Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

This article was written by John Piper March 19, 2008.
© Desiring God.

The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love. “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”

Therefore, to feel the love of Christ in the laying down of his life, it helps to see how utterly intentional it was. Consider these five ways of seeing Christ’s intentionality in dying for us.

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It was expected that He should come in pomp. Instead of that, He grew up as a tender plant, silently and insensibly. He had no form nor comeliness, nothing extraordinary which one might have thought to meet in an incarnate Deity. The manner of His appearing in the world had nothing of outward glory.

His gospel is preached, not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but with plainness. He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. His whole life was not only mean but miserable. Being made sin for us, He underwent the sentence sin had subjected us to. His condition was, upon many accounts, sorrowful. He was unsettled, had not where to lay His head, lived upon alms, was opposed and endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself… We never read that He laughed, but often that He wept.

…

Carnal hearts see no excellency in the Lord Jesus, nothing that should have induced them to desire an interest in Him… Men whom He came to save rejected Him, and His sufferings mean nothing to them. Christ, having undertaken to satisfy the justice of God for man’s sin, did it, not by divesting Himself of the glories due to an incarnate Deity, but by submitting to the disgrace due to worst of men and malefactors. Thus He glorified His Father… But alas, by how many is He still despised in His people, and rejected of men as to His doctrine and authority.

– Matthew Henry (October 18, 1662 – June 22, 1714)¹

¹ Extracted from: Rev (Dr) Tow, Timothy. The Gospel Prophets — An Applied Commentary On Isaiah and Micah. 120.

I saw the video below at A Little Leaven, and I agree with those who commented that it’s disturbing that the word “portal” is mentioned. That word is usually associated with witchcraft, not Christianity.

By the way, if you strongly disagree, please share your thoughts with the author of the original post at his blog instead of here. I’m just sharing my thoughts after watching it, and quite frankly, a little tired of debating falsehoods and false teachers when it’s so obvious that these are out to lead astray!

HT: A Little Leaven.

I have been thinking about observances of Good Friday and Easter from a Christian perspective these couple of days, and some things have bothered me quite a little so bear with me while I share my thoughts with you.

First off, I know some of you might ask what there is to think about from a “Christian perspective” since hey, everyone knows that Christians celebrate Easter!

My contention is that while it is true that that Easter is today labeled a Christian observance, many do not know the pagan origins of the festival.

Does it matter that it has pagan origins but today we have totally replaced the day with a focus on Christ’s Resurrection?

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Recently in India, as many as 50 people in Kottayam district went blind after staring at the sun for a prolonged period of time looking for an image of the “Virgin Mary”.

Believing in false signs and wonders can be dangerous and even detrimental to one’s health as evidenced in the story. Yet throughout generations, man has been looking for divine signs and wonders to prove the existence of God and/or bolster their faith.

Many of us Christians shake our heads at that, but what we don’t realize is that in the Visible Church itself, many are looking for the same things.

I am not talking about the Roman Catholic obsession with miracles and apparitions of Mary (I don’t consider the Roman Church part of the Visible Church anyhow), but the obsession with signs such as tongues, healing, and other ‘miracles’ in some Christian circles.

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This is an ad-hoc weekly column where I share some of the best blog posts I’ve come across in the previous week. Some are notable for their content, while others are calling you to action to help pray about an issue or for fellow bloggers.

Twenty-Three Great Sins Of American Evangelism — Why We Must Pray For A Reformation Again

While reading a great blog Theology Today, I came across a mention of the above post over at Al Tosap Al Davaraiv which lists the 23 reasons why the author feels a reformation is needed in this day and age.

I don’t know much about the American church, but I think it’s apt to say that the author’s observations are true for the Visible Church as a whole.

Quoted is the original post:

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I’m not one of those stiff-necked folks who insist that only hymns are proper worship songs, but given the fact that there’s actually a plethora of bad Christian music out there nowadays, I still prefer hymns to contemporary Christian music (CCM).

There’s just something majestic and magnifying of the Lord in hymns, unlike bad CCM that harp about “what I want from God” or worse, not mentioning God at all in the lyrics.

As you can probably guess by now, lately I’ve been harking back to hymns after having listened to CCM for awhile. Perhaps it’s a ‘grass is greener on the other side’ phenomenon, but for most of my time in a church it was in one that only sings hymns, and not CCM.

The only reason I started listening to CCM was that I was younger then and needed a beat. I mean, if you’re a teenager who’s listening to Run D.M.C. and Bon Jovi on normal days and had to go with the slow solemn hymns on Sunday, you would not have any interest in the latter.

So, perhaps it’s also because I’m older now and (hopefully) more matured as a Christian, I have a new-found appreciation for hymns, especially those sung by a good church choir.

Here’s one I found recently that I particularly like titled Worthy of Praise — it’s from the church choir of a church that I plan on visiting on Sunday.

Of late, I’ve also thought much about going back to my Bible-Presbyterian roots, hence the planned visit. Sure, I don’t agree with infant baptism, and the KJV-only stance, but it’s a Biblical church and teaches sound doctrine.

Not to mention a great choir and mmm… hymns!

If you liked Worthy of Praise, take a listen to the hymn Trusting Jesus too.

Shabbat Shalom!

Source: All hymns linked in this post are sung by the Calvary Pandan Church Choir. Photograph of the Calvary Pandan Church Choir taken from the Calvary Pandan Church web site.