Identities of a Christian Pilgrim in a Fallen World, Part 5

41.  I am seeking to sense the presence of God and to behold His beauty.  Although in my sin nature I hated Him, God has made Himself so sweet to me that I want to destroy every act and thought of disobedience in my life that keeps me from the boundless joys of knowing Him.  Knowing Him here on earth is like experiencing something of the joys of heaven as I walk in this fallen world.  "He has destined you to something better than a short-lived blessedness, to be enjoyed only in times of special earnestness and prayer and then to pass away as you returned to those duties in which the far greater part of life has to be spent." - Andrew Murray.   (Psalm 27:4)

42.  I am given assurance of my salvation based on the work that God is doing in my life.  He has not left me the same since my conversion.  The knowledge of Him is also experiential and felt; it is not just knowing facts about Him or believing the right things.  "The life of God in the soul authenticates itself. It brings with it its own evidence. Is it possible that a believer can be a subject of the quickening grace of the Holy Spirit, and not know it? Possess union with Christ, and not know it? The pardon of sin, and not know it? Communion with God, and not know it? Breathing after holiness, and not know it? Impossible!" - Octavius Winslow.  (1 John 3:14)

43.  I am more blessed when I have little wealth than an unconverted man when he is very materially rich.  All the world's wealth does is blind me.  If wealth distracts me from loving Christ, I would rather have nothing, because the Lord is a far greater blessing.  And a man who lives to acquire a great deal of wealth in this world and does not repent of his sins will have nothing when he spends eternity in hell.  "Paul was a prisoner, sick, bruised, and very poor.  But he rejoiced in the Lord and did not ask for more." - Dillon Chase, "Dive In".  (Psalm 37:16)

44.  I am upheld by the King of Glory as I go through trials in life and suffer for His name's sake.  As He continues to break me and rid me of idols, He gives me a progressively clearer picture that His grace is sufficient.  The word "sufficient" is beautiful because logicians relate it to the word "necessary".  "Necessary" means that something must be there.  "Sufficient" means that it is the only thing you need.  God describes His grace as sufficient.  "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace - all-sufficient - will be thy supply.  The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design: thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine." - John Rippon.  (2 Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 66:8-10)

45.  I am constantly fighting in a spiritual battle for the truth of God to be passed down to the next generation.  Though it may seem that the false doctrines that many are teaching today are new, Biblical Christianity has faced false teaching throughout its history - and false prophets both before and since Christ.  God has always preserved His Word and allowed His truth to continue being passed to people yet unborn.  I have a responsibility for living out and upholding sound doctrine in my life, and not tolerating those who proclaim a different gospel.  (Psalm 22:30-31; Jeremiah 14:14; Revelation 2:20)

46.  I am living in a war and thus called to live a wartime lifestyle.  Far from the romantic, white picket fence "simple life", the wartime lifestyle requires sacrifice, discipline, and support from the other troops on my side.  As Martin Luther said, "A faith that costs nothing and demands nothing is worth nothing."  I must truly give up the things in this life that I consider mine and chase Christ relentlessly.  If I do that, the Lord has a certain promise to me: I will find Him.  (Mark 8:35; Jeremiah 29:13; paraphrases from Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper)

47.  I am seeking to glorify God, so I cannot be a habitual self-promoter.  When I seek glory for myself, I eventually must realize that it is not mine to seek - and repent.  An infinitely faithful God has loved me - a sinner, who can only praise Him inconsistently at best - with an everlasting love.  He deserves all of my praise.  "Self cannot possibly exist in this atmosphere; all along it must be crucified ... Have no illusion about this. If you think it is a life in which you are going to make a great name, and be praised, and one in which you are going to be made wonderful, you may as well stop at this point and go back to the beginning, for he who would enter by this gate must say goodbye to self." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  (Psalm 115:1)

48.  I am to praise the Lord for all of my life, and even with my dying breath.  He is forever worthy of that.  "Praise is the rehearsal of our eternal song.  By grace we learn to sing, and in glory we continue to sing.  What will some of you do when you get to Heaven, if you go on grumbling all the way?  Do not hope to get to heaven in that style.  But begin now to bless the name of the Lord." - Charles Spurgeon.  (Psalm 146:2)

49.  I am able to see that the Lord really is all I need.  Even when my work produces nothing and I have no possessions, it becomes more apparent to me that the Lord is my source of strength.  "When our needs are permitted to grow to an extremity, and all visible hopes fail, then to have relief given wonderfully enhances the price of such a mercy." - John Flavel.  (Habakkuk 3:17-18; Isaiah 41:17-18)

50.  I am able to glorify God by obeying earthly rulers who do not love Him.  God allows me to not be afraid when those around me, including those in political power, do not please the Lord.  In areas of the world where He is not being worshiped, He will draw men to Himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation.  All leaders, including those who are not believers, are appointed by God.  I am concerned when I see God's law being broken, but God will act as He sees fit.  As for me, my responsibility is to commit my way to the Lord and delight in Him.  "I take my share in earthly politics, earthly labor, even earthly pain.  But let's be clear.  I am no Earthling.  I'm an alien." - Lecrae.  (Psalm 119:126; Psalm 37:5; Revelation 5:9)

The Glory of God in Loving the Bride of Christ, Part 2

 These are the full notes of my exegesis of Philemon in preparation for the lesson I taught in the Philippines.  In the lesson, I only mentioned the points of this that specifically relate to loving other believers.  Here's the bonus material. :-)

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, 
This is a "prison epistle", and the only one of Paul's letters where he introduces himself as a "prisoner of Christ", in prison for preaching the gospel. I couldn't find anything that said conclusively whether Timothy was also in prison at this time. To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, Philemon was a Christian ministering in the church at Colossae who was not in prison. He was wealthy enough to own at least one slave, Onesimus. Some commentators think Philemon was a pastor.

2 and to Apphia our sister,
This is the only place in the Bible where Apphia is mentioned. This may have been Philemon's wife.

and to Archippus our fellow soldier,
Archippus was also addressed briefly in the book of Colossians(4:17). In that context, Paul mentioned him right after he gave a greeting to the church at Laodicea; Archippus was the only person specifically addressed there and may have been a church leader. Some historical traditions say that he was one of the 72 disciples appointed by Christ in Luke 10. Some historical accounts also suggest that Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus were all martyred under the persecution of Nero.

and to the church in your house:
The church at Colosse was a house church that met in Philemon’s house. He opened his home to allow his church to meet there. Meeting in homes was common in the early church; church buildings did not come until much later.

3 Grace to you ... from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace envelopes the teaching of all of Paul's letters, due to its centrality in the Christian faith; Christians are all recipients of it. God has no problems in Himself that we can fix, and there is nothing that we can offer Him. His responses to us are gifts of His grace.

... and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and by peace, the blessings that result from grace come to us. Both grace and peace are only from God the Father through Jesus Christ. (source: Matthew Henry)

4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
Elsewhere in this book, Paul gives congratulations and commendations regarding Philemon and the others that he mentions based on their faith. However, he still prays for them. No Christian who is still alive is beyond the need for prayer.

5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints;
"I hear of" means that Philemon himself may not have been the one telling Paul about this. The love Philemon showed for the saints and their faith toward Christ had a testimony that reached beyond their city. "Toward all the saints" does not limit Philemon's (or our) love to only believers, but it shows a deeper bond of love between believers that we have in Christ, regardless of whether these saints are Jew, Gentile, slave, free, rich, poor, or any other possible category.

