Our Cosmic Setting

"In some ways these chapters are the most important ones in the Bible, for they put man in his cosmic setting and show him his peculiar uniqueness. They explain man's wonder and yet his flaw. Without a proper understanding of these chapters we have no answer to the problems of metaphysics, morals or epistemology, and furthermore the work of Christ becomes one more upper-story 'religious' answer." 

             ~ Dr. Francis Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time

Personal and Cosmic

"Jesus is the divine curse-remover and creation-renewer. Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross broke the curse of sin and death brought on by Adam’s cosmic rebellion. His bodily resurrection from the dead three days later dealt death its final blow, guaranteeing the eventual renewal of all things ‘in Christ.’

The dimensions of Christ’s finished work are both individual and cosmic. They range from personal pardon for sin and individual forgiveness to the final resurrection of our bodies and the restoration of the whole world. Now that’s good news—gospel—isn’t it? If we place our trust in the finished work of Christ, sin’s curse will lose its grip on us individually and we will one day be given a renewed creation.

The gospel isn’t only about reestablishing a two-way relationship between God and us; it also restores a three-way relationship among God, his people, and the created order. Through Christ’s work, our relationship with God is restored while creation itself is renewed. This is what theologians mean when they talk about redemption. They’re describing this profound, far-reaching work by God. "

— Tullian Tchividjian, Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different  (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2009)

HT: Of First Importance

Worth a Look

Links worth a look:

Genesis 1&2: Are You Missing the Point?

How King David Reminds Us of Jesus

What the Eucharist Means to Me - Robin Parry

Why You Can't Pit Jesus Against His Bible

Evangelism in the Workplace

Feeling Shame is Not Repentance

Which Came First?

Hat Tip:  The Masters Table

Say Yes!

"...People have become so accustomed to the idea of faith- and particularly organized religion - as a thing that shackles and says only "no," they can't wrap their minds around the fact that everything about God is positive, from alpha to omega and back. But the evidence of the positive coming from God resides in the very fact of creation, which grew on the yes of God's own intention....

...if commandments and teachings seem heavy on the 'shall nots,' those words are not actually about
God or Church saying no. Rather, they are warnings about what takes us away form God, what creates distance- the actions (born of ideas) that say no to him, no to others, and yes only to ourselves, which makes our world very small indeed.

To say yes to God is to say yes to the very essence of what is positive, expansive, and cocreative - and for anything creative to happen, there must first be space. A wonderful Anglican hymn begins, 'There is a wideness in God's mercy.' Both wideness and mercy are formed within yes.

What has 'no' ever created besides hell?...."

  - Elizabeth Scalia in  Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life., pages 43-44

Conversation at an Athiest's Garage

HT: Vitamin Z

Do It Again

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

              -G. K. Chesterton

Links for Wednesday

Some Links form my internet browsings:

Tim Keller on Creation, Evolution and Christian Laypeople

Fires of Revival Burning in China

What is Secret Church?

A Christian is a Person Who Cannot be Conquered - Great Story.

Three Marks of a Dead Church

Perfect Sense?

Blinded by the Artificial Light

Here's a selection from a great piece by Elizabeth Scalia, aka The Anchoress, on looking at the stars with a sense of wonder - Stars and the Excess of Clarity :

Spent some time stargazing a while back, when I couldn’t sleep.

No telescope, just the naked eye, a dark neighborhood and a willingness to wonder. I was digesting a bit of Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain, and it had stayed with me through evening’s pass – the sight of the stars, the early, wise writings of a monk.

Does the fact that we can no longer see the stars have anything to do with our loss of wonder? These things, the stars, and all creation – they are more splendid, perfect, beautiful and lasting than anything man can create or even conceive.

It seems like when we were more aware of milky ways and horizons, it was easier to believe. Could Joan of Arc have led her army, could she even have thought to, could she have trusted enough, without having a sense of something greater, bigger than herself?

We have obliterated the stars with our artificial light – but perhaps we’ve blinded ourselves, too. Without the wonder, the greatness of the galaxies in our sight, we’ve lost the ability to believe in, or expect, miracles.

When you cannot see the glory of God’s creation, how can you wish to glorify the Lord? No longer seeing anything greater than ourselves, we turn inward, we worship our own thoughts, our invention, our desire.

More good stuff at the link.  Love the Anchoress!

‘Yes’ and ‘No’

“Jesus’ announcement of the gospel constitutes a resounding ‘yes’ to his good creation and at the same time a decisive ‘no’ to the sin that has perverted it.”

- M. Goheen and A. Wolters, Postscript to Albert Wolters Creation Regained (Grand Rapids, Mi.; Eerdmans, 2005), 121.

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

("Of First Importance" really is a fantastic web site. If you are not reading it regularly, I recommend you start.)

God's Work of Art

“Every atom in the quadrillion-mile universe and every ‘chance’ event in its trillion-year history is deliberated and perfectly planned and controlled by God for the ultimate end of our good, our heavenly joy. Galaxies revolve and dinosaurs breed and rain falls and people fall in love and uncles smoke cheap cigars and people lose their jobs and we all die—all for our good, the finished product, God’s work of art, the kingdom of Heaven.”

- Peter Kreeft

Hat Tip: Buzzard Blog