Reflections — Pastor’s Blog

A diploma has a seal on it, placed there by the faculty and trustees of the school, authenticating what the diploma says. Paul uses that language in Romans 4:11 as he teaches us something about the sacraments.

The covenant sign is a seal of your faith. God ordained a sign of his covenant with Abraham. The heart of the covenant is fellowship between God and his people. It includes the other things promised to Abram, the land, an heir, becoming the father of a great nation, etc., Genesis 17:6, 8. But the heart of covenant fellowship is “I will be your God and you will be my people.” Genesis 17:7. The sign points to the existence of what it signifies. Golden arches point to a fast food place. The sign itself doesn’t feed you. The Bible doesn’t use the word sacrament (nor does it use the word Trinity), but it refers to the signs and seals God has ordained as signs of the covenant. The don’t replace the Word of God, but God has ordained them for us in addition to the Word. They have been described as the Word in visible form. The sign of circumcision pointed to the reality of covenant fellowship, to the reality of Abram’s trust in God. Recognize that the sacraments function in two directions. We are saying something to God, but, even more importantly, God is saying something to us.

“In the sacrament God first comes to believers to signify and seal his benefits. He assures them with visible pledges that he is their God and the God of their children. He attaches seals to his Word to strengthen their faith in that Word (Gen. 9:11–15; 17:11; Exod. 12:13; Mark 1:4; 16:16; Luke 22:19; Rom. 4:11; and so forth). On the other hand, the sacraments are also an act of confession. In them believers confess their conversion, their faith, their obedience, their communion with Christ and with each other. While God assures them that his is their God, they solemnly testify that they are his children. Every observance of the sacrament is an act of covenant renewal, a vow of faithfulness, an oath that obligates those who take it to engage in the service of Christ (Mark 1:5; 16:16; Acts 2:41; Rom. 6:3ff.; 1 Cor. 10:16ff.).”

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4, pages 476–476

Continue reading “Sealing the Promise”

Each day of the final week of our Lord’s public ministry, up until his arrest, had involved him being in the Temple, presumably with the disciples. Josephus, the historian, tells us that above the entrance to the Temple was an ornate vine, made of gold. Clusters of grapes on the vine were as long as a man is tall. Although there is no Biblical record of a command to make such a vine, its presence is understandable in view of the repeated imagery of God’s people, Israel, as a vine. In John 15:1–5, Jesus, uttering the last of his “I am” statements, claims to be the true, the genuine vine.

You are united with Christ. Remain in Christ. Our text is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse, but he is telling you to remain in him. The imagery of the vine was used in the Old Testament to refer to Israel, Psalm 80:8–16; Isaiah 5:1–7. Often the context speaks of Israel’s disobedience. Now Jesus applies it to you, the church in the New Testament. Just as it is essential for the branch to remain in the vine, so you must stay in fellowship with your Savior. Without that union you wither, dry up, and die.

“[Union with Christ] promotes sanctification, not only because all sanctifying grace is derived from Christ as the crucified and exalted Redeemer, but also because the recognition of fellowship with Christ and of the high privilege it entails incites to gratitude, obedience, and devotion. Union also means communion and communion constrains a humble, reverent, loving walk with him who died and rose again that he might be our Lord.”

John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, p. 171

Contrary to popular views, you cannot do good works to make up for sin or to earn your way into God’s favor. Christ is calling you to continue to live in covenant fellowship with him. He calls you to trust him, to put him first in your life, to structure your life around him. To make your relationship with Christ a living one you need to make use of the means of grace which God has given you. Feed on the Word, both on the Lord’s Day, and in your daily life, turn to your Lord in prayer, take part in the sacraments. Your Lord’s invitation to his Table today is an invitation to sinners, sinners who trust him, sinners who need their union with him to continue to grow in grace and obedience.

Continue reading “Bear Fruit!”

How do you respond to the news that the tomb is empty, that Jesus has risen? With fear? With joy? Why does Mark 16:1–8 emphasize fear? Do rejoice! But even so, don’t forget the element of fear he describes.

