Brad’s Blog

I recently read an article in Time Magazine about Mother Teresa.  The article can be found here.  I have also posted a copy on braddena.com in case Time removes it in the future.  The copy can be found here.

The first couple of pages of the article give you the flavor.  It is a preview to a new book that is coming out entitled Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light.

Mother Teresa is often times heralded as the face of Christianity.

To start with, don’t get me wrong. She did some amazing work by human standards. The region she worked in is far better off because of her, and I applaud her work.

I have always wondered though if she was really a Christian or not. On the outside, she had amazing works. But, I have heard her speak of her beliefs before. Her beliefs did not square with scripture. She believed just as the Catholic Church taught (and I think even incorporated some Hinduism). Catholic teaching can not be reconciled with the Bible. The 2 are mutually exclusive. I do think there are some true Christians in the Catholic Church, but it is very hard to find the Truth in that institution.

So, I have always wondered if she did her work out of love, obedience, and thankfulness of what Christ did for her, or was she working trying to win Christ’s favor. This article shows Mother Teresa’s private life. It appears that she probably was not really a true Christian. (I can’t say for sure. I am just speculating. And, it is deeply sad.)

Mother Teresa had a God-shaped hole in her heart (we all do). Instead of filling that hole with Christ and letting works flow from that, she was trying to fill that hole with her works. Instead of bringing her peace and assurance, it actually made the hole bigger. She could not find rest for her soul. It appears that she felt further from God the more she tried to work to win His favor. That is exactly what the Bible says happens. Nothing can substitute for Christ, not even our good works.

Here are a couple of verses that illustrate what I think Mother Teresa was missing.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. (Psalm 62:1,2; NIV)

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30; NIV)

I am wrapping up Desiring God by John Piper. I have finished the main chapters and am reading the epilogue and appendices.

Piper has an epilogue of the 7 reasons why he wrote his book. During the course of covering the 7 reasons, Piper also responds to typical objections to Christian Hedonism. He does a good job of responding to these in a loving and convincing way.

Reason 5 that Piper gives for writing this book is to combat pride and self-pity. Piper gives an amazing description of these 2 elements that I think is worth quoting.

The nature and depth of human pride are illuminated by comparing boasting with self-pity. Both are manifestations of pride. Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering. Boasting says, “I deserve admiration because I have achieved so much.” Self-pity says, “I deserve admiration because I have sacrificed so much.” Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak. Boasting sounds self-sufficient. Self-pity sounds self-sacrificing.

The reason self-pity does not look like pride, is that it appears to be needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego, and the desire is not really for others to see them as helpless, but as heroes. The need that self-pity feels does not come from a sense of unworthiness, but from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride.

I like how Piper wraps up the epilogue in that Christian Hedonism presses us to glad obedience and service out of love. His seventh and final reason is that Christian Hedonism glorifies God.

The problem of evil is something that typically comes up early in a conversation about God. This is especially true if you are speaking to a non-believer. What is the answer to this question? Is God in control? Are there things outside of God’s control? These are important questions. Theologians have grappled with this question for centuries. In no way do I completely have this question figured out. I think at some point, we just have to claim Deuteronomy 29:29 and say that the secret things belong to God.

I just finished Piper’s chapter on suffering in Desiring God and thought this would be an appropriate place for this post. Clearly, this one post will not fully resolve the question, but hopefully I can provide some insights.

First, I believe God is sovereign. He is in complete control of this universe, even evil. There is nothing outside of His control. I think there is no verse that demonstrates this more clearly than Acts 4:27,28. The greatest evil in all the world is the murder of an innocent person and especially if that innocent person is God. This passage in Acts clearly tells us that God was in control of even that event.

The problem of evil should not be a strike against God. It is actually one of the greatest signs pointing to God. We hold a book in our hands, the Bible, that explains the problem of evil to us clearly. In the 3rd chapter of the book (Genesis 3), God tells us where evil came from. Evil entered this world when Adam and Eve, using their free will, chose to sin. From that point forward, humans lost their free will and have been held captive to their sin nature.

