The Sun Shined (just for me)

As many of you know, I am now an engaged man. I am engaged to who I honestly believe to be the most amazing woman in the world, and I am serious about that. We got engaged on 1/16/10 at the beach in Dana Point where we had our first date. I read Ephesians 5:25-26 to her and explained how I want to be this man to her and will fight to do so. Now, before I go on I must set the context a bit, which is a bit ugly.

In February of 2008 I was preparing to ask a girl to marry me. I had spent hours in prayer about the situation and had a steady uneasiness about my decision, but I was trying to be Jesus to her and was quite disobedient by trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit instead of letting the Spirit do His job. So, I prayed a silly prayer asking God to give me a sign if I was not supposed to propose, even though I wasn't even sure if God gave signs at that time. To make a long story short, the weather had been beautiful until I prayed, then instantly turned dark out, poured hardcore rain, and I still asked. I instantly came down with my first ear infection ever, and was so dizzy that I was confined to my bed. Did I listen? Nope! After months of chaos and fighting, I forced the marriage and she divorced me 5 months later.

Back to the present time. I have been dating the most Godly, intelligent, funny, beautiful, real, secure woman I have ever met. We had been talking Scripture and talking for quite a few months and building a friendship. However, I knew she was going to be my wife. So, I spent months in prayer about whether I should propose or not, if the marriage would be honoring and glorifying to God, and other little prayers. No conviction or doubt came whatsoever.

So, driving to Dana Point the sky was covered with clouds. As we got near the spot where I was going to propose I asked God, because of my scars from the divorce, "Lord, can you bring the sun out while I ask her?" Can you do this as an extra bit of reassurance because of my prior disobedience?" As we pulled up to the beach, the sun shone through like no other and stayed that way throughout the whole proposal, amazing! The next day I stood worshipping the Lord in all His goodness and just wept at the love and grace He continuously shows to His repentant children.

In 9 months, on 10/17/10, Jennifer Marie Thomas will be my bride. This makes my heart so soft and humble. How amazing it will be to run this race with a partner who is passionate about sharing the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I can be me without any worrying around my Jenny: I can serve Christ 100% without being laughed at, I can fart, laugh like a girl, eat BJ's buffalo pizza all day, watch 24 with her, and on and on and on!!!!

The sun shines so much brighter when you experience the darkness it saves you from. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jenny, and thank you friends and family (the ones who supported me and did not judge).

A.L.I.V.E.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:20

One of my Bible professors used to always say, "As Christians we need to always be cross-eyed and crown headed." I spent all of last year being "cross eyed," completely focused on the cross that Jesus came to die upon to pay for my sin. The cross is something that I can endlessly study, meditate on, and it never leaves me feeling bored or content, but leaves me humbly living in obedience to God, denying myself, and taking up my cross daily (Luke 9:23).

However, the part of being "crown-headed" never really clicked until a couple of months ago. My teacher really meant that we are to push for eternal rewards (crowns), but all I need as my treasure and reward is Jesus Christ. I have been thinking and processing the reality of heaven and eternity a lot lately. I think, as Christians, we know heaven is real, we know we will be there eventually, but do we really know how real it is? The same Bible professor who used to tell us to live this way also used an acronym A.L.I.V.E. (Always Living In View of Eternity). Really think about that, we would live different if we consistently thought in an eternal perspective.

How would we engage people differently? How would we react to temptation when it stares us right in the face? Would our obedience to the Word of God go far beyond orthodoxy (right knowing) and move on to orthopraxy (right doing)?

Lately I just keep thinking what it will be like seeing Jesus face to face, really, think about that moment. The tears flowing, seeing the unseen that you had faith in (Hebrews 11:1), and literally talking with God the Son who saved you from eternal separation from Him. Can you imagine? What about understanding all the mysteries of God? Finding out what your job will be for all eternity? Talking with Moses, Paul, Elijah, Stephen, relatives, people who trusted in Christ because of you and you don't even know them? What about the thought of no more tears (Revelation 21:4), no more sin, no more abandonment?

Those are just some things I wanted to share that I have been processing lately. Think about these things. Sometimes we get so caught up in life, obedience, hurt, happiness, etc. that we forget to ponder what IS to come. Praise God for these things, all the glory to Him!

Also, listen to the new Phil Wickham CD titled Heaven and Earth. Phil is an amazing singer/songwriter and his new album is all about eternity. It has brought me to tears numerous times as I praise God for the truth of eternity.

RECONCILIATION

blessed be the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

Romans 4:8

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:9-10

Concerning reconciliation, John Stott writes:

“Justification is our legal standing before our judge in the court, reconciliation is our personal relationship with our Father.”

