No Ransom Negotiation Needed!

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us”.

Over the last few months the world has unfortunately been given several horrific examples of what happens when a ransom is not paid.  Kidnapping for a ransom is nothing new and over the years there are accounts of lives being spared when a ransom is paid and sadly far more deaths when it was not.  Kidnapping is a risk that one takes when traveling in many parts for the world, and because it has the potential of being a lucrative business the United States, as well as most mission agencies have a no ransom policy. In other words, despite all the United States’ resources, if an American citizen gets kidnapped there will be no ransom paid for their release.

The mission agency that my parents served with had a no ransom policy, and we lived with that reality through the ups and downs of Africa’s political turmoil. As an adult this was exceptionally difficult when they lead a team into war-torn Mozambique after the fall of the Marxist regime when rebel militia still controlled much of the country side.  In those days it was standard procedure to have a military escort when traveling from city to city.  The thought of my parents being held hostage for ransom with no hope for freedom was terrifying.

Yet, at one point in history there was what appeared to be an impossible situation where all of humanity was taken captive with a ransom too costly for any to afford.  From every perspective it appeared to be an impossible predicament.  However the situation was never out of control and before it ever occurred there was plan for the ransom to be paid in full. To get a better picture, let’s back up and take a look at this human captivity that demanded such a high ransom. 

Scripture teaches that sin is the master who holds humanity captive.  Humanity is both polluted by sin and a slave to it.  In fact “all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23 – ESV).  Unfortunately, the picture gets worse because humanity is so ingrained in their slavery to sin that they didn't, and still don’t want to be free of it.  The good news is that despite their spiritual deadness [1] and desire to stay in captivity, God graciously paid a ransom “not with perishable things such as silver or gold,  but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18b–19).

But it gets better!  Beyond Christ purchasing redemption (paying the ransom) to free His people from their captivity to sin, He also forgives them for that sin.  Remember they cooperated and supported our captor! Christ rescued a people who did want to be rescued and He still forgave them. That is a remarkable picture of grace! Note well, when Paul writes that this forgiveness is “according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us” (Ephesians 1:7-8a).  Think about that! This is no small amount of grace!  Christ is exceptionally wealthy, He has an inexhaustible abundance. . .  He is rich in grace!  But it gets better! Unlike many of great wealth, Christ doesn’t hoard His grace, nor does He ration it. Instead He lavishes it super abundantly on His children!  So much so that Paul writes “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20b).

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, that is really good news.  It is free and you are free too!




[1] Ephesians 2:1

From Street Children to Sons!


“In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:5 - ESV).

It is a common practice to remind Believers in Jesus Christ that they are not orphans but rather sons of God.  The analogy of an orphan is not wrong and is in fact Biblical.  Jesus encourages His disciples in John 14 by telling them He would not leave them as orphans and would come again.  Nevertheless, as we take a brief look at what it means to be “adopted as sons” I encourage you to consider a slightly different analogy - the street child.   

The plight of children living on the street is nothing new and has been well documented since the mid-19th century.  In 1848 Lord Ashley recorded that there were more than 30,000 “naked, filthy, roaming lawless and deserted children”[1] in London. In fact the YMCA and Sunday school movements were started to address this need.  Sadly, the problem is continuing to grow.  UNICEF had defined three types of Street Children, those who have run away from families and live on the street, those who work on the streets, fending for themselves, and those who live on the street with their families.  

The first group is the most disconcerting and are present in every global city. These children live a life of fighting to survive and are often exploited and abused.  Life is extremely dangerous and many are forced into gangs for survival and a place to belong – a family.  Several organizations estimate there are well over 100 million street children in the world!   There are many reasons why children end up on the street - all of which are tragic.   These children are often an embarrassment to governments and therefore their rights as citizens are often ignored leaving them almost invisible to the broader community.  As a result, they are stuck in this cycle unless someone from the outside intercedes. 

Sadly, there are many Believers who have taken on the identity of a Street Child.  In other words, they fail to understand that they have been adopted as sons and have been given a new name, a new family, a new legal standing, a new identity, and an almost unfathomable inheritance! Street Children have a reason to live on the street, Christians don’t.  

As Ephesians 1:5 states, Believers in Jesus Christ have been adopted into an eternal, secure and gracious loving family and have been given the identity of “son”.  Paul is not being a misogynist when he uses this word.   It was purposeful and powerful.  In the first century daughters did not have the same rights as sons, especially first born sons.  What Paul writes is profound as he is saying that regardless of your gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (Galatians 3:28-29), it is an adoption whereby the Believer receives the rights and privileges of the first born son!  That was incredibly powerful to the first century audience and should still be today.  After all, the Believer is a co-heir with the true first born son - Jesus Christ! Think about that! This is a remarkable concept and means that there is no need for a Believer to live with a Street Child mentality.  We have been given first born son status!   