The Bible ends in Revelation telling us what God plans to do with evil. It will be completely wiped out. There will be a new heavens and a new earth. God has a plan for evil. He is perfectly clear about that. The question is not, “Why has God not judged evil?” The question is, “Why has God not judged evil yet?”

The Bible answers this question as well. It is because of God’s great love and mercy that he has not rid the world of evil. It is not because He is weak or not in control. He is full of love and mercy. The Bible tells us between Genesis and Revelation the history of redemption and how God is fixing this messed up world. It all points to the cross where evil was defeated.

So, why are we still here? The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 3 that God is patient. He is waiting until the full number of His children have come to faith in Him before He judges the world. Once again, it is His mercy. What if Christ would have returned 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 100 years ago, 1000 years ago. How many of us would have been left out? How many of us would have died in our sins?

The problem of evil does not tell us there is no God, or that God is unloving, or that God is weak. Evil tells us just how merciful that our God is. He would have been perfectly just to have destroyed this world at the first sin. He would have been perfectly just to destroy you with your first sin.

The Bible tells us in Romans 8:18-25 that the Creation has been subjected to frustration waiting on redemption. God gets our attention through the evil in the world. No one gives a rip about God in the good times. The only way He can get us to stop, examine our lives, and see the ugliness of our sin is through evil and pain. Evil should be a sign that screams at us the ugliness of sin.

I like what C.S. Lewis says in The Problem of Pain. He says, “But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

When bad things happen, it should cause us to repent and run to God - not question His existence or character. This is exactly what Christ said in response to a calamity in the Bible found in Luke 13:1-5.

Praise God for His great mercy and patience!

I am reading Desiring God by John Piper. Today my post is on Piper’s last chapter, which is about suffering.  Piper saves this chapter for the end, and it is also one of the longest.

Piper begins the chapter talking about Pastor Richard Wurmbrand.  If you have never read his book Tortured for Christ, I would highly recommend it.  It is very eye-opening and humbling to see what people are willing to endure for the cause of Christ.

Piper uses 1 Corinthians 15:19 in a very interesting way in this chapter.  I have never thought of this passage in this way.  Piper says that we should be living our Christian life in such a way that if Christ is not real that our life was a waste.  That is very interesting.  A lot of what we hear from modern Evangelicalism is that we should give Christ a try.  We hear that He will make our life better.  It is really a “what could it hurt” type of thing.  Piper says that based upon 1 Corinthians 15:19 that our Christian lives should be lived in such a way that we are making sacrifices and going through pains that we would never endure if Jesus were not the Christ.

Piper asks the question, “How many Christians are there who could say, ‘The suffering I have freely chosen to embrace for Christ would be a pitiable life if there is no resurrection?’“  Very, very interesting point.  The Apostle Paul was certainly someone who could speak with great authority on this matter.

Much of this chapter deals with God’s sovereignty.  It is impossible to deal with suffering and not make it a lesson on sovereignty.  As I have said before, Piper has a very high view of God, which I really like about him.  Nothing is outside of God’s control.  Satan is only allowed to do what God allows him to do.

Piper uses 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 as an example.  Here is what Piper has to say.

“Here Paul’s physical suffering - the thorn in the flesh - is called “a messenger of Satan.”  But the design of this suffering is “to keep [Paul] from exalting [himself],” which never would have been Satan’s design.  So the point is that Christ sovereignly accomplishes His loving, purifying purpose, by overruling Satan’s destructive attempts.  Satan is always aiming to destroy our faith; but Christ magnifies His power in weakness.“

Piper states that suffering does several things for the Christian.  First, it simply is confirmation that the person is truly a Christian.  Next, it weans us from self-reliance and teaches us to rely on God.  Also, it highlights grace and shows Christ to be our satisfaction.

