The Princess Pauper

He needs to grow up a little,
but how can you tell a man to grow?
He needs to be the king of his people,
but content he is in what he knows.

He can be the king of me.
But crown me, he will not.

He is playing with power,
without sending out the guard.
Falling in shambles,
Like a tower of cards.

The nation is defenseless,
and the throne is left for nought.
I watch in horror,
as a princess bride without her rock

Defenseless and in rags.
I beg he make haste.

Does he not realize-
the feast is for his doom?
Laden with poison-
With one lick of the spoon.

Please my love, awaken!
Can you not see what is at stake?
I need a man to hold me,
because no man can take your place.

Spiritual Sabbatical (Part 3): We Are Slaves To Something

If you have not read the previous two articles please begin there:

1. Spiritual Sabbatical: Introduction

2. Spiritual Sabbatical (Part 2): What Happened on Calvary?

So how fallen are we? How bad is sin? In many ways we easily perceive 'evil' in the world. But those are other people. In some ways we are mystified as to how people do evil things. We ask questions like, "how did they become that?" "How were they raised?" "How does such evil exist in a person?" I have always said this and I will continue to do so; without God we all have murder in us, we all have perversion in us, we all have grotesque potential in us. We are all sinners and full of sinful acts, whether we realize it or not. It is the transformation of Calvary that challenges us to stand above the nature that so naturally can take over if given the proper feeding ground. It is only by Christ that we are made new and made better.

I love how R.C Sproul wrote about sin in his book, "Saved from What?" He writes, "...If people understood two things -- if they understood that God is holy and that sin is an offense against His holiness -- then they would be breaking down the doors of our churches, pleading, 'What must I do to be saved?'" (Pg. 45-46)

So how sinful are we? Colossians 1:21-22 makes it clear how sinful we are. "...And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works..." Leon Morris in his book, The Atonement: It's meaning & Significance, writes, "Now an enemy is not simply someone who falls a little short of being a good and faithful friend. He belongs in the opposite camp. He is opposed to what one is doing. Sinners are putting their effort into the opposite directions to that of God... The sin we do inevitably arouses the hostility of God." (Pg. 136-137)

In what ways does our sins violate God? As R.C. Sproul writes, "if a crime has been committed, then we have to deal with penal sanctions. If a debt has been incurred, then payment must be made. If enmity has entered a personal relationship, if the relationship has been violated, that relationship must be restored." (Pg. 49)The three ways that our sin makes us an enemy of the Lord and necessitates atonement is: 

1)Sin as a debt
2)Sin as an act of enmity
3)Sin as a crime

"'Come now, let us reason together,'
Says the Lord,
'Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

Yet Christ redeemed us by the ransom price. He gave his own life to atone for our. He did so much for us, though it was undeserved. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21) "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6) "Yet was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief." (Isa. 53:10) Christ bore much for our sin. Our sin which is an affront to God's purity and holiness. When we purposely remove ourselves from redemption and Christ's atonement by taking a break from God, we are then removing His cleansing blood from our very crimson heart full of sins. Christ is our salvation! "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all." (1 Timothy 2:5-6a)

Leon Morris in his book, defines "ransom" as, "the money that anyone pays to be delivered." (Pg. 116) or "the term (kopher) conveys the thought of price. God's people are delivered at cost (Isa. 43:3-4)" (pg. 117) So what are we being ransomed from? We are being ransomed from sin. Our wicked deeds. We through our sin, of which is first nature, makes us a slave to sin. John 8:33-34 says, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." And when we are slaves to our sins, and our passions, we cannot break free from them. We are owned by them. That is exactly what being a slave to sin means. A common but very fitting example would be those passions that have then become addiction in our lives. Addictions are blatant examples of how sin has us bound. Even though we may not even realize we are bound to it.

Leon Morris beautifully encapsulates what it meant to be in bondage to our sins, "His word 'ransom' is the technical term used of the money paid to release a prisoner of war or a slave. To release the slaves of sin be paid the price. We were in captivity. We were in the strong grip of evil. We could not break free. But the price was paid and the result is that we go free. 'Sin shall not be your master' (Rom. 6:14)" (Pg. 121). That is why there is no medium. A person cannot simply take a break from God. You are a slave to something. You are either a slave to your sin which in the previous article mentioned the eternal consequences of our sin, of which Christ bore on the cross, or you are slave to God and His Kingdom. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Cor. 6:19-20) 1 Corinthians 7:22 also speaks of us being the Lord's slave.