6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 
But wasn't it already becoming effective?  "Fellowship" and “effective" mean that the faith was becoming manifested to men (source: John Calvin). Faith communicates itself by good works. "Every good thing which is in you" does not refer to good things that Philemon inherently had in himself, but to things that are there because of his faith in Christ ("for Christ's sake"). This is not to give glory to Philemon, but to give glory to Christ.

7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Whether he is the pastor of the church or not, Philemon is ministering to the saints in his local church. Nowhere in Scripture is it mentioned that Paul actually had ever gone to Colosse, although one of his messengers, Tychicus, carried this letter and the epistle to the Colossians to Colosse. Paul had been to Ephesus, 100 km away, and was imprisoned there. So Paul has joy that someone he most likely has not seen, who lives in a place that he has most likely never visited, is serving the believers in this local church in a Gentile region (Asia Minor), which is part of the early stages of Christianity spreading around the world and outside the Jewish people.

8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you - since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus -
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul addresses whether Christians can eat meat sacrificed to idols. He says that we can, but not all Christians have this knowledge, and less spiritually mature Christians would be tripped up by that. He says that he will not exercise this liberty around them and gives us an instruction to not cause our brothers to stumble. So he lays down his liberty. In this passage, Paul has the authority and confidence to order Philemon what to do. He was an apostle and mentions that he is "aged", probably at least 50 years old when he wrote this. And he has lived his Christian life preaching the gospel and facing much opposition. But in the verses to follow, Paul is going to lay down his authority to command his brother. He is not going to give a command, but an appeal, to Philemon. He is also writing this letter from a distance and may not know all of the circumstances involved.

10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,
"My child" does not mean that Onesimus was Paul’s biological son. "Child" here is a term of endearment. It is referring to Onesimus as a spiritual child. Onesimus and Paul may not have met until Paul was imprisoned in Rome and shared the gospel with Onesimus. You can't have faith in the gospel without first hearing it, so one who gives instruction in it is like a parent (source: John Calvin). "Begotten" means that it was a result of Paul's ministry, not by Paul’s power.  God is the one who saves.

who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me.
He was useless (a pun on his name - "useful") because he stole from his master. He was also useless to Philemon in terms of Christian fellowship because he was not yet a Christian. He is useful now because he is now a Christian, has left that life of sin, and can now be an honest servant. He is also a brother in Christ now who shares a bond with Philemon that they did not have when he stole.

12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart,
Onesimus is most likely going back with Tychicus because slave-catchers in their day would have intercepted him on the way if he had traveled alone (source: John MacArthur). "My very heart" is also an appeal because it implies that if Philemon rejected the appeal, he was rejecting Paul's heart (source: John Calvin).

13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel;
Here, Paul was looking out for the interests of others, not his own interests. He wanted Onesimus to stay near him in prison and minister to him, but he wanted more than that for Onesimus, an escaped slave rightfully owned by Philemon to go back to his master.

14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.
He wanted Philemon to obey him willingly, not begrudgingly. Paul is sending Onesimus back, with the hope that Philemon will take him back. Philemon may have been inclined to see this as Paul rejecting Onesimus, "return to sender; I'm not interested in keeping him around". Or Philemon may have seen Onesimus wrong as too significant to accept taking him back.  However, Paul is appealing to Philemon, who he has already commended for his love.

15 For perhaps he for this reason separated from you for a while, that you might have him back forever,
Onesimus went to meet Paul in Rome. Here, Paul is suggesting that the ultimate reason why Onesimus separated from Philemon is so that Philemon might have him back forever. But "forever" means beyond this lifetime. Onesimus and Philemon were not always brothers in Christ, but now they are. The text doesn't seem to say (in English) whether Paul says "he for this reason separated from you", meaning that Onesimus was intentionally doing this, or whether "this reason" means that Onesimus wanted to just run away, but God had a different purpose behind all of it. Calvin thinks it was the latter, pointing to the example of the trials Joseph went through in the book of Genesis. (Thoughts?)

16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Philemon only knew Onesimus as someone who worked for him and was dishonest at that. There was no spiritually-based relationship between the two of them. Now that has changed. Paul knows firsthand, from Onesimus' being there for him while he was in prison, that Onesimus is a beloved brother to him now. Paul’s understanding in v. 15 is that Onesimus only left Philemon "for awhile", but if Philemon receives Onesimus back, Onesimus will stay and serve him with a heart that God has changed and a repentance over his sin. Also, Onesimus never worked for Paul as his slave. Paul does not know firsthand how Onesimus served Philemon before he was a Christian. Philemon might be the one person who would see the big change in Onesimus' life ("how much more") more than anyone else. Paul claims both Onesimus and Philemon as brothers in Christ, linking the two. Onesimus was already a "brother... in the flesh" to Philemon (not sure: were they actually biological brothers or only living in the same house / of the same lineage?), but now, more importantly, he is a brother in Christ to him.

17 If then you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.
Paul urges Philemon to accept Onesimus back because of the evidence in v.16 that he is now a beloved brother. "partner" refers to partnership in the gospel. "Accept him" - a repentant sinner showing genuine evidence of salvation - "as you would me" - a former persecutor of the church who killed Christians but has repented of even that. Philemon has already accepted Paul over a sin that could have had Philemon killed if he ever fell back into it.

18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I will repay it
This is the only place in the letter where Paul refers directly or indirectly to Onesimus’ sin. Paul takes the consequences for Onesimus' sin. Onesimus is a runaway slave, and if he has already spent the money, he can't pay it back. Paul has agreed to repay it himself so that the loss of money consequent from the sin would not be a problem for Philemon. "I... am writing this with my own hand" emphasizes that Paul is really the one writing this.

(not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well).
The Bible does not say this directly, but Philemon may have been saved under Paul's ministry. This is a parenthetical statement in some translations, such as the NASB (this one).

20 Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
The context here is Paul's appeal that Philemon accept Onesimus back. “Accept[ing] [Onesimus] as you would me" (v. 17) would be a benefit and refreshment to Paul. It would benefit Paul to see this relationship between Philemon and Onesimus restored more than it would for Onesimus to stay with Paul (vv. 13, 16).  This is a different kind of benefit and refreshment "... in the Lord... in Christ". The gospel of Christ changed Paul's heart so that he would see Onesimus' being away from him (and possibly never coming back to him) as a "benefit” and "refreshment".

21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say.
Paul appealed to Philemon rather than commanding him (v.9), but still considered that if Philemon followed through on this appeal it would be "obedience" (v. 21). Paul had confidence that Philemon would obey him and accept Onesimus back. He knew that Philemon would do more than simply accept him back.

22 At the same time also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you. 
Although Paul was in prison, he had faith that he would not stay there for the rest of his life. He hoped to see Philemon in Colosse. If he had gone, he would have been able to see whether Philemon accepted Onesimus back and what kind of role he had given him.

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
Epaphras preached the gospel to his fellow Colossians (his own people) and came to Paul in Rome with a favorable account of the Colossian church while Paul was in prison there. In Colossians 4:12, Paul tells the church at Colosse that Epaphras is "always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God... he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis." In Colossians 1, Paul reminds the church there that they heard of the gospel (v. 5) and understood the “grace of God in truth" (v. 7), which they learned from Epaphras (v.8), who Paul calls "our beloved fellow-bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our [Paul and Timothy's] behalf."