Piper ends the chapter discussing some famous Christian martyrs and their willingness to exalt Christ even in their death.

I would highly recommend a sermon by John Piper that is on Desiring God’s website.  The sermon text and audio can be found here.  This is the sermon that Piper preached at his church on Sunday, September 11, 2005.  The title is “Where is God?”  The message is just incredible.

I will wrap up the epilogue and various appendices for this book in the next couple of posts.

I am continuing to read Desiring God by John Piper. Today my post concludes Piper’s chapter about missions.

Piper continues his chapter by offering quotes from several famous missionaries.  I like how he backs up the chapter with real life examples.  Piper discusses the sacrifices that we make for the Lord and how God will give back to us more than we ever gave up.  Piper is clear that we are not manipulating God into giving us more as some people have inappropriately taught.  Piper is saying that God fills the emptiness.  We find our joy in God and not things.

I like how Piper sums up missions.  He says, “Missions is the automatic outflow and overflow of love for Christ.  We delight to enlarge our joy in Him by extending it to others.”

Piper very much emphasizes in this chapter that the results are up to God.  Our part is to share the good news.  God performs the regeneration.  So, we have nothing to fear or worry about.

Piper ends the chapter with the famous quote from Jim Elliot who was martyred in Ecuador by the very people he was trying to reach.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

I am continuing to read Desiring God by John Piper. Today my post is on Piper’s chapter about missions.

Piper calls missions the battle cry of Christian Hedonism.

Piper starts off by discussing retirement and that the concept is not in the Bible. He talks about Paul and how Paul was not planning for retirement. Paul was older and had served the church well but was still hoping to press on toward Spain. We never retire from our Christian service. In fact, when we retire from our secular job, that is a great opportunity to pour more time and resources into the Lord’s work.

Piper’s main focus on missions is taking the gospel to people groups who have not yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Piper states that at the time of writing that there are about 2 billion people that are unevangelized. On the encouraging side, Piper tells us how the number of unreached people groups is dwindling.

I like a distinction that Piper makes in this chapter. He makes a distinction between missions and evangelism. He calls missions unreached people groups. He says that missions is a completable task. Evangelism is sharing the gospel with individuals and is never complete.

Piper next makes 3 points about John 10:16. (I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.)

1. Christ does indeed have other sheep outside the present fold.
2. Christ is under divine necessity to gather His own sheep.
3. The sheep Christ calls will surely come.

I will continue more about missions in my next post.

Not only is the marriage relationship a mirror of the Trinity, but it is also a picture of the relationship of Christ to His church.

We see Paul write in Ephesians chapter 5 how our marriages should be a picture to the world of how Christ loves His church.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25-33; NIV)

So, the question is now raised, are you accurately reflecting the love of Christ for His church in your marriage? How can we as Christians communicate this greatest of all relationships, that relationship being the love of Christ for His church, if we who are Christians do not demonstrate it in our marriages?

When people look at the Church, they should see marriages that are different than what they see in the world. By our marriages looking different, I mean happy, healthy marriages in which each spouse esteems the other ahead of themselves. I am talking about marriages that accurately reflect the unity and selflessness seen within the Trinity and accurately portray the love of Christ for His church. If more people understood that this is what marriage is about, I am convinced that our marriages would be much healthier.

Statistics from The Barna Group from 2004 show the divorce rates for both unbelievers as well as born-again Christians at 35%. Notice this was not just people who claim to be Christians, but people who claim to be born-again Christians. Did you catch that? Born-again Christians have the same divorce rates as that of unbelievers. This is the picture of marriage that we are presenting to unsaved people. When Barna broke the statistics down into different generations, 46% of Baby Boomers are divorced and that number is still rising, and my generation is on pace to surpass that of the Baby Boomers. An even higher percentage of Christian couples are unhappy and have no idea that they do not have a God-honoring marriage. They do not live up to the biblical standard set for marriage.

