Mark Driscoll on Analogous Service

This is an excerpt from Driscoll's sermon entitled "The Bible is About Jesus". If you want the whole sermon you can get it on the Mars Hill website, or on iTunes. I wanted to post this because I find it incredibly exciting, as well as a strong argument for divine inspiration of the Bible, but that's a side note.

Analogous service

"I’ll give you some examples of this. This is going to be a bit lengthy, but there are people who do things that ultimately Jesus does completely and fully. They're a bit of foreshadowing or anticipating or preparing for the coming of Jesus and his service. Unlike the first Adam, Jesus Christ is the last Adam, who passed his test in the garden and in so doing imputed his righteousness to us to overcome the sin imputed to us through the first sin of the first Adam. Jesus is the true and better Abel who, although he was innocent, was slain and whose blood cries out for our acquittal. When Abraham left his father at home, he was doing the same thing that Jesus would do when he left heaven. When Isaac carried his own wood and laid down his life to be sacrificed at the hand of his father, Abraham, he was showing us what Jesus would later do. Jesus is the greater Jacob, who wrestled with God the Father in Gethsemane and, though wounded and limping, walked away from his grave blessed. Jesus is the greater Joseph, who serves at the right hand of God the King and extends forgiveness and provision to those of us who have betrayed him and uses his power to save us in loving reconciliation. Jesus is greater than Moses in that he stands as a mediator between God and us, bringing us the new covenant. Unlike Job, innocent Jesus suffered and was tormented by the devil so that God might be glorified while his dumb friends were of no help or encouragement. Jesus is a king greater than David, who has slain our giants of Satan, sin, and death, although in the eyes of the world he was certain to face a crushing defeat at their hands. Jesus is greater than Jonah in that he spent three days in the grave and not just a fish to save a multitude even larger than Nineveh. When Boaz redeemed Ruth and brought her and her despised people into community with God's people, he was showing what Jesus would do to redeem his bride, the church, from all the nations of the earth. When Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem, he was doing something similar to Jesus, who is building for us a new Jerusalem as our eternal home. When Hosea married an unfaithful, whoring wife that he continued to pursue and love, he was showing us the heart of Jesus, who does the same thing for his unfaithful bride, the church."

Ain't nobody like our God.

Grace Giving: The Greater Call

I find it sad that, in general, it seems that grace does not have its intended effect on western Christians. We think of grace as warrant for getting away will sub-par service to God. However, grace is meant to do things like lead us to repentance and enable us to serve God extravagantly.

This morning I was thinking about this in terms of financial giving. I think the average American gives right around 3% of their income to their church and this type of tight-fisted giving has been a perennial problem in the western church. However, traditionally the stance of the church on offering is "tithing", which literally means "one tenth". The good thing about this stance is that it encourages giving 10%. The problem is that it does not encourage giving more than that.

When grace was first unleashed in the world the earliest Christians sold EVERYTHING and gave it to the church. The view of grace is that humans deserve eternal damnation for their sins, but that through Jesus' death and resurrection Christians have been gifted righteousness. So anything outside of eternal damnation is a gift from God. Therefore, ALL your money is a gift from God; in fact, all of your LIFE is a gift from God. So all of your money should be used in submission to what God would have you do with you money. This is the doctrine of Grace Giving.

With this definition of grace giving the whole discussion of how much ought to be given becomes really simple: you give everything. With this model the question is simply: where does God want me to use my money?

Here is what I think the church needs: more grace. I do not believe that giving is so stingy because times are hard, but because we do not understand the magnitude of the grace we have received. I truly believe that as our view of grace increases, so will our giving. So let's let grace take over.

The Best Offense is a Good Gracefense

Yes. That is the best blog post title you've ever seen. Although, it is less than accurate, because the truth is that the grace is the only offense when you are fighting sin. That's my point. You could stop reading now and you would not really miss much, except for the answer as to why it is the only offense.

