves in this life, no matter how many people may leave us, we can always know the intimate communion of God’s Holy Spirit who promises never to leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). His love for us is eternal; he chose us to be in Christ before the creation of the world, and he promises that the work he began in us, he will bring to completion on that final day in heaven (Phil 1:6). In the meantime, he promises to come alongside us to comfort, encourage and transform us through all our trials. He promises always to be near to the brokenhearted (Ps 34:18).
"It is the good news that no matter how intense or enslaving our present struggle with sin may be, we no longer need to be in bondage to sin’s dominion over our lives. Although sin’s influence will always be with us, sin’s dominion over our lives has been broken through the cross (Rom 6). It is the good news that we can now finally be free from that sin which has held us in bondage for so long.
"It is the good news that one day all of our struggles will be over and God will bring us home to heaven. We are now pilgrims passing through a land that is not our own, on our way to our home, the Celestial City (Bunyan 1872a)--a place where God promises he will wipe away every tear from our eyes. He promises that he will make all things new. We will be made new in both soul and body. All creation will be made new. He promises that in the new heavens and the new earth there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will pass away (Rev 21:4)." ~Steven L. Childers (True Spirituality: The Transforming Power of the Gospel)
These are pictures I took earlier this week of our home and street. The two of BBC were taken from our front porch. Fall is an absolutely beautiful time of the year around here. My low resolution pictures do not do the scenery justice!
She...
Always remembers what's important to our family. She loves...
Noah, Isaiah, and Hannah as her own
God is her passion
Enthusiasm is her middle name. She...
Loves us in spite of our many faults. She...
Acts like part of the family (which of course she is!)
We miss you, Angela!
Melissa and Family
"So it may be said that the chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks."
~J.R.R. Tolkien in a letter to Camilla Unwin - May 20 (which, by the way, is my birthday), 1969
NEWS FLASH:
On December 14, see even more of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with the Special Extended Edition DVD and VHS releases! This all-new version of the film includes over 50 minutes of never-before-seen footage integrated into the original theatrical release.
The DVD release is a 4-disc set, featuring two discs loaded with extra features.
Part 4 from Promise and Deliverance:
"As a result of sin, there is no revelation of grace other than in the Mediator. This is made clear throughout the Scriptures-not only in the New Testament but also in the Old. Scripture is a unity. The Old Testament is the book of the Christ who is to come, while the New Testament tells us of the Christ who has come.
We do the content of the Old Testament an injustice when we repeatedly draw lines from its history to the Christ. We say, for example, that God saved Israel or sent Joseph to Egypt to save His people in order that the Christ might be born of that people. This is certainly a real aspect of revelation. It is a line we must follow because it is suggested by Scripture itself. But it is not enough.
The entire Scripture is God's revelation of Himself as the Redeemer. The redemption in the Mediator is revealed to us in every story. But this is not to say that the whole sweep of redemption is visible in every story. We believe in the progress of revelation. This progress is a development in which nothing new is added. In principle, the whole of redemption is revealed in the mother-promise (Gen. 3:15). Therefore, the seed of redemption is present in every story in the Old Testament. Our job is to use the light of the New Testament to uncover it. There is no veil covering our eyes when we read the Old Testament (see II Cor. 3:14-16), for the testimony of Jesus is also the Spirit of Old Testament prophecy (Rev. 19:10).
The Mediator was operative throughout the Old Testament era. His work did not begin at the start of the New Testament. He already penetrated Old Testament history, moving among the people and shadows in order to reveal Himself. Everything is full of Him, and history has become one great miracle through His Spirit.
We will always have a great deal of trouble explaining the history in Scripture-particularly the Old Testament-if we do not proceed from the Mediator's eager efforts to reveal Himself. Even from a psychological point of view, the Old Testament stories would remain a mystery to us if we were to reject the proper starting point. But how wondrously the Scriptures open themselves to us when we focus on the Mediator! The acts and motives of Old Testament people, which are often so puzzling in themselves, then become clear to us."
The website of Northfield Church is now up and running. Take some time getting familiar with it. You will love the Christ-centered/Gospel-centered focus. If you are like me, you will find yourself tempted to pack up your stuff and move out to Denver next week! Let's remember to pray for Matt and Amy Hand and the team as they continue to seek to establish redemptive relationships in the Stapleton area over the next many weeks and months.
Northfield Church's mission statement: "NorthField Church exists to magnify the supremacy of God and the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the making and maturing of disciples who will effect spiritual, social, and cultural renewal in the City of Denver and around the world."
May the transforming power of the Gospel be known in the City of Denver through this new church plant.
Who in the world are these two guys (hint)?
These pictures brought a flood of emotions with them. I praise God that he works our memories together for our sanctification (Romans 8:28).
Our family has entered into a season of remembering Daniel. So we would like to share some of our memories with our friends this week. We do this in thanksgiving to God for His grace to us through our precious son.