We, as the Body of Christ should strive to have marriages where outsiders take note that they do not see the world’s idea of marriage from us. We should be a group of people that hold marriage in the highest esteem just as God does. Outsiders should look in and see that we are different and that they want what we have. Our marriages and families should be advertisements to the world that scream the character of God and the love of Christ. We need to be good image bearers not only in our individual lives but also in our marriage relationship.

If we coast in our marriage, we will coast right into DISunity. Our marriage has to be that steady uphill climb from the wedding vows until death do us part. The wedge Satan placed in our marriages is naturally there due to the fall. We have to work everyday to force this wedge out from between us. Satan knows that driving a wedge into our marriages defaces the image of the Trinity and the picture of Christ and His church. Remember, Satan in our true enemy.

Also, the biblical principles of marriage tie quite nicely with the closing verses of 2 Timothy. These verses were written as Paul was near the end of his life.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7,8; NIV)

We need to apply this to every area of our life. We should apply it first and foremost to our relationship with God and when we do this, it will then affect all areas of our life including our marriage relationship. On our death bed, we should be able to hold hands with our spouse and say, “WE have fought the good fight, WE have finished the race, WE have kept the faith.” Marriage just like life is a race that you both run together holding each other along the way with your eyes fixed steadily on Jesus at the finish line.

If you have never read the book of Hosea in the Old Testament, I want to encourage you to do that. Hosea was a man who married an extremely unfaithful spouse, in spite of this, he actively loved her and pursued her even though she had vast shortcomings and was for all practical purposes unlovable. He loved her and cared for her in a way that was nothing short of super-human. This is a picture of Christ’s love for us. We are the unfaithful spouse who has adulterated ourselves to the world, and Christ loves us in spite of all of our terrible short-comings. When we keep in perspective how Christ has loved us and died for us in spite of the things we do, we can much more easily love our spouse in spite of the petty differences that we have with each other. And just think how our differences pale in comparison to how we have offended a holy God.

I want to finish with an illustration that I heard from a pastor once. He was asked if performing weddings was his greatest joy. He said no. He said not to get him wrong that weddings are great and he enjoys doing them but that he gets more joy from performing the funeral for a faithful saint. He said at that funeral sits their spouse of over 50 years quietly sobbing. He said that brings him great joy (not happiness but joy). You see, anyone can say on their wedding day that they are going to persevere with their spouse and be together until death do us part. The cause for real celebration is when a couple has actually done that. They have fought the good fight together. They have kept their eyes firmly fixed on Christ for 50 plus years and finished the race as one. They have been good image bearers of the Trinity and accurately reflected Christ’s love for the church.

Make it a priority to make the relationship between you and your spouse all that God intended it to be so that you can bring the maximum glory to God with your marriage.

Outside of our relationship with God, the most important relationship that we see in the Bible is the marriage relationship. God has a very high view of marriage. It is not a fleeting feeling nor an institution of convenience that our society has made it out to be.

The Bible lays out the foundation of marriage in Genesis 2.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:18-24; NIV)

Notice that this passage starts out with “It is NOT good for the man to be alone.” This is the first time in the creation account that God has declared something to NOT be good. Up to this point everything was good. Man in his aloneness was not good. Before creating the woman, God paraded all of the animals in front of Adam to show him that there was not a suitable mate for him in all of creation. God wanted Adam to appreciate the wife that He is about to give him and realize there is nothing in all of creation that compares to her and that she is a fellow image bearer of God. God’s creation of the woman was the completion and perfection of his creative acts.

When God created marriage, it was not simply that God considered marriage to be a good idea, though it certainly is that. He created marriage to illustrate to us spiritual truth, namely the relationship within the Trinity and the relationship of Christ to His church.

We are all as individuals made in the image of God. We are all image bearers individually. In the marriage relationship though, we get to image God in a different way. The marriage relationship is our best human example of the relationship within the Trinity. As husband and wife become 2 in 1, we mirror the 3 in 1 relationship that we see in the Triune Godhead.

