Seek Jesus and Break Your Mirror

In the book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Christians at the church in Colossae during a time when they are confronting counterfeit gospels. False teachers and leaders were emerging who were calling Christians to live a life that was not in line with the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:14). Paul is encouraging the Christians in Colossae to hold fast to Jesus Christ and to the gospel that he has previously delivered to them as the gospel which justifies and sanctifies them for all things.

In Colossians 2:20-3:4 the Apostle Paul outlines (by a rebuke of the false teacher who was teaching in Colossae) two ways to deal with sin.


Option #1: Self-made religion. Law keeper > Law giver.
Option #2: The gospel. Law Giver > law keeper.

The tendency of Option 1 for people within the church is huge, and it remains a massive issue today. Our default mode for how to deal with what's gone wrong in us or for how to make ourselves better, or stronger, or more spiritual is FOCUS ON OURSELF.
We promote the law-keeper (ourselves) over the Law Giver (God).
Self-made religion is an attempt to fix yourself by focusing on yourself. The mantra of self-made religion is "do this", and so we create rules to live by and steps to obey and paths to follow in order that we might be rescued.

In verses 21-22, Paul writes "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to its regulations--'do not handle, do not taste, do not touch'(referring to things that all perish as they are used)---according to human precepts and teachings."

Translation: Christ death's freed you from the need to obey (or submit) to rules & regulations in order to be justified. What you touch or taste can't save you, only Christ can save you. Law-keeping is no longer enough. The Law-giver is only enough.

Paul goes in in verse 23 to write "All of these things (the commands to 'not taste, not touch, and not handle') have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh."

This is pure theological gold. Paul is saying, yeah yeah yeah all of these rules and things you are doing have an appearance of wisdom. There are hints of wisdom in following all of these rules and in obeying these commands. Christians and secular people do this today by saying "you need to focus on you" to get right, or get healthy, or move on from that break-up, or feel better about your life. Christians might say "I pray to Jesus and even try and follow him, but I have to figure out how I can be better and and I can fix my sin issues, and I can do this". The focus in this approach is self-directed. It's the mirror approach to transformation and sanctification. And it will never really work.

Paul says that when you actually focus on yourself--when you look at yourself and say if I just do this or do that, follow this command harder or say no to all these things you will never be truly transformed and changed. Self-focus does not lead to sustainable life transformation. The focus is on you the whole time, and Paul is saying you can't fix you.

Law Giver > law keeper.

Paul then goes on in Colossians 3 to deliver the gospel-centered option for real change in life. It's time to focus on the Law-giver, and not the law-keeper. It's time to focus on Jesus Christ, on the the things of heaven, on the glory of God.
He writes "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

There it is. Gospel-centered, Jesus-focused, Spirit-driven change.

Translated: Seek Jesus, and break your mirror.

What are you staring at? Where is your focus? It's time to break your mirror. Free yourself from the crushing weight of believing that by looking harder into the mirror, into yourself, that that will be enough to get you where the Lord wants you to go, to kill your sin, to truly change.

Tim Keller writes "our justification determines our sanctification, our sanctification doesn't determine our justification". Wow, big words Timmy. What does he mean? I don't know.

Just kidding. Kind of. Let me close by explaining why what Dr. Keller said is important.

All other religions of the world promote the idea that your sanctification (the way you keep the rules or ethics of a religion) determines your right standing before God (or whomever you are following). It's what I do and my intensity of focus on myself that drives the change and secures my identity.

The gospel says something entirely and radically different. Jesus drives the change. God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to do everything we couldn't do. In Jesus, we have the ultimate law-keeper. We actually have both the law-giver and law-keeper in one. (Mind blown). Jesus is fully obedient to the Father and fully obedient to the Law. And now, through trusting in His life, His obedience, and His death on the cross we find the basis for our sanctification.

Focus on the Cross. Focus on Jesus. Focus on the 'things above'. This is where true change begins and ends.

If I could paraphrase Jesus...
"Seek first the Kingdom of God...and everything else, well...there really isn't anything else."

Morning Prayer with "The Valley of Vision"

Christ is All

O Lover to the uttermost,
May I read the meltings of Thy heart to me
in the manger of Thy birth,
in the garden of Thy agony,
in the cross of Thy suffering,
in the tomb of Thy resurrection,
in the heaven of Thy intercession.

Bold in this thought I defy my adversary,
tread down his temptations,
resist his schemings,
renounce the world,
am valiant for truth.

Deepen in me a sense of my holy relationship to Thee,
as spiritual bridegroom,
as Jehovah's fellow,
as sinners' friend.

I think of Thy glory and my vileness,
Thy majesty and my meanness,
Thy beauty and my deformity,
Thy purity and my filth,
Thy righteouness and my iniquity.

Thou has loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I love Thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given Thyself for me,
may I give myself to Thee.
Thou hast died for me,
may I live to Thee
in every moment of time,
in every movement of my mind,
in every pulse of my heart.

May I never dally with the world and its allurements,
but walk by Thy side,
listen to Thy voice,
be clothed with Thy grace,
and adorned with Thy righteousness.

Praying Prayers that Change Us & "The Valley of Vision"

I have read prayers from the Puritan prayer book "The Valley of Vision" several times while I have preached, and continue to pray through it in the mornings and in devotional time with Emily. It is a powerful example of prayers that are God-centered, Christ-saturated, Spirit-reliant, and doctrinally rich. So often my prayers are very shallow and merely a recitation of things that I want from the Lord or that I want the Lord to do for me. It is not unbiblical or sinful to ask the Lord for things, but if that is the greatest extent of my prayer life then I really don't have a biblically-informed prayer life at all, or a prayer life that is connecting with the Lord and providing revitalization for my soul in any way.