To me, reconciliation is one of the most beautiful themes, if not the most, in the entire Bible. You see, for us to be reconciled it must have once been that we were already in relationship and things were good. However, we must also recognize that for reconciliation to take place that our relationship with God was fractured, and we see this as we read Genesis 3 and from then on watch the disobedience of man against God.

The beauty of it is that “while we were enemies (Rom. 5:9),” God came and rescued us. Once again, like in propitiation and justification, we have no part in reconciliation. The Father is loving enough to not just restore us into right relationship through the death and resurrection of the Son, but we now are adopted sons and daughters with all the love possible from the Father (Rom. 8:12-17).

So what are the effects of reconciliation, other than being adopted by the Father?

The first result of reconciliation is simple, complete humility! When we rightly deserved eternal punishment (Rom. 3:23), God the Father initiated reconciliation, God the Son made it possible, and God the Holy Spirit made us new.

The second result is seen in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 and Ephesians 4:17-24. We are to put off the old self (our sinful wicked ways) and live in obedience to God and be ambassadors of Christ. To hear more on the 2 Corinthians passage you can hear a sermon I just preached on it at www.sevensdchurch.com or go on iTunes and type in Seven San Diego Church.

So, as we ask ourselves the question I asked you two days ago to keep at the forefront of your minds, did Christ have to die for us, the answer so far is a definite yes. The Father needed a perfect sacrifice to satisfy His wrath, the Father needed a perfect man to take our punishment if we were to be seen innocent, and the Father needed Christ’s death and resurrection to restore us into right relationship with Him.

Of all these, reconciliation is by far the most personal, for we have now been restored to a VERY personal relationship with God.

JUSTIFICATION

…who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:25

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Romans 5:18

When remembering this theological term, justification, my girlfriend remembers it’s meaning by saying it this way: “Just- as- if- I- never sinned at all.” That is very true and a good way to remember it.

Justification is actually a legal courtroom term that means to have right legal standing before God. You see, when someone puts their trust in the person and works of Jesus Christ, their guilty verdict of sin is put upon Jesus Christ (propitiation), and his innocence is imputed to them and they are completely forgiven and no longer liable to punishment (justification).

The Galatians verse I posted above (2:15-16) makes it completely clear that we are not justified by our feeble attempts to please God, but through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The term justification is just dripping with grace because it is all from God.

Picture this: There are 2 men living completely different lives. The first is a “man” who lives the perfect life. He never lies, never steals, in fact he never sins at all. He ends up becoming a well-known judge and is responsible for sentencing criminals to prison for their wrong doings. Now, the second man is a filthy criminal. He has good intentions, but overall is guilty of lying, cheating, stealing, etc. No matter how hard he tries to be “good” he ends up failing.

Imagine this: The criminal stands before the judge for all his crimes. The judge knows he is guilty but decides to take the man’s due punishment upon himself and let the guilty criminal go free. In the same way, Jesus Christ, the sinless perfect Judge has taken the punishment of all who are guilty that put their trust in Him. Those who do trust in Christ are gracefully given a completely innocent title.

We must realize that Paul did not invent the concept of justification. In the Parable of the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14), Jesus justifies a tax collector for his humility and trust in Jesus Christ. Justification is also a concept we see laced through the Old Testament, especially in the Passover. Isaiah 53:11 says:

Out of the anguish of his (Jesus) soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:11

There is a lot more to justification than this, but I believe these basics are understandable and will give you a general understanding. If you remember these 2 parts, you will have a basic understanding: 1) Forgiveness of past sins takes place through faith in Jesus Christ 2)Christ’s righteousness (perfect life) is imputed to us through justification.

Praise God for justifying me, for I was guilty in my sin. Think through this concept today and what it means to you. Explain this to your non-believing friends.

Propitiation

As you read these studies, keep a few questions in mind that we need to answer, or at least attempt to answer. The first question we must keep in mind is, was it necessary for Christ to die? Let that specific question linger while we discuss our first term of the atonement: Propitiation

Propitiation: In simple terms, propitiation means that God’s wrath against sin is appeased, or satisfied.

God is a holy, righteous and just God, among many other attributes. Because He is all of these things all of the time, sin is completely offensive to God and He cannot sin nor be in the presence of sin. You see, when we sin we offend His holiness and for Him to be completely just, His wrath must burn against us and the due punishment is hell. Before I explain a bit more of whether or not Christ had to die, I will list the 4 times the word propitiation is used I the Bible.

…whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. –Romans 3:25

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. –Hebrews 2:17

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. -1 John 2:2

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. -1 John 4:10

So, out of love for us, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be the propitiation of our sins. The only way this could take place is if the sacrifice was sinless (Rom. 5:19) and that God’s wrath was paid in full. Therefore, Christ took our place on the cross and soaked up ALL the wrath of God out of love for us, leaving us innocent in God’s eyes.