24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.
Mark: Historical accounts are divided over whether this was the same Mark who wrote the book of Mark. This Mark was definitely with Paul on his missionary journeys and apparently with him during his imprisonment at Rome.
Aristarchus: A Macedonian from Thessalonica. In Acts 20, Aristarchus had accompanied Paul on a missionary journey from Greece through Macedonia to Syria. Aristarchus was also on board a ship with Paul in Acts 27 when they were shipwrecked. When Paul wrote to the Colossians, Aristarchus was in prison.
Demas: Demas was with Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome. He also sends his greetings in Colossians. But in 2 Timothy, Paul writes that Demas forsook him, "having loved this present world". John Calvin wrote of Demas, "And if one of Paul’s assistants, having become weary and discouraged, was afterwards drawn aside by the vanity of the world, let no man reckon too confidently on the zeal of a single year; but, considering how large a portion of the journey still remains to be accomplished, let him pray to God for steadfastness."
Luke: A physician who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, possibly one of the Seventy.

25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Paul ends this letter similar to how he started it. He started it saying “Grace to you and peace."  Here, he says, "grace... be with [you]."It means that he wants the grace of God to be with his readers as they go. When we read Scripture, we are not reading it 24 hours a day. We read it for part of the day and then go live the rest of the day doing other things. Paul wants the sustaining, sovereign grace of Jesus Christ to stay with them throughout the rest of their daily life. And they need it, because his main recipients also suffer for the sake of the gospel and will eventually die for it. (source: John Piper, Future Grace)

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Applications from Philemon:
1. v4: One of the ways that Paul expressed love for Philemon and the others in his church was that he prayed for them regularly, although they were in another city and he was in prison. Do you regularly pray for other believers - whether you can see them or not - and whether your circumstances are good or not?

2. v13: Being ministered to may seem like a very good thing, but it is not always right to focus on who can help you in your trial if God would be more honored by having them go somewhere else to pursue a different calling.

3. v13: Secular work (in this context, seen as a slave serving a master) is a legitimate calling.  Don’t think that you have to be in full-time ministry in order to glorify God and serve Him.

4.  Center your friendships with other Christians on Christ.  The friendships Paul had with these other servants (Epaphras, Aristarchus, etc.) were based in advancing the gospel and suffering for it. Deep friendships involve camaraderie in a cause. If you have trouble forming deep friendships with other Christians, question the basis of those friendships. Make sure that you are centering your friendships on Christ, not on surface-level worldly interests. This will also help you minister to them, and them to you.

5. vv18-19a: Would you ever pay the consequences for another person’s sin just to restore them to another brother?

6. v21: Can it be said of you that when you are to do some form of service for another believer, you will do more than what they ask? (I'm not saying this about me in the Philippines. :-) )

7. v22: Would you go to great lengths to see or visit people who have benefited from your ministry, or who you have benefited from in their ministry? (Ditto. :-) )

The Glory of God in Loving the Bride of Christ, Part 1

Several days ago, I returned from the Philippines via about 20 hours of flying and more than 2 days without sleep.  I was questioning myself, especially after I came back, about why I would ever leave the Philippines.  I find it, in a way, disobedient to God that I could not stay.  As I drove around my town yesterday, I was asking myself why I came back.  Callings to a specific geographic location are rare.  When my health finally readjusts to this much colder weather, I want to head back to the trail for another time of prayer and fasting: for each person that I ministered to there and for how I may be able to make it back as soon as possible.

Although there was a great deal of excitement in finally going on this trip, some of the highlights were the retreat last weekend in Subic, with a group of about 17 college students and young professionals, and the visit to my sponsored children the next day.  One of my hosts invited me to speak at one session of the retreat.  I had prepared a lesson which went verse-by-verse through 1 John 4:7-21 and the whole book of Philemon.  After a test run of it in the States, I dropped most of the Philemon portion, though I plan to post it here later.

Here is the first part of my notes from the study, "The Glory of God in Loving the Bride of Christ":

Who is God?  Who does He think He is to command us to follow Him? Some Psalms keep repeating “glory" - but what is "the glory of God" anyway? How has He shown this through creation and throughout eternity? And why should we care about it when movies, video games, trolling, etc., seem more fun in the here and now? Why would we "waste our lives" (not really, but some people think so) on having a radical vision for glorifying God locally or among the nations?

The reason is that God has a radical vision for glorifying Himself throughout the world and has already seen to it that the universe brings Him glory and obeys Him. Literally everything in all of creation was made for one purpose: to glorify Jesus Christ.  Not one molecule, atom, or subatomic particle exists against this purpose.  Not one of them rebels against His will or is beyond the scope of His power.  Colossians 1:15-17 says, “He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” See also Hebrews 1:1-12.

I think many people our age don't get words like “infinite"... no one can really understand it, but most people won’t even start. Flippancy toward God's commands often results from a view of God that is too small and not powerful enough. I just don't know how so many people who are Christians can read the Bible or read theologians with a high view of God and be anything but stunned and awed by what they see.

God’s glory on earth:
1.  Psalms 138:4-6
2.  Psalms 104:24-32

As someone made in His image, you are a work of God.

God’s glory in the heavens (universe):
1.  Psalms 19:1
2.  Psalms 89:5-18
3.  Psalms 86:8-10
4.  Isaiah 40:25-26
5.  Job 38:31-35

God’s glory in heaven:
1.  Psalms 24:7
2.  Psalms 29:9

It is mind-blowing that a God this glorious would want anything to do with us!

How man relates in all of this:
1.  Psalms 8:3-4
2.  Psalms 19:14
3.  Psalms 33:6-12
4.  Psalm 139 (all)
5.  Psalms 148:13
6.  Psalms 65:5-8
7.  Psalm 67 (all)
8.  Psalms 86:11-12

The Psalms were written by people who really did follow God and praise Him. We can’t “walk in [His] truth” if we are not really His. So it is critical for us to know whether we are His. 1 John is written primarily so that professing Christians will be able to examine themselves to see if they are truly in the faith and to see whether they are really in fellowship with God (1:6, 5:13). It is written in the context of a false teaching called Gnosticism. Gnostics thought they had secrets for understanding the truth that other Christians did not have. They also taught that it doesn't matter what you do with your physical body. So even if you live a lifestyle of sin, that doesn't matter to them; they still consider you a believer. John countered this with the following tests of whether someone is really saved:  (This is paraphrased from an article I read at Grace to You.)

1. Have you enjoyed fellowship with Christ and the Father? In other words, do you love spending time with God? (1 John 1:2-3)

2. Do you walk in darkness (1 John 1:6), a persistent style of life that is sinful (1 John 3:6-8)? If you do, you are not saved. In other words, are you sensitive to sin?

3. Do you keep the commandments of Jesus (1 John 2:3)? The one who says he walks in a way pleasing to Christ must walk (style of life) in the same matter that He did (1 John 2:6).

4. Do you love other Christians? (1 John 2:10-11, 3:10, 3:14, 4:21)  Do you love them with "deed and truth" and not just "word or with tongue"? (1 John 3:18) Have your sins been forgiven, and are you overcoming the evil one? (1 John 2:12-14)

5. Do you love the world or the things in it, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life (1 John 2:15-16)? A true Christian does not.

6. Do you eagerly await Christ’s return? (1 John 3:2-3)

7. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? (1 John 3:4-10)

8. Do you experience the Holy Spirit's ministry? (1 John 2:20, 26-27) The Holy Spirit illuminates Scripture so that you can understand it, allows you to minister to others, allows you to have meaningful worship, and produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life.

