Ancient Paths Blog

A Marriage Homily to My Son and New Daughter-in-Law

What follows is the message I gave as the officiating pastor at my son's recent wedding.  I received so many positive comments on this short homily that I thought it'd be a good blog post.

Though our present culture denigrates and even at times despises the notion of human marriage, the Bible reveals to us that it is in fact part of the fabric of creation; that it is of the very essence of what it means to human; and is ultimately, and most gloriously, a representation of that relationship between Christ and His Church.

The book of  Genesis tells us that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” Gen.1:1, the account of which unfolds over the space of a week.  On the sixth day we read of God saying, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” Genesis 1:27-28.

Seated? How Shall the Antichrist Be Seated in God’s Temple?

Ok, so if Paul uniformly uses the word temple ναὸς (nay-oss) in the singular to refer to the Church… and by the way, we need to realize this is the New Testament understanding of the temple in contrast to the old testament one.  The old testament, the scripture tells us, was a dispensation of symbols and shadows awaiting future fulfillment, “the reality, however, is found in Christ,” Colossians 2:17 NIV. 

In other words, the Church as the temple is the real temple – the real dwelling place of God.  That it is a spiritual edifice causes many – perhaps unconsciously – to think of it as unreal.  This is in contrast to the tangible, stone and timber structure once in Jerusalem as the real thing.  But this is not so.

Now, if Paul uniformly uses the word temple in the singular to refer to the Church, for us to come to this text and insert a meaning totally at odds with this otherwise consistent usage demands a very good reason.  Where might we find this reason? 

Music As A Language

Yes, we admit it – we have a communication problem here at Trinity.  It’s part of the daily routine among our English speaking staff and volunteers to clarify what we meant when we said or wrote such and such.  But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  We have people here from Vietnam (the Vietnamese Grace Church); from Thailand (the Thai Church of Minnesota); and from Burma (the Trinity KaRen Baptist Fellowship).

The issue of communication became front and center when we began receiving individuals from the latter group a few years ago.  As they arrived in our neighborhood and our church we couldn’t communicate.  We spoke different languages.  As the KaRen people attended our services and ministries they only understood a small fraction of what was going on.  The same held for us English speakers when we joined  with them.  Neither group benefited from the ministry of the others.

The Essence of Worship

The following excerpt just came from the Desiring God ministries blog.  I wonder - how often does this figure into our (evangelicals') discussions on worship?  At best, not enough. 

I've just challenged our board members with this saying, "...we seem to be hung up on the issue of musical style and its effect upon one's feelings during the morning service.  Granted, music can be a help or hindrance to our ability to focus on the glory of God. 

However - and I think this is a significant point - we can have good feelings induced by music, because we like it, and totally lack what Piper brings out below."

What do you think?

"The essential, vital, indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God. This satisfaction in God magnifies God in the heart. This explains why the apostle Paul makes so little distinction between worship as a congregational service and worship as a pattern of daily life. They have the same root – a passion for treasuring God as infinitely valuable. The impulse for singing a hymn and the impulse for visiting a prisoner is the same: a thirst for God – a desire to experience as much satisfaction in God as we can."  

John Piper, excerpted from Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, part 1

Thoughts on Art and the Glory of God

In an effort to broaden the horizons of our members our church held an art show last week.  This was in conjunction with our REFRESH! service (a contemporary prayer and worship service) in which I brought forth the following brief thoughts with a view to justifying such an event.

Some may wonder and question the reasoning for holding an art show at church.  "Isn’t that just a self-glorifying display of individual talent?"   "What does art have to do with God anyway?"

As for the first objection I suppose an art show could be the setting for a self-glorifying display of one's talent, but no more so than someone who sings or plays an instrument during a Sunday morning worship service.  It would depend on the state of one's heart.

The Glory of God in the Face of Christ

Currently reading through John Piper’s book God Is the Gospel, I was intrigued by his insights on the human face while expounding the verse “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2Corinthians 4:6).

Why is it that the face of Christ is the locus of the glory of God?  He says,

Hostas and the Glory of God

The landscaping project underway in my backyard triggered a thought concerning God's glory the other day.  Really...

On Hostas

The Christian Mind

My last couple of posts have focused on knowledge and thinking - areas which touch upon the issue of the mind in the Christian life. 

With reference to that here's a video blurb for a conference being held in Minneapolis this fall sponsored by Desiring God Ministries (John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist Church). 

I will most likely be attending.  How about you?

The Science of Faith

I've written previously (here and again, here) how faith is a huge part of science.  Not just faith as in trust and hope but the empirical process includes other non-empirical channels such as a structure of authority figures (in other words, a scientific priesthood) who mediate scientific knowledge to the masses and the general assumption that its assertions are simply to be received (by faith) on account of their authority.

Yet it occurred to me recently, as our senior pastor began a series on John's first epistle that there's also a scientific aspect to Christian faith.  That is, the Christian faith is based upon an empirical process that any scientist would recognize.  Where do I get this idea?  Well, John begins his first letter by writing the following about Jesus:

From the Creed - What Did Jesus Experience Those Three Days in the Grave?

In my last post we saw that the creed affirms Jesus descended to hades - the grave or place of the dead.  It does not say He visited gehenna, the final place of fiery punishment for the wicked.  But is there any scripture that speaks of Jesus' post-burial experience with any clarity?  There are five passages typically cited, none of which contradict the creed's admittedly brief statement.  Only a couple speak specifically though not clearly about what Jesus did in the three days He was "in the heart of the earth," Matt.12:40.  Let's look at them briefly.