The Valley of Vision was written by the Puritans. Don Sweeting, President of Reformed Theological Seminary writes "The Valley of Vision is a book of prayers drawn from a largely forgotten deposit of Puritan devotional literature. Its writers were both serious Christians and serious pray-ers. No names are attached to the individual prayers, but the introduction tells us that the prayers come from those in the Puritan tradition such as Thomas Shepherd, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge, David Brainerd, and Charles Spurgeon."

The Valley of Vision will help you develop more God-soaked and Christ-exalting prayers, and create a greater desire to pray upwards and outwards to a majestically glorious God who desires our prayers. Many have said that prayer is the real work of the Christian life, but how few of us (me included) truly do pray and how many of us who pray truly pray out of an overflow of deep love for the gospel and desire to be more filled with the fullness of Jesus Christ?

Prayers spring from need. A vital and growing prayer life flows from a heart that is dependent on God for all things. God calls us to pray because we are a people of great need (and prayer acknowledges that need)--in need of His grace, His life, His joy. God invites us to pray to Him that we might receive from Him...Himself. We are called to pray without ceasing by the Apostle Paul. This doesn't mean we spend all of our time with our eyes closed, but that we cultivate lives which are lived with humility before God and dependence on God--and that from our prayers our lives start to take on a gospel-centered shape.

Prayer is shaping our lives to be in line with the heart of Jesus.

I will be posting prayers from The Valley of Vision on the blog, and pray that they help you depend more readily on prayer for all of your life, for the greater glory of God in the world, for your deeper joy, and for a growing heart and mind that is caught up in things above---that you might be encouraged to live more faithfully to the One who prayed regularly for you, that in seeking--we would find Him--ever available.

The first prayer below is entitled The Valley of Vision

The Valley of Vision

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

The Gospel and "The Hunger Games"

Emily and I went to see "The Hunger Games" Friday night with millions of other people around the United States. The energy in the nearly 500 seat theater (one of four at the AMC we were at) was palpable. Emily had read the books, but I had not and so I had little real information up front about what was going on. There was a death match? A love story? The future? I really didn't know what to expect and I wasn't expecting terribly much from a film that seemed to be marketing to teenagers and younger (and older) women.

But, while the wife was laid out with her wisdom teeth recently I played the hero card in a valiant attempt to placate her pain by buying her tickets to the Hunger Games on its opening weekend. And now it was time to pay the piper--I was going to see it.

The book, exactly like the film "is written in the voice of sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds absolute power over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive."

The boy and girl who are selected from each district are known as "Tributes", and they serve as reminders of when the Capitol destroyed a now extinct "District 13" because of their uprising against the regime. Now the Hunger Games exist to remind the people of the honor of fighting for their own survival, of the glories of battle, and for the sheer entertainment that the televised games provide to the people in the Capitol--and also, I think, that the people would continue to pay the debt for their rebellion and uprising.

The Hunger Games trilogy actually follows the biblical narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Professor Alvin Reid writes about the Hunger Games...

"The Hunger Games begins with this new world, moving quickly to the depiction of depravity: the sacrificing of children. Though the leaders use fear to keep people in line, Panem’s President Snow states the truth: “Hope is greater than fear.” Ultimately hope will come in the life of the rescuer, the Mockingjay named Katniss. Ultimately, Panem is overthrown, the rebellion succeeds, and young people – those chosen to be the sacrifice -- become the key players in the rescue. Finally, in the Epilogue, you find this rescuer named Katniss with her family, restored."

In the film it is clear that someone must die in order that someone might live. The debt the people owe because of the rebellion must continually be paid. The Capitol must punish the Districts for their rebellions years ago, but they must also offer hope, a sliver of hope that they can be rescued. They offer this by allowing one person to win The Hunger Games--opening up the possibility that all is not lost in this broken world they exist in. The debt has been paid--for now.

However, the Hunger Games do not only occur one time--they occur every single year. There must be an ongoing Hunger Games. One Hunger Game is not enough to remind the people about the rebellion or to appease the Capitol. The film recounts the 74th Annual Hunger Games. The girl or boy who wins the Hunger Games does not die, but they are not truly free because they are still enslaved to the Capitol, and the next year all the people must await another Hunger Games.

The book of Hebrews powerfully recounts how the people of Israel had to continually offer up sacrifices for their sins. Every single year they had to offer sacrifices. The writer of Hebrews writes "For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."

The people of Israel and the people of Panem are in the same boat. Unable to save themselves. Unable to deliver themselves. You can feel the angst. You can feel the need for someone to ultimately and eternally rescue the people. An annual Hunger Games is not enough--it is simply a continual reminder to the people that they are enslaved to the Capitol. The film is clearly setting up Katniss as the figure with the power to ultimately reverse all that has gone wrong. She will overthrow the Capitol, she will rescue the people, she will finally deliver them from their poverty, brokenness, and slavery. Ahhh...if only she wasn't a work of fiction.

The writer of Hebrews, however, gives us a beautiful work of nonfiction--a true and greater Tribute, a true and greater hope, a true and greater Katniss. That is Jesus Christ. The ultimate rescuer. The ultimate deliverer. The one who really does bring us all the way home because of His great love for us, His people. The writer of Hebrew writes "And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."

It is finished.
Through the offering up of Christ's life on our behalf, in our place, for our sin. The debt has been paid. We have been freed.
This is the gospel message.
We all ache for a greater rescue, for someone to come and really save us and free us. In Jesus--we get it.

In fact, Suzanne Collins writes this at the very end of the final installment of the series of Katniss “What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.”

The Apostle Paul, writing to the people in Ephesus (and us today) in Ephesians 1 writes-- In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

We have been forgiven. We have been rescued. We have been redeemed.
We have been brought home.

Hungry No More.