9. Do you suffer opposition for your faith? (1 John 3:13)

10. Do you discern true teaching from false teaching? (1 John 4:6)

11. Do you confess that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 4:15)

12. Do you experience answered prayer? (1 John 5:14-15)

For this lesson, I will focus on one of the “tests of salvation”, “Do you love other Christians?”, described in 1 John 4:7-21.

(Section 1) 7 Beloved, let us love one another,
John uses "Beloved" repeatedly throughout this book as evidence that he loves those to whom he writes. The word he uses for both "beloved “and "love" is based on "agape" - "unconditional love". Back in chapter 1, verses 1-4, John distinguishes between "we" and "you". Here, he uses "us" to say, "Let me love you” and "Let you love me".

For love is from God;
Love is in God's very nature and character. Christ serves as the perfect example of unconditional love because of how He lived His life on earth and bore the penalty for our sins in His death.

and everyone who loves is born of God.
Here, we need to distinguish again between different kinds of love. An unbeliever can say, "I love you", to another person (believer or not). An unbeliever can serve and demonstrate sacrifice. But John is using "agape" again. He is saying that everyone who loves unconditionally is born of God. Earlier in the verse he said "love one another".

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
This is almost the contrapositive of verse 7b: someone who "is born of God" "know[s] God". v.7 says that "love is from God"; v.8 says "God is love". "God is love" describes God's nature and essence and where His will and works come from (source: Henry). Several times in 1 John, John uses phrases starting with "God is" to describe God's nature.

9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
“This” is referring to something later in this verse. Christ was sent into the world so that we might live through Him. Christ retains the character of the Father; Hebrews 1:3 refers to Him as “the exact representation of His being”. We can infer that Christ had a loving character as well, as we look at (for example) His prayer for us in Gethsemane. Love is the most obvious sign to the world of the character of God. It is not doctrinal correctness, because people in the world don’t believe the Bible. It is not morality, because the world will see that as denying yourself of a good time and “Why would I want to do that?” God sent His only begotten Son into the world to die for people who hated Him. This is the ultimate expression of love. Christ even loved His enemies, but how precious was the love between Him and His disciples when they faced all sorts of opposition?

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
In our sinful nature, we could not love God because He hated everything we were doing (sin) and He stood contrary to it. When Christ came to earth, even people that He healed were in the crowd yelling, “Crucify Him!” There was nothing that we could do to make God love us because He sees even the good deeds of unsaved people as “filthy rags” in Isaiah 53. If you cannot give something filthy as a gift to an earthly king and expect him to accept it, how much more is that true of God? God, who gives perfectly unconditional love, had to initiate love for us, and He demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. He sent His Son to this world in a body (Christ gave up His omnipresence to take on a physical body), to live the perfect life that we could never live and die the perfect death that we could never die.

“Propitiation” means “atoning sacrifice”. Before Christ, the Jews had to make sacrifices for their sins. But they had to keep doing that throughout their lives. But when Christ died, His sacrifice was sufficient to pay for everyone’s sins, once for all, and efficient to pay for our sins once for all.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Here, John uses “Beloved” again, based on that root word, “agape”. “If God so loved us” – “If God loved us to this extent,” sacrificing His own Son for us – don’t miss the significance of that! Verse 10 showed us that God’s love for us caused Him to sacrifice His perfect Son for all of these people that were giving Him filthy rags. The Greek word for “ought” means “are obligated”. We have to. But this commandment is not burdensome. “One another” means that this, again, is a reciprocal action. Based on the context, this is between believers. I have to love you. You have to love me. But if you do not love me, and in response I do not love you either, both of us have sinned. We should not make our love for another person conditional on the other person loving us. And again, the word for love that is used here is indeed for ongoing, unconditional love.

12 No one has seen God at any time;
Even in theophanies, God did not allow Himself to be seen, because He is such a glorious being that even the seraphim around His throne cover their eyes to shield themselves from Him. It is ridiculous to say things like “I want to see God’s face today.” The seraphim are completely sinless and supernaturally strengthened to endure being in His presence. We are sinful, fallen creatures who would curse ourselves like Isaiah did when He saw someone who was probably the pre-incarnate Christ on His throne in Isaiah 6. God did not allow Moses to see His face either, only His back.

if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
This does not seem very connected to the first half of this verse, but it is the same sentence. But if we love one another, we reflect the character of God, and love is the first part of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. “Abides” is also translated “remains” or “stays”. “Perfected” also means “brought to an end” or “completed”. Love is perfected not by what you think about, but what you do. Thinking about helping or serving someone should not be a rewarding experience to you in and of itself, because they have not benefited from the fact that you thought about them.

13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
The first part of this verse that destroys the arguments of the Catholic church and many other denominations and teachers. It says “by this we know”, not “by this we think” or “by this we might.” You can know that you are saved and have assurance of it. First John also has a verse that says that “these words are written so that you may know you have eternal life”, the thesis statement of 1 John. You can also know whether you abide in Christ, whether you are living moment by moment in the will of God, obeying Him. We learn from v.12 that He abides in us if we love one another. We learn from this verse that both He abides in us and we abide in Him because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us, illuminates Scripture to us, convicts us of sin, and gives us spiritual gifts.

14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
There are two parts to this: “We have seen… that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” and “We… testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” In the Greek this verse starts with “And”. We “have seen” – looked upon – the Son as the Savior of the world. We have experienced His saving grace and power for ourselves. It’s not all in our heads, but in our lives. “Testify” – we “bear witness to” it, or “are bearing witness to” it – this is a lifestyle of telling others that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

(Section 2) 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
The word “confesses” here means “to speak the same”. You are speaking about it. In this day, speaking about it could carry a very high cost because many early believers died for their faith because they would not worship Caesar as Lord. The confession here is that “Jesus is the Son of God”. There is nothing in ourselves that we are confessing here.

16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.
The verbs here are past tense. At some point, we came to know God’s love and believed it.  Initially in our depraved condition, we would not know or believe this, but at some point that changed.

God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and He in us.
He repeats “God is love” again and says that if you abide (or “are abiding”) in love you abide in God, and Him in you. This is because God’s character (“is love”) is reflected in you.

17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
You may have confidence in the day of judgment because God is progressively conforming you to be more like Him. Again, “perfected” carries with it the notion of “completed”. The day of judgment takes place after the end of your life. Your confidence will not be in yourself, but in the perfect work of Christ, which shows through the fruit that is borne in your life. “This world” refers to this world system. We are supposed to function within it and go out in it to reflect the love of Christ. This is not a call for us to live our whole lives away from unbelievers, but in fact we are supposed to be around them.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
Which kind of fear is John talking about? Is he saying, “There is no fear in love, so go skydiving without a parachute”? Is he saying, “There is no fear in love, so I’ll do something crazy to impress this girl”? Is he even saying, “There is no fear in love, so we don’t need to fear God anymore”? No to all of those. John says “fear involves punishment”. This is a clue on what kind of fear this is. The love of God is perfect and removes our fear that involves punishment.

“Punishment” here is not referring to hell. You are not perfected in love if you see yourself as just a slave of God who must obey the Master and fears getting His discipline if you disobey Him. (source: Calvin)  Because then, love is not the motivation of your obedience. Fear is, and fear is enslaving, keeping you from freely being made complete in the love of God.

19 We love, because He first loved us.
He loved us unconditionally and showed that by sending His Son to save us. This is why we love. It is in response to what He has already done.