Have you ever heard a sermon on the struggle against sin and gotten really frustrated because of the lack of practical application? I have. Most recently I have listened to several Mark Driscoll sermons concerning sin and the struggle against it. The content was great but even Driscoll, who is notoriously anti-religion, made it sound like you simply need to realize that sin is really bad and stop doing it. Fortunately, behind this was the implied practical answer to putting sin to death.

Driscoll's premise is that sin, of every kind, is idolatry. I think he's right. So the problem for Driscoll is that every human is a worshipper and sin is when they worship something other than God. This position has been around for centuries, and is held by Tim Kelly and Matt Chandler among others. So the problem is what sinners worship. So if sin is worshipping creation, righteousness is worshipping the Creator. Therefore, the cure for sin is worshipping Jesus.

We should worship for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, we should worship because GOD DESERVES GLORY. The only correct response when confronted with God is to worship. However, because he is a gracious, gentle God, who does not delight in forced submission (which isn't really submission at all), he has revealed the myriad of innate reasons for why he deserves worship. One of these reasons, one of the most prominent and fundamental in evangelical Christianity, is grace. I believe this is what Paul is referring to in Romans when he says that it is God's kindness that is meant to lead to repentance. I mean what is kinder than unmerited grace? What God is more worthy of worship than the one who gives such grace without condition or limit?

So here is the answer, and I will try and make it as practical as I can: worship Jesus. How? Pull out a guitar and sing. Pull out a pen and write. Get on your knees and pray. Go into the Bible and marvel. Whatever it is that causes you to realize the greatness of God and the wonder of the grace that he gives to you, do that. Grow in that. If you don't have anything that causes you to be amazed with God then I would say that you probably don't understand grace, or you don't understand the depths of depravity that God has saved you from through Jesus' death on the cross. If none of that makes sense to you, then you're not a Christian and you need to be.

Grace will lead to repentance. You might say, "But what if I just keep on sinning?" If this is your question, then I think you've understood the grace that Paul talks about, because after describing grace the logical question that followed was, "So, should we just keep sinning?" The answer is no, because grace will not lead to that. Worshipping the one true God, destroys the worship of false ones.

What We've Seen

But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."- Acts 4:19-20

Has the Gospel stopped being about what we have seen and heard? Is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the whole Gospel? Certainly it is the most important part, you won't hear any argument against that from me, but what about the things we have seen? What about the transformation that I, and you have personally experienced here in the 21st century?

I will be honest, there are times when I feel that the Gospel (at least the one I've been told to preach since I was a kid) fails to connect to people two thousand years later. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I spend enough time thinking about how the Gospel has altered my life, and perhaps this is the part of the Gospel I need to start with.

Don't get me wrong, the crux of the Gospel is Christ's work a couple millennia ago, but it is not as if his work stopped there. The cross made all future transformation, reconciliation, redemption, and propitiation possible, that's the important part, but I don't think it's the only part. So I think I'm going to go share what I've actually seen for myself, and what I've actually heard for myself.

Exodus 28, Ephesians 6, and the Priesthood of All Believers

So I was listening to Exodus today (curtesy of the ESV chronological podcast) and I was struck by Aaron's clothes. The whole of chapter 28 is devoted to what Aaron and his sons are wearing when they go in to serve the Lord. As I was listening the reader read the line about how the breastplate was there for decision making. I thought to myself, "Huh, Paul talks about a breastplate in Ephesians." Then he read the part about how Aaron's turbin has a gold plate hanging from it that reads "Holy to the Lord" and that it bears the guilt of Israel so that their gifts can be acceptable to the Lord. At this point I thought, "Huh, Paul talks about a thing you wear on your head too." So I thought about it some more and here's what I came to.

In the Old Testament the priest goes in to meet with God wearing the the ephod from which the breastplate hangs. On this breastplate are twelve stones with the names of the twelve sons of Israel. Also on the breastplate are the Hebrew words Urim and Thummim. No one is quite sure how to translate these words, which is why the ESV leaves them in Hebrew I think. However, of the possibilities the one that seems the most likely to me is "innocent" and "guilty". Verse 29 says, "...(Aaron) will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the LORD." To me this is both a memorial to God's faithfulness and mercy toward Israel (the man) and a reminder to God of his promises to Israel (the man and nation). This way when Aaron walks in with the question "innocent or guilty?" hanging on his chest, God is inclined to count him and the nation of Israel innocent because he is reminded of his promises.