Part 2 from the book Promise and Deliverance:
"Consider the story of Joseph as an example. We could focus on the wicked brothers and on Joseph, who put his trust in God and was in turn saved by God. But when we do so, we are omitting an element that forms an actual part of the Scriptural record: it was God who sovereignly brought all these things to pass in order to preserve the life of a great people. Now let's tell the story again from the latter point of view. From the very beginning, God and His people become our main concern. In a certain sense, Joseph becomes secondary-a mere instrument.
Now you can see why I object to the idea that the children will not remember anything unless some particular Bible personality is made the midpoint of the story being told. Little children, accord¬ing to the usual line of argument, have to learn to identify with a particular person in the story. But that person, with his acts and his faith and his mistakes, then becomes the central figure. When we take this step, the story we tell is no longer the history of revelation.
I must admit that it is very difficult to tell the stories in the proper way. It is difficult enough to see things this way in our own minds. First we must subject ourselves to the Scriptures and their meaning. Learning to listen carefully to the Scripture passage we are studying will cost us a couple of hours of preparation (or perhaps more), but what else can we do? We have no choice, for we are dealing with Scripture! If we are not determined to tell of God first and last, of God as the Alpha and the Omega, we should not even bother telling the Bible story. But once we decide to pro¬ceed on the basis of the conviction that God must be first and last in our story, we should allow these guidelines to shape our telling of the story."
I still remember waiting for Melissa to arrive as I coached an important soccer game for the Cyclones. She had gone to get an ultra-sound. I was eager to know if God was going to give us a boy or a girl for our second child.
We were well into the second half of the game and there was still no sign of Melissa. "Where could she be?” I thought to myself. After having given my "undivided" attention back to the game for a few minutes I looked across the field to see if my wife had finally arrived. There she sat with a blue balloon in her hand. "Yes, a boy! We are going to have a boy!!!” I said out loud. I couldn't wait for the game to end so that I could celebrate with my VERY pregnant wife and almost 3 year old daughter, Hannah.
Daniel William Cruver, II was born a month later on October 12. He would be five today. What a wonderful gift from God he was! Happy birthday, Daniel! We love you.
This picture was taken on Daniel's 3rd birthday.
This next picture is courtesy amt. She took it in celebration of his 5th birthday. Thanks, amt!!
from the book Promise and Deliverance: From Creation to the Conquest of Canaan, Vol. 1, S.G. De Graaf, pp. 19ff
"Every time you tell [a story from the Bible], you are telling about God. And you must tell not only what God did but also how He revealed Himself through His actions, for all these things have been written to instruct and enlighten us.
Don't think that such a procedure goes without saying. If we set aside no time for quiet reflection before telling the Bible story but simply follow the most natural course, we will find ourselves talking of men and their actions, of what they believed and how they sinned. God still enters the picture, of course; He intervenes now and then and offers rewards and punishments. Before we know it, we arrive at the "moral" of the story. We tell the children that God will deal with them according to their actions: if they are "good," He will reward them, but if they are "bad," He will punish them.
I venture to say that this is by far the most popular way of telling Bible stories to children. It is also the way many sermons are constructed. But while some people think that this procedure keeps the story simple and direct, they forget that they are not passing on what we are told in Scripture, the record of God's self-revelation.
Scripture is prophecy (Prophecy is first of all speaking for or on behalf of God. Foretelling the future is just one element of prophecy.). This is true even of its historical passages. In other words, every story in Scripture reveals something of the counsel of God for our redemption, even though every story tells it differently. And in every story God is the prime agent, revealing Himself through His acts as the Redeemer. The entire work of redemption can be seen in each story."
Christ our Mediator: Finding Passion at the Cross by C.J. Mahaney
Jerry Bridges writes this about Mahaney's book: "The great nineteenth century Scottish pastor, Haratius Bonar once wrote, 'If we would be holy, we must get to the cross and dwell there.' C. J. Mahaney takes us to the cross in such a way that we can indeed dwell there. This is a book to be read and reread many times. Its message will never grow old or out of date."
I HATE being boring! Period. But it is one thing to hate something with a passion and another thing not to be what you passionately hate. Yesterday was one of those days when I was, in my humble opinion, a boring teacher. If the length of the class were only 50 minutes, being boring would almost (I lie!) be bearable. But the length of yesterday's class was 80 minutes. That is a VERY long time to be boring and KNOW it!
If you were to ask me why I hated being boring so much, if I wanted to give the "spiritually correct" answer I would say something like, "Just as a boring tour guide in the Alps contradicts and dishonors the majesty of the mountains, so does a boring teacher/preacher contradict and dishonor the majesty of God." If I said that, I would be telling the truth, just not the whole truth. If I weren't at all concerned about "spiritual correctness", I would have to admit that another reason I hate being boring is because it is a threat to my own "righteousness", that is, it is a threat to my personal sense of significance and worth. I regularly struggle with seeking to derive my sense of identity from my performance as a gospel-centered teacher/preacher. If I think I did well after having taught a lesson, my sense of significance is secure and I am happy. If I think I did poorly, my sense of identity is shaken and I beat myself up for having failed. This is self-righteous striving. It is a form of putting confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3), or as Paul puts it in Galatians 3:3, it is a form of trying to complete myself. Whenever I seek to derive my sense of significance or worth from my own performance in whatever area of life, what I am actually guilty of doing is striving to establish my own righteousness (Romans 10:3-4).