20 If someone says, "I love God", and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Many people who are self-righteous emphasize their own love for God, look down on those who are not as “spiritually mature” as they are, and envy people who are spiritually “above” them.  They want to get to the top spiritually. This verse says that they do not really love God, they are liars, and they are not really Christians. But this is not only talking about people who are self-righteous. This is talking about any professing Christian who confesses with their mouth that they love God and hates their “brother”. Although the Greek word for “brother” here just means “brother”, it is metaphoric. “His brother” is not a physical brother. It means a brother in the faith – a genuine believer. It goes along with the understanding that other books in the Bible present about a “family of God”. “He is a liar” is another indictment against this false believer, because God never sins; therefore, God never lies; therefore, this person does not reflect the character of God; therefore, this person is not a Christian.

This “has seen” / “has not seen” language parallels with an earlier event in John’s life. In John 20, after Jesus was raised from the dead, John and the other disciples saw the risen Lord before Thomas did. Thomas was not with them when they first saw Him, and Thomas would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead until he saw Him and touched Him. Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29, with the other disciples (including John) present, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” If you see another Christian, someone who genuinely believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you see someone who reflects the character of God (however imperfectly!) to you and others. If you do not love them, this verse is saying that you cannot truly say that you love God either, because God’s love is manifested in the people who love Him and reflect His character.

21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
This summarizes the previous discussion. “This commandment” could also be translated as “this injunction” or “this order”. What is “this commandment”? That “the one who loves God should love his brother also”. If you really do love God, you really will love fellow believers. This is a commandment “from Him” – from the same God who created the entire universe for His glory, and it obeys Him. If you sin against this God by breaking this commandment to love your brother in the faith, you sin against someone much more glorious than any ruler on this earth.

Identities of a Christian Pilgrim in a Fallen World, Part 4

Manigong Bagong Taon sa iyo mula sa Pilipinas!  This is my first post from the Philippines, hopefully out of a few.  This has been my first time ever taking a vacation of at least a full week from work, and it is long overdue.  I have been here for about a week now.  The trip has gone well so far.  I've gotten some more ideas for things to do if I get to come back, most notably more island-hopping.

I was also pleased to see that December 2011 has been my highest-traffic month ever on this blog.  What a nice note for ending the year!  Whether you are a search indexer or a human - and I hope you are a human ;-) - thank you for reading this, and I hope you find that the posts here point you to the real gospel and push you to better know the God of the Bible.

Amidst sorting out the many photos so far from the trip, I have not had time to write an original post, so here is the next post in the "Identities" series.

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31.  I am hoping in Christ, not wealth.  The false prosperity gospel has taught that God will automatically rain expensive worldly possessions and a complete lack of illness on those who have enough faith, but some others, in reaction to this, have faith in God's salvation of their souls but not in God giving them any other sort of blessing.  But a God-focused faith teaches us that God does provide for what we need and He promises us many sorts of blessings.  Uniquely to us, this includes spiritual blessings.  "Our faith doesn't create prosperity, healings, and breakthroughs.  Our faith focuses fervently on God.  Biblical faith confidently - even ambitiously - asks God to act according to His promises.  True faith then accepts the answer.  Our faith stands on the unchanging character of God." - Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition.  (Ephesians 1:3; 1 Timothy 6:17)

32.  I am guaranteed persecution, at least to some level, for knowing Christ.  Yet God receives me even when others reject me.  "There is a great gulf between the Christianity that wrestles with whether to worship at the cost of imprisonment and death and the Christianity that wrestles with whether the kids should play soccer on Sunday morning." - John Piper, quoted in Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition.  (Psalm 27:10; 2 Timothy 3:12)

33.  I am confident to approach God's throne of grace, thanks to my High Priest, Jesus Christ.  The Lion of Judah is not even descended from Levi, but the Father has chosen Him to be my Mediator.  "Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea: the Great High Priest whose name is Love, who ever lives and pleads for me!" - Charitie Bancroft, "Before the Throne of God Above".  (Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 7:14; 1 Timothy 2:5)

34.  I am sure of what I hope for and certain of what I do not see.  This faith is in Christ, not misdirected to earthly things or wealth.  "We need an anchor to keep us sure and steady. Gospel hope is our anchor in the storms of this world. It is sure and steadfast, or it could not keep us so. The free grace of God, the merits and mediation of Christ, and the powerful influences of his Spirit, are the grounds of this hope, and so it is a steadfast hope." - Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.  (Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 6:11-20)

35.  I am disciplined by my Heavenly Father, as His legitimate child.  I should not shy away from it, but should learn what the Lord is teaching me through it.  As my perfect Father, God will not leave me to my own devices when I sin against Him.  He cares about my staying on the right path and aims to purify my heart and sanctify me.  In order to show that I am God's workmanship, His masterpiece, He must cut away at me and mold me to reflect Him.  "If You love me, God, then chasten me." - DJ Official, "Chisel Me".  (Hebrews 12:7-11)

36.  I am intolerant of false gospels, called to separate from false teachers (who differ from me on closed-hand issues, such as the deity of Christ) and not welcome them or help their ministries.  The Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died for my sins, and God commands me to turn from my sins, not to other sins, but to Christ - to love what He loves and hate what He hates, which is a work that He must supernaturally do in me.  Realizing something of the cost that the Lord Jesus paid for my sins and the truth of this gospel makes me deeply grieved when false teachers add to it by saying that there are any good works I can do to gain salvation, reduce it by saying "Pray this prayer to accept Jesus into your little heart", or twist it to say that Christ died to give me better self-esteem or health and wealth.  "Avoid a sugared Gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek that Gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the Gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let His Gospel soak into your soul." - C.H. Spurgeon on sugarcoating the gospel.  (Galatians 1:8; 2 John 1:7-11)

37.  I am committing my way to the Lord.  The true believer finds the yoke of obedience to Christ light and can rest in knowing that they have obeyed Him.  My only job is to do what He says when He calls.  He knows what I need and promises to sustain me.  "The ploughman sows and harrows, and then leaves the harvest to God. What can he do else? He cannot cover the heavens with clouds, or command the rain, or bring forth the sun or create the dew. He does well to leave the whole matter with God; and so to all of us it is truest wisdom, having obediently trusted in God, to leave results in His hands, and expect a blessed issue." - C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David.  (Psalm 37:5)

38.  I am in first love with the Lord, whether I realize it or not.  All new Christians have a stage where they have great passion for the Lord and little knowledge of theology.  But many lose this first love as they tie themselves up in meting out God's law to others - and in some cases adding to it - without giving them grace or being sidetracked by this present world and its little pleasures.  "The sin Christ charged this church with, is, not the having left and forsaken the object of love, but having lost the fervent degree of it that at first appeared. Christ is displeased with his people, when he sees them grow remiss and cold toward him. Surely this mention in Scripture, of Christians forsaking their first love, reproves those who speak of it with carelessness, and thus try to excuse indifference and sloth in themselves and others; our Saviour considers this indifference as sinful. They must repent: they must be grieved and ashamed for their sinful declining, and humbly confess it in the sight of God. They must endeavour to recover their first zeal, tenderness, and seriousness, and must pray as earnestly, and watch as diligently, as when they first set out in the ways of God." - Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.  (Revelation 2:2-4)

39.  I am guided as God sees fit to various geographic locations in order to make His name famous.  My Savior was homeless while He lived on earth.  Therefore, my happiness in Him cannot be tied to any earthly home.  "To me remains nor place nor time / My country is in every clime / I can be free from any care / On any shore, since God is there. / While place we seek, or place we shun, / This soul finds happiness in none. / But with a God to guide our way, / 'Tis equal joy to go or stay." - Madame Guyon, "My Lord, How Full of Sweet Content".  (Luke 9:58; Acts 1:8)