The marriage relationship should be the pinnacle of unity in a human relationship and therefore mirror the perfect unity seen within the Trinity. The marriage covenant should reflect the selfless attitude and praise of the other as seen within the members of the Godhead. This is God’s ideal of marriage. I am afraid that too often, we buy into the lie that marriage is all about “me” and have elevated my perceived needs above that of my spouse.

It is because of sin that the marriage relationship has been tarnished and scarred. Because of this, the natural tendency in marriage is not for unity as designed BUT for DISunity. In Genesis 3:12 (The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” NIV). We see here that the fall has occurred and now the man is accusing his wife, and ultimately God, of his own short-comings. The marriage relationship is no longer naturally unified as God intended. One chapter after the institution of marriage, we see why we today struggle in our marriages and why it is all the more important to actively pursue oneness with our spouse.

In marriage and any other relationship for that matter, disunity happens passively. However, in order to achieve unity in marriage and therefore better reflect God’s image, we must ACTIVELY work at unity. Instead of working against each other and falling into disunity, actively work together toward unity. Actively pursuing unity is the only way that we will keep from sliding into disunity. We just saw in Genesis 2 that God created marriage as the greatest of human relationships. Keep in mind that Satan is the real enemy and not your spouse and that he worked a wedge into the marriage relationship in Genesis 3, and this is a wedge that we still battle today. You and your spouse MUST work together.

I will continue this post tomorrow.

I am still reading Desiring God by John Piper. Today my post is on Piper’s chapter about marriage.

Piper does a good job with the subject of marriage.  His main biblical text is Ephesians 5:25-30.  Piper says that in marriage we should pursue our joy by pursuing the joy of our spouse.  He pulls deeply from the example of Christ and the Church.

I like this summary from Piper.  “In other words, husbands should devote the same energy and time and creativity to making their wives happy that they devote naturally to making themselves happy.“

I really like Piper’s tie of Ephesians 5:31,32 with Genesis 2:24.  He really hammers on marriage being a “profound mystery.”  He does a great job of giving the Old Testament context.  Paul tells us in Ephesians that the husband and wife become one flesh just like Christ and the Church become one body.

Piper goes on to say, which I really like, “The mystery is this: God did not create the union of Christ and the church after the pattern of human marriage; just the reverse! He created human marriage on the pattern of Christ’s relation to the church.“   Marriage was not just an accident.  It was purposefully planned to mirror Christ and His Church.

Piper then spends time on the biblical pattern of the home with the husband as the head.  He does a good job explaining these roles in a very biblical and accurate fashion.

I will have a couple of other posts upcoming related to marriage and based upon something that put together a few years ago.

I am continuing to read Desiring God by John Piper. Today my post is about Piper’s chapter on money.

Piper does a very good job on a very difficult topic. This topic can easily be taught incorrectly. Piper accurately emphasizes that money is a heart issue. It is not wrong to be rich, but it is wrong to desire to be rich.

The main passage that Piper concentrates on is 1 Timothy 6:5-10.

I like that Piper says that money’s chief attractions are the power it gives and the pride that it feeds.

I like that Piper even tackles the Prosperity Gospel.  He attacks the idea that God wants us wealthy.  He shows how key verses are misinterpreted and abused to feed our desire to be rich and promote the idea that God wants us that way.

The following paragraph from Piper is worth quoting in whole.

God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professing Christians have been deceived by this doctrine is how little they give and how much they own. God has prospered them. And by an almost irresistible law of consumer culture (baptized by a doctrine of health, wealth, and prosperity) they have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun.

Piper quotes Ralph Winters when he says, “The underdeveloped societies suffer from one set of diseases: tuberculosis, malnutrition, pneumonia, parasites, typhoid, cholera, typhus, etc. Affluent America has virtually invented a whole new set of diseases: obesity, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, venereal disease, cirrhosis of the liver, drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, battered children, suicide, murder.“

Interesting indeed.

Next, we tackle marriage.