Well, as I was giving this boring lecture, I remember having thoughts like this, "Dan, being a good speaker is not your righteousness. Jesus is your righteousness! He is your identity, your significance. Here you go again trying to complete yourself! Repent of your damnable efforts to secure your own identity and start rejoicing in the identity that has been freely given to you in Christ apart from striving." That's not word for word, but that was the essence of what was going on in my mind and heart.
You know, after I FINALLY finished being boring, that is, when I finished the lecture, by God's grace I didn't move into the "beat myself up" mode. Rather, I thought something like, "Dan, you are a silly little hobbit! How silly of you to think that you can complete yourself. You are far worse off than you even know! But God has given you a righteousness that is far better than you can even imagine. Rest and rejoice." Thank God for Christian righteousness!
P.S. I had to get Lord of the Rings in there somehow =)
Read this quotation from John Piper with the vicarious perfect obedience of Jesus in mind.
"I believe it can be shown Biblically that all our behavior should be motivated by a thirst for more and more satisfaction in God ...When our whole life is consumed with pursuing satisfaction in God, everything we do highlights the value and worth of God. Which simply means that everything becomes worship" (From the sermon "What is Worship? - Part 2" by John Piper, delivered at the 1994 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology, Apr. 8-9, 1994).
Scripture shows that all of Jesus' behavior was motivated by the pursuit of satisfaction in His Father (John 4:34). His food, his sustenance, his satisfaction, was always to do the will of the Father. This is just another way of saying that everything Jesus did was entirely God-centered. Everything he did was always done in the context of finding his complete satisfaction in God. As amazing as that is in itself, it is even more amazing to learn that Jesus' pursuit of satisfaction in God was a vicarious pursuit (Romans 5:18-19). He did not just pursue satisfaction in God for himself. He also pursued it for us! All Jesus' behavior was motivated by the pursuit of satisfaction in God (John 4:34) "in our place" because all our behavior was motivated by the pursuit of satisfaction in the creature (Romans 1:23). Our pursuit meant that we were under the wrath of God. So in great grace and mercy Jesus pursued satisfaction in God in our room and stead. Therefore, we can say that Jesus’ pursuit of satisfaction in God was a saving pursuit. He pursued it that we might be saved and satisfied in God. The Goodnews of the Gospel is that Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died, so that we who are sinners might worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23), so that all of life might become worship for God-belittling sinners. Amazing Grace!
Inward groaning for the adoption as sons, that is, for the redemption of our bodies, is the experience of those "who have the firstfruits of the Spirit" (Romans 8:23). Although the Spirit of God indwells us, He does not yet take away the wearing down of our bodies. That is why the Spirit is referred to as the firstfruits. He is the God-given down payment of our future bodily redemption. So while we remain in these fallen bodies, we groan inwardly for our future glory as the children of God (Romans 8:21b). For most of us, this groaning for our future redemption is merely a faint inward reality until the days of our youth eventually fade away. This fading away usually happens gradually, so gradually that our awareness of it is fairly easy to suppress.
However, there are times in the lives of many of God's saints when this gradual, almost unnoticeable fading becomes suddenly and painfully noticeable. This is when the inward groaning turns outward. What was once an inward groaning without a strikingly perceptible corresponding form becomes an outward groaning with a strikingly visible corresponding form. What was once a reality that we successfully suppressed, namely, that our bodies, which we religiously feed, exercise, and dress up, are in BONDAGE to decay (Romans 8:21), becomes a reality that is painfully visible and impossible to suppress.
To witness such a thing happening to a fellow justified and being sanctified image-bearer can be profoundly difficult, especially when it happens to one’s grandmother. Yet, when in the light of the gospel, someone witnesses the inward groaning of his grandmother take on flesh and turn outward, he does not witness it without hope. You ask, “How can that be? How can it be that someone can witness such a terrible thing in hope?” It is because in the gospel is given the unbelievable promise that God glorifies, that is, God redeems bodily, all those whom He justifies (Romans 8:30). The gospel declares that for the one who believes in Jesus this inward groaning turned outward is not the end! Rather, the gospel states that this groaning-turned-outward is not worthy to be compared to the glories which shall be revealed at the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:18).
The gospel frees us to weep in hope, to rejoice in weeping, to praise the Lamb who will one day make all things new although our bodies presently languish under the curse! Therefore, I weep in hope, rejoice in my weeping, and praise the Lamb who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows that we might be healed by His stripes (Isaiah 53:4-5). Grandma, I love both you and our God who in your suffering is demonstrating the depth of His riches and wisdom and knowledge (Romans 11:36)!
"If God should save those who have affronted Him, without satisfaction, the honor of His majesty would suffer. For when contempt is cast upon infinite majesty, its honor suffers, and the contempt leaves an obscurity upon the honor of the divine majesty, if the injury is not repaired. But the sufferings of Christ do fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honorable a person as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender, and in the mediation suffer in his stead, it fully repairs the injury done to the majesty of heaven by the greatest sinner" (Jonathan Edwards in "God's Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men").