40.  I am dearly loved with an everlasting and unfailing love.  The love of the Lord for me is far greater than any love that I can have for Him.  "I find it very hard to sing about my love for God. ... For the most part you will just hear me sort of silent.  This puny thing I have, if you were to compare my love for God to the love that other men have had for God... I would be nowhere near the top. ... And then if I were to take my love [for God] and compare it to God's love for me, how could I even say, 'Oh, how I love You'?  But look what He says.  'How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!'  Love truly does cover a multitude of sins." - Paul Washer, "You Are Dearly Loved by God".  (Psalm 21:7; Song of Solomon 4:10)

Identities of a Christian Pilgrim in a Fallen World, Part 3

21.  I am differently driven.  Exhorted to do nothing out of selfish ambition, I must humbly seek to glorify God in everything I do.  This does not mean throwing away all ambitious dreams, but sanctifying them.  "Sometimes God brings our dreams to life; sometimes He doesn't.  But how we respond to His work creates an important intersection for change in our lives.  As we cooperate with Him, we discover that it's not ultimately about nailing the promotion, or raising well-behaved kids, or winning the Daytona 500 - as good as all of those things may be.  It's about something much bigger: how I become like Christ while I pursue these dreams." - Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition.  (Philippians 2:3)

22.  I am on the Lord's side.  This means that, particularly in times of distress, He gives me triumph over those who hate me and stand against me.  Nothing happens to anyone, believer or unbeliever, outside God's control.  But since I am His child, my Father in Heaven actively fights for me against my enemies.  "God will repay.  You cannot improve upon His justice.  He sees every angle of the evil against you - far better than you can see it.  His justice will be more thorough than any justice you could administer." - John Piper, Future Grace.  (Psalm 118:6-7, Romans 8:31-33).

23.  I am a hyper-conqueror through Him Who loved me.  The Lord gives me a most glorious victory in any trial, whether tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword.  Nothing can separate me from His love, as He is sovereign over all as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.  "They [trials] have the effect of making us super conquerors because in those times of weakness we are infused with divine strength.  Those trials work to our greater good.  They work to our eternal glory." - John MacArthur, "The Challenges to Christian Invincibility".  (Romans 8:37)

24.  I am looking forward to a different world, whose architect and builder is God.  Rather than living for this world, I look forward to another world and lay up my treasures there, not here.  Rather than looking to this world for ultimate satisfaction, I look forward to another world that is uncontaminated by idolatry, misdirected ambitions, and other forms of sin.  To me, heaven is wonderful because God is there; I would not want to spend eternity in a wonderful place without Him.  "Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power; might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of." - Jonathan Edwards, "The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards".  (Matthew 6:20; Hebrews 11:10)

25.  I am growing in God's grace and knowledge, aiming to have a faith in Him that is both zealous and intelligent.  Far from a call to put rational thought on hold, God calls me to discover more of the truth about Himself that He has spent 66 books revealing.  In addition to commanding me to love Him with my heart, soul, and strength, Christ also exhorts me to love Him with my mind.  "God's gift of understanding is through thinking, not instead of thinking." - John Piper, God's Passion for His Glory.  (Luke 10:27; Philippians 1:9-11; Romans 12:11; 2 Peter 3:18)

26.  I am forgiven of much, and I must forgive much.  My sins, regardless of their presumed severity and impact upon others, helped make the death of Christ necessary for my salvation.  Even a wayward thought, which no one sees and no one knows that I have had, is a sin against a holy God if not taken captive outright.  Even the smallest misdeed, when set against the background of a great Savior's tremendous sacrifice for it, is something that screams out of my life, "I need a Savior!"  How can I then say that I have the right to not forgive another person's wrongs against me?  "But even if he is absolutely fully to blame we still have to forgive him; and even if ninety-nine percent of his apparent guilt can be explained away by really good excuses, the problem of forgiveness begins with the one percent of guilt which is left over.  To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian character; it is only fairness.  To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." - C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.  "No prayers can be heard which do not come from a forgiving heart." - J.C. Ryle.  (Luke 7:41-48; Colossians 3:13)

27.  I am rejoicing when I see my brothers standing firm in the Lord.  Though it needs to be self-focused in the sense that I need to watch myself regarding sin and spending time with and obeying the Lord, the focus of my faith does not stop with me.  Even when my walk with Christ shows little progress, seeing others' faith not waver, particularly as they endure trials, is an encouragement to my faith.  (1 Thessalonians 3:8)

28.  I am finding Christ in common with other believers, even when their other interests do not match mine.  Such friendships are possible because commonality in Christ takes precedence over all worldly interests.  Even when I cannot speak the same languages that they speak, our devotion to Christ marks us out; as many missionaries can attest, they can tell when they are in the presence of brothers and sisters in the Lord.  I am hopeful that God will make my godly fellowship with other believers possible on a more worldwide scale.  (1 Thessalonians 3:11)

29.  I am a Jew under the new covenant.  In the old covenant, Jews had to be Jews outwardly through circumcision.  The new covenant changed our understanding of how the law is fulfilled because Christ fulfilled the law.  Many Jews in the outward sense opposed Christ and His ministry.  The true circumcision is not of flesh but of heart.  "... Christ Himself is 'the seed' of Abraham (Galatians 3:16), so that being in Christ means being Abraham's 'seed', and, therefore, heirs of the promise (Galatians 3:29, 16). ... So knowing that we non-Jews are 'latecomers' to the covenant of Abraham and that we are nevertheless loved as full fellow-heirs should humble us and give us hope.  Humble hope in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is the aim of all redemption.  For humility puts us in our lowly place of happy dependence, and hope puts God in His exalted place of glorious mercy." - John Piper, Taste and See.  (Romans 2:29)

30.  I am serving a perfect Master.  The world serves masters that will ultimately fail them: money, sex, power, pleasure in self, even family and goodwill.  These masters will fail them because the God over all, Who gave them life and breath and the ability to chase these things, will not allow them or anyone else to steal His glory.  He will be ultimately glorified in the end.  And no one can serve two masters.  He will hate one, even if it is something good that he is doing for the wrong reasons, and love the other.  Or he will hate the other and love the one.  "And I don't want to change on the so called spiritual level. I want to change in the inner chambers of my heart. That even His thoughts the deepest expression of who He is; it was his desire that they be according to the will of almighty God. The freest man on the face of the earth is the one who makes himself a slave to a perfect master. Where has God been wrong, and where has He wronged you? Has there ever been a time when listened to Him? When you obeyed Him, when you sought out His will that He has misled you somehow? "Never!" But have you ever followed your own ways and been mislead by your own devices? Always." - Paul Washer, "This Is War".  (Luke 16:13).

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This might be my last post before I go to the Philippines, depending on how much time I have to write on my upcoming trips.  In case I don't get to write again before or on Christmas, merry Christmas and happy New Year (maligayang Pasko, at manigong Bagong Taon!).