Let me go a little further . . . this adoption as sons is not simply utilitarian, but is rooted in love.  In fact all family members have total access to God our Father.  Now please understand, God does not change and is the same holy God that Isaiah encountered and said “woe is me!”  God doesn't change!  But as sons the Believer gets to wear our big brothers’ righteous robes which cover our sin and gives us the right to call God “Abba” or “daddy.”  God delights in His sons and loves them more than anyone could ever ask or imagine. 

Note well these powerful words from 1 John 3:1.  “See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are”.  Are you living like a street child rather than a son?  Do you believe that God is mad at you?  Is that why you have chosen to live as spiritual street child?  Are you fighting for survival by making unhealthy alliances?  If so, remember who you are!  




[1] http://www.dwellingplaces.org/index.php/faqs/106-faqs-street-children

He Chose Me!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:3-4 – ESV).

My nephew Lucas and his wife Jamie are missionaries to Siberia. Yes . . . that Siberia!  So on those days when I am tempted to gripe about the New Jersey winter I am reminded that an average winter day here is a warm spring day Sibera!  Then again, I have another nephew Stephen and his wife Beka who are missionaries to an unreached people group on a remote island off the coast of Madagascar…. Can’t go there!

Lucas and Jamie’s son Samuel started first grade this year in a Russian school.  This was total immersion for Samuel as English is not spoken in the school.  When they registered him one of the teachers noticed his name on the list, as Orner is clearly not a common Russian name, and went out of her way to get him in her class.  Lucas and Jamie later found out that she is a Believer who had assumed that because Samuel was American, his parents were also Believers.  As a result Samuel is thriving.   As I watched the video update I was struck by the genuine joy that radiated from Jamie as she told the story.  Out of all the students this teacher chose Samuel.  It was incredible answer to prayer! 

Her words and enthusiasm give me glimpse into how the apostle Paul might have felt as he wrote Ephesians 1:3-14. Take a moment and read those words which are one long sentence in Greek. 

"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory" (ESV).

Notice the passion and energy.  In many ways it reminds me of young child that is so excited about something they run all their words together.  Commentator William Hendriksen compares these verses to a “snowball tumbling down a hill, picking up volume as it descends”.   Or as John Stott wrote, “The whole paragraph is a paean of praise, a doxology, or indeed a ‘eulogy’” Paul’s enthusiasm is a result of understanding that God has blessed His people beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.  Our whole being wants to praise Him!

As Paul moves down through these verses he gushes a plethora of spiritual blessings that God has poured out on his people in Christ.  Over the coming weeks we will take a closer look at these.  Today I want to you to notice that God chose His children in Christ in eternity past.  Now I know that the words “chose,” “predestined,” and “election” are fighting words for many and boastful words for others.  Nevertheless, I encourage you push all that aside and focus on what Paul is saying.  This is REALLY good news because those whom God choses, He blesses!  Throughout Scripture we see clearly that God chose Abraham, Moses, David and countless others.  In fact the Israelites were God’s chosen people. 

Peter includes all believers in this group when he writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).  That is good news . . . very good news!

The whole concept of election is tough and scholars have debated if for years. William Hendriksen correctly notes that “Our response should be adoration, not explanation”.   With that in mind, if you take an honest look at who you really are, not what you present to others, you will be forced to admit that if you had been in Adam’s place in the garden you would have done the same thing.  Whether we like it or not Adam was a representative for all humanity.  When Adam sinned every person on the earth sinned “in him” and have been contaminated by that sin.  Yet, Adam’s sin is not the end of the story, as “from the foundations of world” God had a far better plan where Christ would come and do what Adam could not do living a perfect righteous life on behalf of His children.[i]   Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father in thought, word and deed – He was blameless!  So while we were “in Adam” we “were dead in trespasses and sin” (Eph. 2:1), alienated from God and condemned.  However “in Christ” we are declared holy and blameless because of what he did for us.  That is great news!

Words cannot express the impact these truths have on my heart.  There is not a day of my life that I don’t fight against God – All I do is struggle against Him!  And I am one of His children!  If it weren’t for God loving me before eternity past, I would be dead in my sin.  I am keenly aware that even if I could have, I would not have chosen Him. When I make that sober analysis of myself, I am simply astounded He loves me, and am grateful because He will never ever let me go!  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”! 
The words of Robert Robinson well know hymn “Come, Thou Fount” ring so true.  From the 4th stanza of his hymn read these words:

O to grace how great a debter
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heat to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord I feet it,
Prone to leave the God I love.

Because we have been chose by God, we are secure in His love.  Aren't these words simply amazing? 

"35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, 

                  “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; 
      we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39 - ESV).

I don't about you, but this makes want to go tell people about Jesus!!


[i] See Romans 5:12-21


Grace & Peace

I am starting a new sermon series that I am truly excited about it.  It is nothing trendy, no catchy titles, just a straight forward walk through the book of Ephesians.  I am really looking forward to this journey as I have never preached straight through this fantastic little book.  Looking back over all my years of ministry I am not sure why I haven’t, because it is awesome book.  That means I am starting from scratch in my studies and it has already been exhilarating!  Martin Lloyd Jones preached 232 systematic expositional sermons on this book . . . the majority on Sunday mornings.  My plan at this point is to be through by August.