Lastly I would like to point out why being a slave to Christ is better than being a slave to sin. In a sense being a slave to Christ is liberating. "You (Christ) are worthy to take the scroll and to open the seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." (Rev. 5:9-10) Leon Morris writes, "that in buying them he did not simply transfer them from one slavery to another. . . This is brought out with the affirmation that they are 'a kingdom' and 'priests' and that 'they will reign'. They have a royal state and are thus as far from being menials as can be conceived." (Pg. 127-128) in turn to trusting in God and surrendering our life to Christ, we are made a royal priesthood and kings and queens of his service!

Living for God is in no way easy at times. Christ calls us to a place of self sacrifice and growth in different areas of our lives. But this earthly life is nothing in comparison to the life Christ has planned for us hereafter. The next article will speak on the topic of why I believe people justify taking a break from God. The past three articles, I hope have laid a firm foundation for the belief that taking a break from God is impossible. I pray that the next article helps in a very practical way to overcome this very human desire to give up and feel better in times of struggle.

Blessings!

Books:

R.C Sproul - "Saved From What?"

Leon Morris - "The Atonement: It's Meaning & Significance"

Wayne Grudem - "Making Sense of Christ and The Spirit: One of Seven Parts from Grudems Systematic Theology"

Spiritual Sabbatical (Part 2): What happened on Calvary?

In Part One: Introduction of Spiritual Sabbatical, I laid out two reasons that are paramount for understanding why taking a break from God or religion is not possible. This is the second part of the series in which I will talk about the fall and its implications, thus the necessity for Calvary and ultimately the atonement for our sins. I will lay out what exactly happened on Calvary... In case anyone was wondering. How does it relate to us as believers or as potential believers, and our need in a Savior. Thereby creating a clearer image of why taking a break from God is impossible and quite frankly is in no ones best interests.

The one thing that I absolutely love about the Word of God is that everything points back to the beginning. To understand the end of the book, you must understand the beginning of the book. For instance, for us to understand why Calvary was so necessary, we must understand what happened in the beginning in the Garden with man's first sin. Genesis chapter three. As we begin this session, you can start by reading the chapter. 

What were the consequences of mans sin or ramifications of  the Fall? 

1. Loss of relationship - Our sin severed that channel of relationship.
2. Sin entered the world- thus we are condemned to death. The penalty of sin is death.

These two consequences were a direct result of mans desire for something that was forbidden. Our pride which desired to be like God. This was touched on in the first article. If you have not read it begin there. 

As a result of man's sin, God created different covenant relationahips throughout history starting with the noahic covenant, then the abrahamic covenant and then the mosaic covenant. Ultimately each covenant relationship that God made with the people of Israel failed until Christ died on the cross. So what was the  impact of Calvary... In simple terms?

1. Sin was paid for by a blood sacrifice - The Atonement - Propitiation which is a blood sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God.
2. Thus we are brought back into covenant relationship - Reconciliation & Redemption

What truly impacts me as a believer of Christ's sacrifice is when I began to internalize what Christ truly went through up there on the cross. Secondly by internalizing that immense pain and seperation I cognitively recognized that the pain and separation He felt up there was meant for the foulest of sinners, which is me. What did Christ endure on the cross? And how does it relate to us as sinners? Wayne Grudem, one of my favorite authors on Systematic Theology beautifully describes the four ways in which Christ suffered or as he put it, "The Nature of the Atonement." 

Jesus endured (in our place):

1. Physical pain & death: we deserve to die as the penalty for sin. " A criminal who was crucified was essentially forced to inflict upon himself a very slow death by suffocation." (Grudem, 75). There was nothing easy about a death by the cross. Men stayed up there sometimes for days, slowly suffocating to death. It was a brutal and grotesque way to die. 
2. The pain of bearing sin: We deserve to bear God's wrath against sin. Isaiah 53:6, 53:12, John 1:29, 2 Cor. 5:21, Gal 3:13, Heb. 9:28, 1 Peter 2:24. The weight of sin, the guilt is not a light thing especially for a man that had never sinned. For Him to bear the weight of sin for an entire world is a lot of guilt, shame and sorrow. He bore it all. Grudem argues that bearing the weight of sin must have been heavier than the physical pain on the cross.
3. Abandonment: We are separated from God by our sins. Jesus faced the physical and spiritual weight of sin on His own. Alone he bore the sins of the world. His closest friends forsook him and fled (Matt 26:56), and in Matt 27:46 when He cried out those loneliest of words, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?' 'My God, my God why have you forsaken me?' Was showing the consequence that sin has on someone... Ultimately, separation from God. Yet on the cross, Christ bore that separation for us.