This trip is the first "vacation" I have ever prepared for by prayer and fasting.  I don't know whether to call it a vacation or a missions trip, or some of both.  My hosts and I will go do some fun stuff and sightseeing.  I also have a long Bible study prepared to present for the annual kickoff of my main host's Bible study group.  Last Friday, I did a test run of it for three other men in my Bible study who are also leaders in our church.  It was well-received, and their comments were helpful.  Lord willing, I will go verse-by-verse through a passage of 1 John and also look at Philemon.  I have a full verse-by-verse lesson on Philemon prepared too, but it does not align well with the topic of the study, so I will shorten it unless people want to hear the whole thing.  After I give the study lesson, I plan to post it here.  I'm sure I will also want to write about my trip.  So I don't know if the next post during or after the trip will be "Identities... Part 4" or something else. :-)

Lord willing, I will also see at least one of the children that I have sponsored there.  He is a college student, though he is taking some time off from that so that his parents can support putting one of his older brothers through college.  Please pray that I will minister well to everyone I get to meet in the Philippines, that I will live the gospel life before them and in private, that I will grow in the Lord and that I will set for them a good example of Christlike character and manhood.

"'I am going down into the pit; you hold the ropes', said Carey, the pioneer missionary. They that hold the ropes, and the daring miner that swings away down in the darkness, are one in work, may be one in the motive, and, if they are, shall be one in the reward. "

- Alexander MacLaren.

Identities of a Christian Pilgrim in a Fallen World, Part 2

11. I am fighting for joy as I face trials of many kinds. It is important for me to realize that earth is not heaven, so when living on earth seems unbearable it is merely making the many joys of heaven appear sweeter to me. No believer experiences a trial-free Christian life on this planet. Therefore, I see a need to fight for joy relentlessly in order to keep my desire transfixed on God and the reality of my future redemption constantly before me. "The fight for joy in Christ... is a fight for strength to live a life of self-sacrificing love. It is a fight to join Jesus on the Calvary road and stay there with Him, no matter what. How was He sustained on that road? Hebrews 12:2 answers, 'For the joy that was set before Him [He] endured the cross, despising the shame.'" - John Piper. (Hebrews 12:2)

12. I am trusting in God, not in my faith. My faith in God is a gift of His grace. Yet the gifts have imperfections. There are still times when, like doubting Thomas, I cry out to my Lord, "I believe! Help my unbelief." I display woeful inconsistency in my ability to trust Him to work out each detail of my life. If my faith were in my faith instead of in my God, I would be a goner. Yet He is a never-changing God. "Never try to arouse faith from within. You cannot stir up faith from the depths of your heart. Leave your heart, and look into the face of Christ." - Andrew Murray. (Mark 9:24; Ephesians 2:8-9)

13. I am representing Christ to this broken world. When someone who is not in Christ sees me and knows that I am a Christian, I reflect an imperfect picture of a perfect Christ to that person. Hence, I have a great need to live blamelessly and above reproach so that it gives Christ a good name to those around me. "Service in the name of Christ isn't a proof of salvation. ... Saying you represent Christ is not enough. I'll tell you, there are a lot of people who say they represent Jesus Christ, but when their life gets exposed, you ask the question... do they? Just because you say you do doesn't mean you do. Just because you preach Christ doesn't mean you really know Christ. There have been a lot of people, false people, preaching a true message, right?" - John MacArthur. (Matthew 7:14, 1 Timothy)

14. I am a tool in the hand of my God, like clay in the hand of a Potter. But the end is not in being used for something "great"; the end is Him. He will use me for what He will. "Don't overestimate yourself; glorify God. Don't think, 'That couldn't happen to me.' You're a clay pot. A clay pot could be discarded in a second. In and of yourself, no value. But the fact that God has placed the treasure in you gives you value and worth beyond compare. That's totally, totally tied into the treasure you have in Jesus Christ." - Larry Smith, "A Treasure in a Clay Pot". (Isaiah 64:8)

15. I am enjoying the Provider more than the provisions. When the provisions don't come, that cannot shake my faith or my joy. God has not promised me prosperity or guaranteed that I will have everything that I think I need. He knows what I really need and will provide for it in the time that He sees fit. And if He gives me much in the eyes of the world, chances are that I will not be able to enjoy Him because the things that He has allowed me to have will have stolen my affections. If He gives me only my daily bread - a dangerous prayer! - then He teaches me daily dependence on Him and a greater degree of trust in Him as my Father. "Money can’t give you any of the things you ultimately need. It can’t make you holy. It can’t make you righteous. It can’t save you from your sins. Wealth is a sign of blessing, but it’s also one of your biggest temptations because it entices you to boast in yourself." - Kevin DeYoung. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

16. I am sensitive to the sinfulness of my sin. Becoming a Christian means that the Lord has brought me to a point of realizing the sinfulness of my sin against a holy God and has granted me repentance from that sin - repentance, not to switch to another sin but to leave all sins and run hard after Christ. The Lord progressively increases my sensitivity to sin, and there are times when He makes me so aware of my sinfulness that my sinlessness in heaven attracts me more greatly than even the chance to continue living life in this world. "But in a sense, when a Christian sins / It's more sickening than sins of wicked men (why?) / 'Cause we've tasted His goodness as recipients of grace / So every time we sin, it's like we're spitting in His face." - Timothy Brindle, "The Sinfulness of Sin". (Romans 7:24-25; 1 John 3:6)

17. I am denying myself daily. Christ lives in me. He has taken all of me. This leaves no room for myself anymore. So self-denial follows from that. John Piper defines this in terms of Mark 8:35 as Jesus' saying, "What I mean is - My disciples, My loved ones - lose your life in the sense that you lose everything but Me. 'Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.' Die to the world. Die to prestige, die to wealth, die to sinful sex, die to cheating to get ahead, die to the need for people to approve you. Die, and have Me." (Luke 9:23; Galatians 2:20)

18. I am pointing my enjoyment of creation back to the Creator. I find "self-esteem", "self-fulfillment", "self-actualization", and so on to be idolatry. The answer to this is not to complain to God about how He made me, but to take a Biblical view of myself. Yes, in spite of my flaws, the Lord made me in His image, fearfully and wonderfully. But His glory far surpasses mine. I am, by far, not the most glorious human on the earth. The creatures on this earth are not as glorious as those in Heaven. Yet the creatures in glory never go on an ego trip. As holy as they are, they continue to play their part in praising the Creator: "All Thy works shall praise Thy name / in earth, and sky, and sea." - Reginald Heber. (Psalm 139:14; Romans 1:25)

19. I am becoming sanctified in stewardship. Rather than telling me to use my income to support an endless pursuit of the American Dream, the Lord is making me more aware of the needs of the global body of Christ and how materially rich I am as an American. At the same time, I wonder how the vast majority of American Christendom - who pursue these treasures that will pass away - will pass through the needle's eye. "My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is going to take me to himself. To live is Christ and to die is gain. I'm here on earth to spread the gospel. I'm going to keep my life as wartime as I can in order to maximize my effect for showing Jesus as valuable, not things as valuable." - John Piper. (Matthew 19:24)

20. I am hoping in the second Adam, though I am of the first Adam's race. Since the first Adam brought sin into the world, I must leave sin - and self - in order to follow the Lord; a lifestyle of sin has no place in His kingdom. Praise God that there is a second Adam, a perfect replacement for the fallen first one! "We are like Adam now in weakness and pain, and we shall soon be like him in death, returning to the ground whence we were taken; but we shall rise again to a better life, and then we shall wear in glory and incorruption the image of the second Adam. Conceive the beauties of the risen Redeemer. .... We shall behold His glory, we shall be with Him where He is, and we shall be ourselves glorious in His glory. Is He exalted? you also shall be lifted up. Is He a King? you shall not be uncrowned. Is He a victor? you also shall bear a palm. Is He full of joy and rejoicing? so also shall your soul be filled to the brim with delights. Where He is every saint shall be ere long." - Charles Spurgeon. (Romans 5)

Identities of a Christian Pilgrim in a Fallen World, Part 1

"I give names in hope and prayer that my sons will become what their names imply. But God has the right and the power to cause anyone He names to become what the name implies. The names He gives are sure indicators of the destiny of those He names."