God did not just forget our sin, but instead poured out all his wrath on the Son at the cross. Here is where things get very emotional and should force you to your knees in thankfulness:

1) Jesus Christ was in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity. In Matthew 27:46 Jesus cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At this point, for the first time ever, the Son was separated from the Trinity and made to be sin, separation because God cannot be in the presence of sin.

2) Fathers, think through this one: The Father was pleased with the sacrifice, since that is what propitiation basically means. Imagine your son crying for help, being tortured and beaten, and you stand there pleased at what is happening to your son. Some people have gone as far to say that this is the most vulgar account of child abuse in human history. However, God did this knowing that 1) Jesus would conquer death and be raised from the dead 2) God would restore all sinners who trust in the person and work of Christ on the cross back into a right relationship with Him.

This is the definition of propitiation in short. Please meditate on these facts today and realize the love God has for you.

“But the gospel begins with the outspoken assertion that nothing we can do, say, offer or even contribute can compensate for our sins or turn away God’s anger.” –John Stott, The Cross of Christ

THE CROSS

Over the next week to two weeks I will be studying and writing on the atonement. My main focus and purpose in this is to grow closer to Jesus and look a bit deeper into the cross. There is a secondary purpose to this study, which will be shown through the writing. I want my study to be a tool for the church, specifically Seven San Diego Church. A lot of times we throw around words like justification, propitiation, and reconciliation and some Christians might not understand these. However, they are highly important concepts and help make clear why Christ died on the cross, for who Christ died for on the cross, etc.

My friends, there is nothing more important than studying what Christ did on the cross. Please feel free to ask questions, write comments, or call me so we can discuss anything I do not write clearly enough for you to understand. My heart loves studying this stuff and I will do my best to make it simple and understandable. One thing I ask is that you pass on what I write to non-Christian friends and please be purposeful and missional and discuss these things with them. I hope this will bring you as much joy as it will for me.

Lesson Learned

The other day, October 9th to be exact, I changed my relationship status to single on Facebook. I did not expect the flood of questions that came along with that. So, this is my attempt to answer those questions, share an honest story of disobedience, and explain an amazing lesson learned through trust and repentance.

As most of you know, I was married in August of 2008. What most of you do not know is the disobedience I had towards God and what lengths I went to to ignore His commands. To save time and typing, I was given the impression through lots of prayer and scripture reading that I was not to marry the girl I was dating. However, I wanted to be Jesus to a broken girl and despite the physical and verbal abuse that took place from and to both of us, I pushed forward. Many friends told me not to marry this individual, but I did. Her relationship with Jesus was not authentic, as far as scripture says, and I felt she pursued God through me, but I am a sinner and I soon showed to be imperfect and a sinner.

After some clear and extreme signs to not marry her came about, we married in August 08'. I loved like Christ loved the Church, I was willing to die for her. However, due to an abusive upbringing and lack of trust in men, I was soon pushed away and she chose other things over me. In February of 2009, I gave an ultimatum that would force her to choose me, or these "other things." She chose the other things. I humbly moved out and into a dining room where a kitchen table should be. 3 close brothers took me in and nurtured me, but I was not used to such love.

This break led to the most intense study of the atonement of Christ and what He did on the cross for me. I was broken and camped daily and nightly at the foot of the cross...but I was still blaming her and had a lot of anger and bitterness, so I kept studying!!!

God kept breaking me, over and over and over. I spent many days in tears, literally balling my eyes out and loudly weeping in confusion. I was more upset that God allowed it, not at her disobedience and unfaithfulness. Only the closest most trusted people in my life new. I somehow shoved it down while at school all day and still attained straight A's. Slowly over time, my roommates, some other close friends, my pastor, and my parents brought me to a place of unconditional love. I was loved!!!

I always judged those men in ministry who got divorced, "Did they not understand the sanctity of marriage?" A few months later I was served divorce papers and watched my wife return to the lifestyle of her past. I fought for this marriage, like no other. But we have a sovereign God who knows all, and while some might disagree, this was His will for me. It was a lesson and discipline of my disobedience. The blame must not be put on her for this, but on me alone!

If it was not for this all taking place, the cross would not be as glorious as it is to me, I would not have the lenses I have now for a equally "gospel-lensed" woman, and I would not know the extreme call of obedience to holiness God requires of us!!! I was transformed!!!

So what now??? I am a man who loves Jesus like no other. I am finishing my last year of my undergraduate degree, preparing to move to Dallas for seminary, and have my eyes fixed on a gospel-lensed woman!!!

I am healed!!! I am loved!!! I am a vessel of honorable use when I was heading towards a path of being of dishonorable use. Thanks for all the questions and concern...this is me now!!!