4. Bearing the wrath of God: We are in bondage to sin and to the Kingdom of Satan. (Grudem, 75-83)

This section will be more heavily discussed in the next article. 

Jesus bore all these things in our place. We deserved this judgment but God in His infinite love bore the cross for us. The foulest consequences but rightly justifiable and God bore it. And through it we were gifted with Christ's sacrifice in our place, propitiation (payment): which is a blood sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God (1 John 4:10), Reconciliation which brings us back into relationship with God and redemption which means Christ was the ransom for our sins (Mark 10:45). Wow! Christ did all of that so that He could know you, be in relationship with you, save you and keep you! He did all that... And we take a break from him? Does that even make sense?

How does this relate to us taking a break from God? When we take a break from God we are rejecting His mercy and grace. We are rejecting His sacrifice and infinite love. We are willfully rejecting a way out from what we deserve, which is death. This is also starkly in contrast with the fact that by rejecting salvation and God, you are rejecting a gift of mercy that was already so intensely undeserved. 

Romans 5:10 states, "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 

This passage states that while we were sinners, we were enemies of God. When we reject God, whether we realize it or not, we are against God. Because our natural tendency is not good but evil. I hope to expand on this topic in the next article. 

Please be blessed! 

Spiritual Sabbatical: Introduction

Since when was "taking a break from God," or "taking a break from religion" ever a viable option? I am going to argue this point from two perspectives that I believe truly need to be defined. First, let me pose a question; have we as people grown so callus to redemption that taking a break from God seems possible? Is mercy and grace viewed as more of an option rather than necessity these days? Is not a sense of urgency and judgment also a motivator behind our relationship with our Creator? Because the last time I checked, humanity was kind of headed towards hell and the only thing that ransomed our sinful selves from the fate was a blood sacrifice of an innocent lamb that died in our place. But please don't let me get ahead of myself. I need to lay this out as gently and politically correct as possible so that your hearts will be open to receive it... Or maybe I should just lay it out as bluntly as possible. So here it goes... Without Christ, we ARE condemned. There is NO salvation apart from Christ. OK I've vented. Now let me gently proceed.

There are two writers that I am profoundly fond of. Perhaps it is because these writers so vividly depict the Human/God relationship in the same sense that they depict our rightful places in sense of a hierarchy which is, us as creation and God as Creator. They depict us as small and as God as indefinably large. Even beyond the recesses that our mind can grasp. This is then paralleled with our very real necessity of God. These writers are John Piper and R.C. Sproul.

R.C Sproul in his book, "Saved from What?" Wrote a line that to this day still impacts the way I view my need for Christ. He wrote, "That we are shocked by the idea that we are saved from God reveals two crucial shortcomings in our understanding. We fail to understand who God is, and we fail to understand who we are. Our view of God is too low, and our view of mankind is too high." (27) Of course this sense of pride is not new to man, because it was pride itself that caused the fall of man in Genesis. Didn't man desire to be like God? What I want to point out from this quote however, is that by accepting salvation, we are not just accepting free access to the blessings of God but we are also allowing the sacrifice of Christ to cover us from the very real judgment of our sins. Taking a break from God, or taking a break from religion is willfully removing ourselves not only from the blessings of relationship, but also from the cover and safety of salvation. Those two aspects parallel each other. Neither are truly an option and it is for two reasons. 

1. The underlying premise of redemption is that sin (our sin) was paid by a blood sacrifice and we are then brought back into covenant relationship with our God. 

A concern for how the church views redemption has been pressed upon me. What is redemption? Do people truly understand the concepts of "mercy," "grace," and "propitiation?" Do we as a body of Christ truly understand the impact and ramifications of what took place on Calvary? If we understood the full impact of our sinful nature and the liberating power of Calvary then we would not so easily take a break from something that has set us free from God's judgment of our sin and sin itself. 

2. There is no growth outside of God. There is only digression. 

Do we fully grasp our natures as human beings? I think for many people, the truly evil people are outside themselves, distant and quite psycho. But the everyday evil is within us when we live outside the grace of God. What seems simple has eternal ramifications and consequences. There is no growth, there is no betterment, maturation, or spiritual relationship with God outside of the parameters that he set for us. There is no salvation and no winning or getting by outside of God.

I pray that these next three articles lay out a foundation by which you can rationally and prayerfully rethink how we have been relating to God but also how we are responding to God and His call in our lives. In this life there is no spiritual sabbatical and I pray that each and every one of us come to a place where we realize that taking a break from God is impossible. 

Be blessed!