- John Piper, "I Am Who I Am".

"At the beginning of the 19th century, most obituaries made some mention of the character of the deceased. ... But by 1990 [a person's occupation] had become the key means by which a person was identified. This substitution of function for character is a unique mark of how the modern world now understands personhood."

- David F. Wells, God in the Wasteland; quoted in Tullian Tchividjian, Unfashionable.

"From now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do it no longer."

- 2 Corinthians 5:16.

In my personal Bible studies over the past year or so, I have been asking myself, "What does the Bible say a Christian is? How can I express characteristics of all Christians in terms of 'I am [fill in the blank]' statements?" Originally setting out to find 100 "identities" in the New Testament, I have found over 150 in a search that has also spanned Psalms and Proverbs and called back to my mind other passages in the Old Testament.

I do not intend this to be an exhaustive list; and although my Reformed Baptist tendencies shine through in a few of the statements, I have tried to focus on and elaborate on areas where Biblical Christians from many denominations will find common ground. Some of these are not automatic "identities" but goals to work toward as a Christian. They are not organized by topic or passage, but only in the order that I thought of them. I'll continue to flesh these out and post these in many parts until the series is done, though I will probably take breaks during my upcoming trip to the Philippines and as I get ideas for more immediate writing.

1. I am a stranger in a strange land. Many people start to describe their identity based on the country of their birth. As a Christian, my identity properly begins with my standing in Christ. He transcends all boundaries built by man. Man's countries are strange places to me, since wherever I can go in this world, many people live as though God never gave them a law to obey. Ultimately, my citizenship is in heaven. And, unlike immigration processes in this world, my eternally permanent residency there will be certain. "Lord, I would not [want to] be a citizen where Jesus was an alien. ... My heart burns within me by the way when Thou dost speak to me. And though I be a sojourner, I am far more blessed than those who sit on thrones, and far more at home than those who dwell in their ceiled houses." - C.H. Spurgeon. (1 Peter 2:11; Philippians 3:20)

2. I am chosen for God since before time began. God has spent redemptive history gathering for Himself His elect - all those who repent of their sins and believe on Him alone for salvation. And He is not subject to their whims and fancies. He chose His sheep before the foundation of the world. He calls them; they hear His voice, and they come to Him. "Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself, what He would have to become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal death for others. Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say he is predestinated either to life or to death." - John Calvin. (Ephesians 1:4; John 10:27)

3. I am saved for the glory of God. He has chosen to glorify Himself by saving me by His grace, which I can testify in my life is completely unmerited favor. Yet He is glorified when He says that He can save an idolatrous wretch such as I. He operates for His own sake and has no reason to give His glory to anyone else. "God is the one Being in all the universe for whom seeking His own praise is the ultimately loving act. For Him, self-exaltation is the highest virtue. When He does all things 'for the praise of His glory' as Ephesians 1 says, He preserves for us and offers to us the only thing in all the world which can satisfy our longings." - John Piper, "Is God for Us or for Himself?". (Isaiah 48:11; Ephesians 1:11-14).

4. I am given a specific mission on this earth: to make God's name great in every area of my life. This includes both obvious spiritual activities, such as prayer and worship, and the common things of everyday life, such as work and leisure time. God, by His sovereign design, made the common tasks of life and work necessary. We ought not to regard these as barriers to ministry or other more preferable activities. "God is pursued as I play with my son and we talk. / As we play hide and seek, God is seeing my heart. / There's no separation in places where He wants worship. / From my church to my work, God calls me to service. / So I serve Him." - Dillon Chase, "The Pursuit". (1 Corinthians 10:31)

5. I am passing through this world, not here forever. Human bodies aging over time and dying only prove that God has created our earthly bodies as temporal and mortal. The fact that God has allowed us to be aliens in strangers in a world where Biblical Christianity is not popular merely reinforces that we do not have a home on this planet. Instead, we look forward to the eternal "home of righteousness". "Heaven is not here; it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for." - Elisabeth Elliot. (Romans 6:12; 2 Peter 2:13)

6. I am a slave to Christ, not sin. Rather than continuing to worship and serve the creatures of God as I once did, I am driven to obey Christ, the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, Who sustains all things by His powerful word and is sure to sustain me as He sees fit. His commands on me are not burdensome, and obeying them brings me greater joy. Shunning anything of this world that causes me to see Him as less wonderful is not legalism to me, because it ultimately causes me to see Christ as more beautiful and satisfying. "If Christ has died for me, ungodly as I am, without strength as I am, then I cannot live in sin any longer. I must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. I must be holy for His sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it?" - C.H. Spurgeon. "And like a bondslave, you have no will of your own. / Just follow the will of God until you kneel at the throne." - 116 Clique, "It's Yours". (Romans 1:25; Romans 7:25; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 5:3)

7. I am gazing at the Serpent on a pole. The ancient Israelites had to look at a bronze snake to be saved from the snakes that were killing them. The Son of Man was lifted up on a cross - dying the most offensive kind of death, given at that time only to criminal, non-Roman citizens. There, He died to save me. "Fix your eyes on the cross. And never get beyond it." - Arturo Azurdia, "Cross Eyed Life". "You will need nothing to build strange fires in your oven, if you only catch a glimpse of what He did on that tree." - Paul Washer, "Ten Indictments against the Modern Church in America". (Numbers 21:4-9; John 3)

8. I am continually broken so that God may empty me of myself, conform me to His image, and fill me with Himself. Although unbelievers may also find themselves broken as they go through the struggles of life, they do not experience trials to grow them in their faith because God has not given them repentance and faith. "Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds you abased and empty, His glory and power flow in." - Andrew Murray. (Romans 8:29)

9. I am pursued by God. I began my life in this world as a lost person - like a lost sheep. I had, possibly, some remembrance of who the Shepherd was, but I did not know where I was supposed to be, how to get there, or where the Shepherd was. He had to leave the ninety-nine found sheep and find me. The ninety-nine found displayed an outward religious veneer that showed themselves as perfect, with no need for a Savior. Yet Jesus found me in my sin - in my great need for turning from that sin and trusting wholly in Him alone - and He granted me repentance and faith and saved me. "He continues his care of the sheep that did not go astray; they are safe in the wilderness. But there is a particular care to be taken of this lost sheep; and though he has a hundred sheep, a considerable flock, yet he will not lose that one, but he goes after it, and shows abundance of care, in finding it out. He follows it, enquiring after it, and looking about for it, until he finds it. God follows backsliding sinners with the calls of his word and the strivings of his Spirit, until at length they are wrought upon to think of returning. ... There is a world of holy angels that are as the ninety-nine sheep, a noble flock; yet God sends his Son to seek and save that which was lost." - Matthew Henry. (Luke 15:7; Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25)

10. I am a pursuer of God. Called to flee the evil desires that I have known since birth, I must shun this world's natural passions and instead pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace - characteristics of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Much of this life pursuing God must be a hidden life. "See what a hidden life the life of a good Christian is and how much of it is concealed from the eye and the observation of the world. The most important part of the business lies between God and our own souls, in the frame of our spirits and the workings of our hearts, in our actions that no eye sees except the all-seeing God." - Matthew Henry, Experiencing God's Presence. (Psalm 83:3; 2 Timothy 2:22).