God reassures you that Jesus of Nazareth has risen! The tomb stands empty. The women were followers of Christ, who now were completing the burial process. They had witnessed Christ’s death and burial, Mark 15:40–47. Now, after the Sabbath, they had purchased spices and early Sunday, had come to anoint him. Their coming shows that they had forgotten Christ’s promised resurrection. Mark adds the detail that it is only as they were going to the tomb that they remembered that the entrance was blocked by a very large stone, too heavy for them to roll away. The news is genuine. The resurrection account has been dismissed as a story made up. But the first witnesses are women, perhaps unremarkable to us, but in first century Judaism, the testimony of a woman was not considered competent in court. An invented story would have had others go there, and would have concluded on a more positive note than verse 8. As these first witnesses approach, they find the heavy stone rolled back and on entering the carved out tomb, see a young man dressed in white. What does he say?

Continue reading “Does the Resurrection of Jesus Make You Afraid?”

You know how it is when you get a song in your head. It sticks. The Hallel, which included Psalms 113-118, was sung by the people of Israel as part of the Passover celebration. (It was probably the hymn Jesus and his disciples sang, Mark 14:26.) The crowds in Jerusalem had going through their heads the words which would be sung a few days later. No wonder they used some of them, especially those in Psalm 118:25–26, to welcome the messianic King!

Cry “Hosanna” to the Son of David! Hail the Messiah who saves you. “Save!” became an exclamation of praise. The cry looks back to the deliverance God had given his people. The Psalm likely is post-exilic and celebrates the salvation the Lord has provided for his people. It may grow out of either the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:27, 31, 45, 46), or the dedication of the rebuilt temple (Ezra 6:16–18). In the face of tremendous opposition the people had gone about the task of rebuilding. The cry looked back to God’s deliverance, but also forward to his continued meeting of his people’s needs. The sense of need for God’s saving work shifted over the years. With the growth of Pharisaical self-righteousness, the people began to see the primary problem, not as their own unworthiness before God, but the oppression of the occupying Roman army. For the crowd welcoming Jesus on Palm Sunday, “Hosanna” or “Save” may have been more a cry for political freedom than a recognition of a need for God. That was one of the reasons that the hosannas of Sunday could modulate into shouts of “Crucify him!” by Friday. What is the content of your cry to the Lord? Is it a search for success by the world’s standards? Is it a hope that God will be your comfort and encouragement when life gets really difficult? Or do you recognize that you are in daily need of your Lord’s forgiveness? Do you ask God for what you want, or for what you really need?

“[T]hey misread their own Scriptures. They are looking for a Messiah who does miracles, and have long ago closed their ears to a Messianic sermon which preaches redemption from sin and restoration of God’s justice.”

K. Schilder, Christ in His Suffering, pages 123–124

Continue reading “The Coming of the Blessed One”

John 3:16, is likely the best known verse in the Bible. Don’t let your familiarity with it make you overlook the crucial question with which it confronts you — do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Understand the love of God. The world that God loves is the world that has rebelled against him. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. The time reference seems to suggest the darkness into which the incarnate Word came, John 1:4. Sometimes “world” simply refers to the physical creation, the planet on which we live. But in John it often has an ethical tone. John 1:9–10 suggests the character of the world. This is the world that hates Christ, John 7:4,7; “prince of this world” is Satan, John 12:31; 16:8. 1 John 2:16–17 describes the character of the world. This is the world dead in sin, justly under God’s righteous anger, the world of which you and I are part by nature. Do not think of yourself as needing a tune up, minor surgery, or even major surgery. By nature you are part of the world, you are dead, you need nothing less than Christ’s sacrifice and the renewing, rebirthing, work of the Holy Spirit, as we saw last week. As Warfield puts it, God’s love is so great “that it is able to prevail over the Holy God’s hatred and abhorrence of sin.” Does your God love people? The God of the Bible does. But does the God you deal with every day, does he love people? Does the conviction that he does color your life as a Christian, your efforts at reaching out with the good news?

Continue reading “Do You Believe?”