Now in Ephesians we are told to put on a breastplate. A breastplate of what? Righteousness. Whose righteousness? Jesus' eternal righteousness. HOW SWEET IS THAT! We come before God wearing a breastplate of righteousness bearing Jesus' name that declares us innocent for all of eternity! Sweet. That's what that is.

Next Exodus talks about Aaron's hat. God tells Moses to make the "Holy to the Lord" plate and hang it from Aaron's turbin so that it rests on his forehead. God then says that as long as Aaron wears this plate on his forehead he can bear the guilt of Israel when they bring gifts to God that their gifts might be acceptable, but that he has to wear it continually.

Well guess what Paul tells his readers to put on their head? The helmet of salvation. We wear the perfect salvation through Christ's blood on our foreheads and this makes the things we do for God acceptable, for good. We are told to wear the righteousness and salvation that come through Christ and by doing this we can give God more than the dirty rags that our good deeds once were.

The last thought I had was this: in the Old Covenant Aaron and his descendents were the only ones who could wear these clothes and approach God, but Paul tells his readers, all of them, to put the new clothes on. There is one mediator, Jesus Christ, and he brings everyone direct access to the Most Holy place. Awesome. That's what that is.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
 ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
 ¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (ESV)

So we have all heard the story, right? Jesus takes some kid's lunch, prays for it, and SHAZAM! it becomes enough food to feed five thousand people. This is amazing I agree, but as I was thinking about this story the other day I was left with some questions. The first is one I have had before: why can't I multiply food with my prayers? The second question was new and even more fascinating: why in the world would the boy give up his food?

I mean, this kid is surrounded by five thousand hungry people, he has got to know that normally under these circumstances he is not getting his lunch back. When there are five thousand people following one guy and there is not enough food, the guy that is popular enough to attract the crowd is going to get first dibs, and his best friends are going to get what is left over. This kid is, for all intents and purposes, giving up his food at the price of going hungry.

All of a sudden this story hits uncomfortably close to home. I do not have much (by American standards), and how often do I withhold giving to God because I think there will not be enough left over for me? Answer: too often. The irony is that this is to my detriment, but we will discuss that in a second. This withholding of what I ought to give to God reveals my continuing need for a regenerated heart. Perhaps I simply need to be like the boy and say, "Yeah, this probably means I am going to go without." I think it is when you reach this point that God reveals his ace in the hole; which brings me back to my first question.

Why can't I make more food by prayer? Or more money? Answer: I am not Jesus. It seems to be an ever-present corrective for me to remember that it is in Jesus that power is found; not prayer, not the Bible, not worship songs, not a particular community, nothing but Jesus, his Spirit, God. So what would happen if I were to adopt this faithful child's mentality? We must not ever forget that the boy left with more than he came with, he ate his meal and was full and took home leftovers. Not only that, but every person there was satiated through Jesus' provision. Therefore, if I, or any other disciple of Christ, trusts his or her Lord to the point of giving their last sustenance, we will find that bread can be multiplied, that our meager sum can feed not only ourselves, but the multitude.

Children: Humans at Their Best

I remember when I was a child and I would pray. I would pray until my parents and my brothers shook with laughter. I would start by praying for the same three kids from our church, and then I would pray for the whole world.

I only remember the name of one of those three kids; it was Cassie. I do not even remember her last name. What I do remember is that she was sick, and I prayed that she would get better every night. Cassie lived a magical life, she simply shined; there is no other way to say it. Perhaps it is the last stubborn remnant of my naïve childhood faith, but I am sure that my prayers played a part in the life she led.

Back then I prayed to God effortlessly. He was God, and I wanted to talk to him, just like I wanted to talk to everyone. There was no doubt about whether he heard me or not. There were no questions about how to pray to him. I simply talked and he listened.