I am also excited about this because Ephesians is full of rich, gospel saturated doctrine that everyone needs to know.  Martin Lloyd Jones wrote “Much of the trouble in the church today is due to the fact that we are so subjective, so interested in ourselves, so egocentric . . . Having forgotten God, and having become so interested in ourselves, we become miserable and wretched, and spend our time in “shallows and in miseries”.  The message of the Bible from beginning to end is designed to bring us back to God, to humble us before God, and to enable us to see our true relationship to him . . . And that is the great theme of this epistle

John R. Stott quotes Alexander Mackay who as a teenager was converted when he read Ephesians, when he wrote “This letter is pure music . . . What we read here is truth that sings, doctrine set to music. As the apostle proclaimed God’s order to a post-Augustan Roman era which was marked by a ‘process of social disintegration”, so Ephesians is today ‘the most contemporary book in the Bible’, since it promises community in world of disunity, reconciliation in a place of alienation and peace instead of war

As is common to Paul, he opens this letter with a greeting or salutation.  Every culture has some form of greeting and unfortunately every culture’s greeting can become a meaningless polite gesture.  For example in North America it is common to greet someone with the question “How are you doing?” Most of the time the question simply rolls off our lips with little thought.  Even more significant is our insincerity as much of the time we don’t really care how that person is doing, nor have the time to listen if they want to give a detail description of what hard or difficult struggle they may be going through. Unfortunately, we also read Paul’s greetings in the same way and miss a powerful reminder from God Himself. 

Paul’s greeting in Ephesians 1:2 reads, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Grace and peace are key words throughout this letter.  This is far more than a greeting as it is a powerful reminder of the gospel. We all need to be regularly reminded that grace always describes a gift that no one can obtain for themselves; one that they did not earn nor deserve.  It is God’s free saving initiative from beginning to end! It is by grace that we have been saved and it is by grace that we overcome the power of sin. 

Peace flows out from grace and points to the reconciliation of God to the sinner.  This peace is not simply the absence of distress, and really is not depent on outward circumstances. Rather it is a peace with the God of all creation.  He is not angry with us, and we can boldly approach His thrown of grace.  John Stott summarizes it this way,

“In 6:15 the good news is termed ‘the gospel of peace’. In 2:14 it’s written that Jesus Christ himself ‘is our peace’, for first he ‘made peace’ by his cross (v.15) and then he ‘came and preached peace” to Jews and Gentiles alike (v.17).  Hence his people are to be ‘eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (4:3). ‘Grace’, on the other hand indicates both why and how God has taken his reconciliation initiative.  For ‘grace’ is his free and undeserved mercy.  It is ‘by grace’ that we are saved, indeed by ‘the immeasurable riches of his grace’ (2:5, 7, 8), and it is by the same grace that we are gifted for his service (4:7).

Now that is Good News!


It Wasn't a Sabbatical

It is hard to believe that it has almost been six months since my last blog entry. Nevertheless, in that time period I stepped out of my position at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando (though I remain guest faculty and assist with the Doctor of Ministry Program), and moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey to assume the role of Senior Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church.  For those of you who don't know, Cherry Hill is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.  For a matter of perspective the church is less then a 10 miles from Independence Hall.  I can drive or ride a train.  Between the two of us lies several small townships, including Collingswood the home of the infamous Bible Presbyterian Church, and most significantly the city of Camden.  My friend Doug Logan is planting Epiphany Fellowship Camden in one of the roughest neighborhoods in North America.  He regularly brings a group of guys up here to play Basketball in our gym.

My wife and I rented a post WWII cape cod style house in Haddon Heights township.  My drive to the office takes me up Kings Highway through beautiful Haddonfield. There are great coffee shops like "Jersey Java," classic dinners like "Poncio's," pizza parlors all over the place, and "Del Bouno's Bakery" where you can grab some of best rolls you have ever tasted (sorry mom) rolling out of the oven on a large conveyor belt.  Literally, you grab a bag and fill it up with the rolls you want.  And their pretzels are to die for!  Good stuff!

View from my church office window
But more importantly are the people.  The people that make Covenant a church are generous and gracious.  Not only have they embraced us as part of the family, but they care deeply for one another.  There is clear desire to live out the Gospel.   God has placed us in a county of over 500,000 souls and Doug Logan and I are the only Senior Pastors that represent the PCA.  My wife and I have already met a lot of lost people.  Most are totally astounded hat we would leave Florida to move here, but have welcomed us and we are beginning to build relationships with them.  I am totally convinced that "the fields are white for harvest" (John 4:35) here in Southern New Jersey.  

Oh yeah, it is cold here . . . it is supposed to get down to 10 degrees tonight . . . slightly colder then Orlando  . . . but I will take the cold, because God has entrusted me with an incredible task in a strategic region!