On Tuesday, March 6, the California Supreme Court held four hours of hearings over whether is is constitutional to limit marriage to one man and one woman. They now have 90 days to reach a decision on the matter. The California Family Council has a brief article on Tuesday’s hearings, and links to more in-depth coverage.
A description of Christ
John the Baptist has to be one of the strangest figures in all the Bible. Here’s a guy who wanders around in the desert, never cuts his hair, eats a steady diet of locusts and wild honey, clothes himself in camel hair, and spends his time preaching and plunging people under water. Let’s just say John the Baptist probably wouldn’t have made it on the cover of GQ Magazine.
But for all his peculiarities, John was a humble and holy man who deeply loved and profoundly understood the Messiah like no prophet before him. In John 1:29-30, we get a glimpse of the passion and affection John had for Jesus Christ. John’s heart must have skipped a beat that day he saw Jesus walking toward him…
The next day [John] saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ”
These words of John reveal three central truths about Jesus Christ:
- Jesus is our great sin-bearer. By calling Jesus the “Lamb of God,” John instantly applies the entire Old Testament sacrificial system to this one person, who would offer Himself once-for-all for the sins of the world. Jesus didn’t come to save the Jews only, but to save all people from all the nations of the world. Whoever will confess their sins and cast themselves completely upon Him can receive eternal life. By dying on the cross, Jesus Christ bore the sin we’ve committed, and endured the wrath of God that we deserved. Yet through His shed blood, our sins were “taken away” as far as the east is from the west. Praise God!
- Jesus is a genuine human being. In verse 30, John the Baptist calls Jesus “a Man.” Jesus was not a mythological figure, or some kind of apparition. He was a literal, flesh-and-blood human being who dwelled upon this earth at a fixed point in time. His virgin birth, public ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are some of the most well-documented and indisputable events in human history. And because Jesus was a genuine human being, He was able to represent the human race as our “second Adam,” living the life of perfect obedience that the first Adam never achieved (Romans 5:19).
- Jesus is the eternal Son of God. John humbly acknowledges that Jesus “has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” This is quite a statement, since John was born six months before Jesus! Yet John rightly understood that Jesus Christ had always existed as the eternal Son of God. Jesus points to this reality again and again in the Gospel of John when He declares He has “come out of heaven” (6:38) and has been “sent” by the Father (4:34; 17:18; etc.). So, while John identifies Jesus as a man, he immediately identifies Him as something more than an ordinary man. Jesus Christ is the God-Man, the only-begotten Son of God, who was sent by His Father to seek and save those who are lost.
Let us listen to the words of John, and fix our eyes completely on the One whom he described. Jesus Christ alone is our glorious sin-bearer, our perfect representative, and the eternal Son of God.
Shepherd’s Conference 2008
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 2008 Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church. Please be praying that all the pastors and church leaders who attend will be challenged and refreshed.
If you are not attending this year, you may want to check out the blog of Evers Ding, who is liveblogging the event, or watch the live video stream at the Shepherd’s Fellowship website.
You are God’s sword
A week ago, we had a deacon ordination service at our church for a dear friend and man of God who recently joined our deacon ministry team. During my sermon on 1 Thessalonians 2:5-11, I read a quote by Scottish minister Robert Murray M’Cheyne. It comes from a letter M’Cheyne wrote to a young missionary in 1840, and is one of my very favorite quotes. It applies not only to leaders, but to all who call themselves followers of Christ.
My dear friend, I trust you will have a pleasant and profitable time in Germany. I know you will apply hard to German; but do not forget the culture of the inner man – I mean of the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember you are God’s sword – His instrument – I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. (quoted in Wiersbe, On Being a Servant of God, p. 39)
Global outreach celebration
On Wednesday night, I and three other members from our church had the privilege of going down to Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland for their annual Global Outreach (GO) Celebration. As Southern Baptists, it can be difficult to break through the barrier of security and the sheer volume of missionaries (over ten thousand) to actually feel personally connected with what God is doing around the world. But Immanuel Baptist does a fantastic job through their GO Celebration of bringing global and North American missions down to a local church level. Last year, through this event, we met the Phams, who are currently studying in Costa Rica and have become ministry partners and life-long friends.
During Wednesday’s service, more than 50 missionaries from around the world introduced themselves on stage. We had a time of praise and worship, prayer, missions reports, and a sermon. The special speaker was Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida. He brought a passionate charge on the world’s need for the gospel, and the importance of following God’s call upon our lives. Perhaps the most touching moment for me was his opening slide show. It flashed up on the screen five different faces per second. Then the narrator said that at this mind-spinning rate, it would take 35 years to see every face in the world! What an urgency and overwhelming task we have to reach all the lost souls of this earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So many are dying every day without any knowledge of Him. Oh, that the Lord would call up more laborers into the harvest!
After the service, there was a reception in the fellowship hall, and all the missionaries had display booths for their respective ministries. I had the privilege of seeing a number of familiar faces. It was great to see Jerry Barnwell again, a young man I met a year ago at a Strategic Partner Consultation. Jerry is media team leader for the Central & Eastern Europe region. It was also a blessing to see Chris C. again, who is finishing up stateside assignment before returning to the Pacific Rim. I was honored to make some new friends as well, like Kerry & Mauri Johnson, who are missionaries in Mexico; and Tim Wicker, who serves in Russia and was featured in the 2007 video on the Udmurt people.
Wednesday was a wonderful night. I only wish more of our folks – and folks from other churches – could have attended. Immanuel Baptist does us a great service by putting on this program. I hope to be able to attend each year.
You may notice I’ve added a sidebar with up-to-date news stories from the International Missions Board. I hope this will be one more way of staying informed of how God is at work globally, and how we can pray specifically for our missionaries and lost people groups around the world.
Pinch Of Clay 