Living in the Overlap of the Ages

"We live in the 'overlap of the ages.' The present age is not yet over--'I am with you always,' Jesus said, 'to the end of the age' (Matt. 28:20)--and yet the age to come has begun. We are, in Christ, 'new creation'! 'The old has passed away, behold the new has come' (2 Cor. 5:17)! As a result, we live with the tension of being in two 'ages' at once, a tension that no Jew ever thought would exist. When the Jews read the prophecies of Isaiah and Joel and Daniel, they expected that there would be a hard break between the present age and the age to come. The one would end, and the other would begin. But in God's wisdom, the coming of the Messiah turned out to be not just one event, but two--his first coming to inaugurate the age to come in the midst of the present age, and his second coming to end, finally, the present age and consummate the age to come. Thus we enjoy the forgiveness of sin even as we struggle with it;  thus we enjoy the presence of the Spirit even as we may still grieve him; thus we have been raised with Christ, seated at his right hand in the heavenly places, even as we know we will, for a time, return to dust. And thus we live in a world that is shot through with injustice and sin and oppression and evil and tears and sadness, even a world that we know will be shot through with such things until Jesus comes back, even as we strive to 'walk as children of light' and to 'shine as lights' in a crooked and twisted generation' (Eph. 5:8, Phil. 2:15)."

Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission 

[The church library owns a copy of this if anyone is interested. http://www.amazon.com/What-Mission-Church-Justice-Commission/dp/1433526905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320358349&sr=1-1 ]

Get As Much Grace As You Can

Who said the Puritans were dour and gloomy?

We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together His glory and our good.  We glorify him by promoting our own salvation.  It is a glory to God to have multitudes of converts; now, his design of free grace takes, and God has the glory of his mercy; so that, while we are endeavoring our salvation, we are honoring God.

What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory.
Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, you will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away?

So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified.

--Thomas Watson

Dude, Where's Your Bride

Must read article by Kevin DeYoung.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/11/03/dude-wheres-your-bride/

The Future Has Already Begun

“Has the realization gripped you that the very life of heaven itself dwells within you here and now? Did you ever know that? I am afraid we live most of our lives in terms of promise. We often sing of the future, and so we ought to sing. Our gospel is a gospel of glorious promise and hope. Yes, the best, the glorious best, is yet to be. And yet we are not to live only for the future. The future has already begun. The Age to Come has reached into This Age; the Kingdom of God has come unto you. The eternal life which belongs to tomorrow is here today. The fellowship which we shall know when we see him face to face is already ours, in part but in reality. The transforming life of the Spirit of God which will one day transform our bodies has come to indwell us and to transform our characters and our personalities. This is what eternal life means. This is what it means to be saved."

--George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (1959 A.D.)

29 Years Old and 45 Days, Seven Hours, Ten Minutes, and Forty Seconds...Forty One, Forty-Two

"Let us now discuss the inerrancy of Scripture, a fiercely debated topic in contemporary theology. The term simply means "no errors," that is, "truth" in the common, garden-variety sense.' What Scripture says, is true, never false. Therefore, you can rely on it. There are no errors in it. By the way, error is not the same thing as imprecision. We often express ourselves imprecisely, as when we use round numbers. But to do so is neither to lie nor to make a mistake. Often we must use some round numbers to express ourselves clearly. If I tell you my age down to the minute and second, that is too much precision, precision that interferes with communication. The Bible never claims to be perfectly precise. It only claims to be true.

It is true because it is God's Word, and God always speaks truly. Error comes from deceit (telling lies) or from ignorance (making mistakes). But God never tells lies (Titus 1:2), and he never makes mistakes (Heb. 4:13).

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology 

Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Kindle Locations 854-859). 

Falling Out of Like

"I can guarantee that, whoever you marry, you will fall “out of like” with them. Powerful feelings of affection and delight will not and cannot be sustained. It is quite typical to lose the head-over-heals feelings for your mate even before you get married, because our emotions are tied to so many things within our physiology, psychology, and environment. Your feelings will ebb and flow, and if you follow our culture’s definition of “love,” you may conclude that this can’t be a person you should marry [or stay married to]...

When we first are attracted to someone, we think, “I want it to stay like this! I don’t want to lose this passion.” But as we have said, that ego rush cannot be sustained and cannot take you very far down the road of learning to love the person you really married. To use Lewis’s metaphor, you must let this more immature incarnation of your love “die” if it is to rise again and live. You must stick to your commitment to act and serve in love even when—no, especially when—you don’t feel much delight and attraction to your spouse. And the more you do that, slowly but surely, you will find your more ego-heavy attraction being transformed into a love that is more characterized by a humble, amazed reception and appreciation of the other person. The love you will grow into will be wiser, richer, deeper, less variable.
Sadly, many people never let this happen, because they have accepted the culture’s definition of marriage, and when the thrill wears off, they feel it is time for a change. This view of things leaves married people very vulnerable to affairs, since it is quite natural that you will meet others who are attractive and who will hold out the promise of getting the thrill back that was there in the beginning of your relationship with your spouse."

--Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

Fear and Anger

"Scripture says this about anger: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? You want something but don’t get it" (James 4:1—2). You want power, love, the TV remote, perfect children, but you don’t get them. Fear and anxiety say this: "You want something, and you might not get it." You want power, love, the TV remote, perfect children, but you might not get them. You want financial security, health for yourself and those you love, safe passage to work, and you know you can’t presume any of it. Fear and anger can be the same words spoken with a different attitude."

Edward T. Welch,  Running Scared: Fear, Worry & the God of Rest