Friends, the latest audio from our study of Gospel Powered Parenting is uploaded here and at iTunes (Bentworld Broadcast)!
Also, class notes for all the lessons studies so far are at the following address:
Gospel Powered Parenting Class Notes There is often a good bit of material that we cannot cover in class – look here and you’ll see what that is!
Grace!
We all say, at some time in our lives, “that’s not fair!” Parents can count on hearing this all the time from their children. Even those who are the most obsessed about keeping their kids from uttering the words, like infant-sized temper tantrums, the impulse to judge is hard wired into who we are. (Those same obsessive parents will then be saying, “Hey, this isn’t fair!”) Oh, for a dollar for all the conversations where the originating comment was “that’s not fair!”
Let’s talk about fairness, then. If you sat down with a pen and paper to answer the query, “What in your life, in your judgment, isn’t fair?” the chances that you’d be staring at a blank piece of paper after five minutes are close to nil. From the shape of our bodies to the size of what’s in our bank accounts; from the cars we drive to the phones we carry; from the promotions we didn’t get to the taxes that we have to pay. Our fairness meters are very active.
Is this on your list of unfair things “I’m going to heaven”? If you’re a Christian, it’s likely that you’ve considered the patent unfairness of that statement. If you haven’t, you should. I was reflecting on these words from William Farley’s book, Gospel Powered Parenting (pg. 75):
The Father’s love for his Son is intense: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). It is not a common love. It is holy. He loves his Son with omnipotence, which means all power, with infinite intensity. He loves his Son with omniscience – all knowledge. His gaze penetrates the infinite perfection of his Son’s deity. Since the Son’s glory is infinite, only an infinite intellect can fully know and love him. He knows the Son exhaustively, and what the Father knows and sees is the infinite perfection of the Son’s divinity.
But here is the stunning truth: such is the holiness of the Father that when the Son bore our sin and transgressions, God separated himself from him. “My God, my God,” Jesus cried from the cross, “why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).
The holiness of God, His utter uniqueness and separation from all that’s not like Him, at that time demanded that He turn from His Son. The very One with Whom He’d spent eternity in perfect harmony and relationship. Why on earth would He ever do such a thing? Jesus’ quote of Psalm 22 about being forsaken is surely among the most stunning and breathtaking statements ever written. Do we not see just what has taken place?
Add this to your paper (under a new heading, “Really Not Fair”),
Drumroll….
They don’t. But why don’t they? They must! I am the man! I am the angry man; I am the thief; I am the adulterer; I am the one who rages against the rule of God! I am the one guilty of my sins. Why on earth do we read of the blameless Holy Son walking the streets of Jerusalem soaked in blood carrying a cross? Why is He the one who’s been nailed to it? Why?
Don’t talk yourself into the good news until you’ve come to grips with the cosmic truth that what happened at Calvary wasn’t fair. All that is or isn’t fair is judged in light of that event. Those events weren’t fair in ways that we can never really grasp – larger ways that should scare you. Do Paul’s words in Romans 8, stun you?
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
Shocking truths that we must consider. This leads to what we must also talk ourselves into: the truth that in Jesus Christ, having been covered in His blood, we appear before the throne of God. And as He looks to you and me, affection and welcome and rest are given in abundant measures. Wow.
I am scarcely able to lift my head to gaze upon them…But, I don’t have to, He reaches down to all those who call upon His name and He lifts our heads (Psalm 3:3). His grace never ends. Alleluia.
Have you ever noticed what you never notice? Or see what you normally pass right over? This sometimes happens to me when I look closely at words. Like “kneel.” If you look closely, you’ll see a really strange combination of letters that make a sound that doesn’t really follow. When did the “k-n” combination sound only the “n” anyway? Although “kneel” is a word and there are hundreds and thousands of words, it stands apart from them all because only “kneel” is kneel. If we take time to notice the things we look right past, we’ll see there’s a kind of separateness or distinction to all things. To our speedy eyes things may blend together, but upon inspection, they are as varied as ever if only we’d take the time. But, in the words of the Merovingian, “no one ever has time unless they take the time.”
Time and separateness: these things are strangely related. Take our Bible reading plan. Today, we are in John 19. After chapter 18’s conclusion with Pilate’s interview of Jesus and His astounding words about His kingdom, in chapter 19 we are confronted with His humiliation, His crucifixion and His death. This is the most terrible story of all time. Can you think of a worse one? Or, are you like my kids who had varying degrees of glazed-over looks because of the sheer commonality of the story? When the gospel was first “news” to us, it was indeed shocking and troubling. But, then, over time, it wore off. Now, Easter is more about bunnies, candy and the end of Lent for too many people.
Just think about that: “They [soldiers] came up to Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck Him with their hands” (19:3). They struck Him. Slow down and read that again, “they struck Him.” Are we not flabbergasted with this report? The Creator of all things (John 1:3), the Beloved of God (Matthew 3:17), struck by men. No. We have lost the terror of the holy. Those things that should command our attention because they are special, distinct, and separate do nothing to us. Instead, we are consumed with the common.
It is not surprising that since we have lost the terror of the holy, we have little regard for holiness. It’s like witnessing gluttony over and over without seeing its vileness and becoming gluttons ourselves. If we saw the vileness of gluttony, we’d stray from the practice. I wonder if that’s why God has given us the Bible: so that we’d be able to look again and again upon the Holy so that we might be holy. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18,
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
How does time factor into this? Have you noticed the stars recently? How was that possible? More than likely you were on your way back from soccer practice with a pizza in your hand, getting out of the car you happened to look up. Amazing isn’t it? There are so many other, more significant things to notice – what of the Lord of the stars? One of the effects of the life, death and resurrection of Christ is that you would be able and eager to look at the holy and be changed.
The Merovingian was right.
Bent World 