I was the perfect human as a child. Not only in how I prayed, but also in how I repented. When I realized I had done wrong, I was grieved and I did not do it again. I used to lie a lot. I think it was just because I wanted to exercise my power to lie. Once I realized it made people not like me, I stopped. That is another thing, I loved and was fascinated by people without barrier or hesitation.

I used to help Buford with his yard work. Buford, who all the other kids on my cul de sac were afraid of; the sixty-something year old man who would drag his broken lawn mower out into his yard once a week, and spend half an hour cussing at it for not working, for all the neighborhood to hear. I would hold the black garbage bag with the yellow drawstring open while he dumped leaves in; I would help him, and he was kind to me.

When we first moved to that neighborhood I went around to every house and introduced myself. I met Buford two houses down. I met Dennis, a thirty-something bachelor on one side of our house, and I met Eric on the other side, a troubled teen who would play basketball with me, catching my four-year-old attempts at shots and flipping the ball up into the basket claiming it was my power that got it there. He showed me his nun chucks, and medieval mace on Halloween. I met Bill who would be my brother's best friend and would one day save my life. I met Amanda whose cat I would pet and who first showed me a big trampoline, and whose family would feud with Bill's. This was San Gabriel Court, and throughout my days there I would move between these lives easily, almost without transition. It is the closest I have ever come to loving like Jesus.

In those days I simply liked people without question. I was interested in their complications, and intrigued by their difficulties. Perhaps on some level, my childhood self sensed the child in each of them. I saw the complications and they did not make sense to me, because when I was with them they were simple, like the child who loves God and talks to him without question.

Alabama Governor

Andrew Faris and Adam Myers, you are the only two reading this right now. I just want you guys to know that, and know that I appreciate you both. If for some reason you are reading this and you are not Andrew Faris or Adam Myers I apologize. Simply hit the "back" button and it should return you to your Google search. If you are still reading this you should know it is strange that my second post on this blog is a comment on a political event. Typically I stear clear of all talk concerning politics, but I think this one is interesting.

Apparently, the newly sworn in governor of Alabama said that only those Alabamians that are saved are his "brothers and sisters." If you are a Christian you know exactly what he means by this, if you are not, there is some understandable confusion and even offense. He just said that Christians are family to him, implying that non-Christians are not. Does that mean non-Christians will get second-rate service? Is this the Christian extremist Alabama governor we have all been waiting for and secretly expecting to show up and declare the Christian version jihad? Hopefully, the answer to both of those questions is "no". For all of you non-Christians out there, what you experienced during the governor's inaugural address was what is called "the sharing of the Gospel". I know "Gospel" is a weird, somewhat foreign word for some people, but all it means is "good news". Which begs the question: what is so good about the news that our new governor is bound to show favoritism? Well, I am glad you asked.

What I hope is coming for you is grace. If this governor is preaching the true Gospel, then non-Christians should be treated better. The governor, and any of his brothers and sisters, ought to serve the secular crowd humbly and persistently. My hope and prayer is that he will do this. Do not get me wrong here, I think it is just about the worst political move of all time, but I like it because it is what I like to think I would do in that situation. What Christian has daydreamed about becoming famous and then at the moment your fame peaks you share the Gospel with the maximum amount of people possible; it is the ultimate Gospel sting. Awesome, that is what that is.

On the off chance that any non-Christians read this I want you to know that the real Good News is that Jesus came for you, and died for you, and rose from the grave for you, and He is pursuing you, and He will keep pursuing you until you are His, because He loves you with a mighty love. If that Alabama governor does not live up to the good news he preached come on out to California and I will love on you. Me and Jesus both. Mainly Jesus. Andrew, Adam, I love you too, and you needed to here the Gospel just as much as my huge, multinational non-Christian following.

The Mystery

The mystery of Christ is what every person who has every been created will be marveling at for the rest of eternity. However, we, like Paul, are offered insights into that mystery little by little, but each insight is a feast for the soul. I want to preach the Gospel, but not a trite one, not one unworthy of sacrifice, not one that allows its believers to go forth unchanged and unchanging. I want to preach the Gospel in all its beauty, disgrace, peace, pain, comfort, and discomfort. I pray that God will use this coward's words.