Round the Sphere Again: When Trials Come

Christ’s Comfort In Crisis
The doctrine of the Trinity is not just an egghead exercise, but a profoundly practical teaching:

The Lord Jesus, on the night of His betrayal, is doing the very thing that we contemporary Christians would never dream of doing. What is He going to say to help these beleaguered, frightened disciples? And the answer is, you’ll see this if you read even casually through John 13-17, He’s teaching them about the Trinity—that’s what He’s doing.

Sinclair Ferguson in The Doctrine of the Trinity Brings Comfort (Ligonier Ministries Blog).

Suspicious of God’s Plan
Have you felt uneasy when things are going well, scared that trouble-free times now mean God must have hard providences in store? I have!

In this video, Nancy Guthrie helps us think through these dark thoughts about God’s providence.

The truth is that God probably does have difficult circumstances planned for your future, not as a sort of “balance” for the easy times, but as part of his plan to bring you ultimate good.

Questioning God’s Discipline
First up, D. A. Carson answers the question “How do we know if God is disciplining us?” (The Gospel Coalition Blog).

And second, a quote that answers the question, “Why should I be frightened of God’s discipline?” You might be surprised by the answer. (Aaron Armstrong at Blogging Theologically quoting a new book from Cruciform Press).

Purposes of Christ's Death: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 and Romans 14:9

Back in my first years of blogging, on my old blog, I did a series of posts on the purposes of Christ’s death. Each post examined one or more of the purpose statement that scripture gives us regarding the death of Christ. A couple of years ago, I began reposting them here. I reposted eight old posts, and then, for some reason—or maybe no reason—stopped. I’d still like to have them all here, so I’m resuming the reposting and updating. (You can find the other posts from this series by clicking on the purposes of Christ’s death label at the end of this post.)

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 ESV)

There are some who  think that the terms awake and asleep in this text don’t refer to physical life and death, but rather to whether someone will be watching alertly or caught off-guard when the day of wrath comes, and they point to the verses right before this as evidence. I think it’s more likely that Paul is bringing us round again to the subject of the last part of the chapter before this one, that those who have already died and those who remain alive until Christ’s return will be joined together to be with the Lord. If you look at 4:17 and 18, and compare these verses to 5:9-11, you can see the parallels. Given these close parallels, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that awake and asleep in verse ten refer to physical life and physical death.

The purpose statement found in these verses is “so that whether we wake or sleep, we will live together with Him.”

Moving on to the next text:

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:9 ESV)

The words “to this end” alert us to a purpose statement here. One of the goals of Christ’s death and resurrection was “that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living”. 

In both of these texts, our being united with Christ means that something remains the same for us even if we should die. In the first text, we see that our physical death does not change our expectation of living forever with the Lord. We need not fear the wrath on the day of the Lord — even though we die physically — because those who are united with Christ in His death are assured that there is no wrath in store for them, but rather, a wonderful life in the presence of the Lord. 

In the second text we are told that because Christ died and lived again, He is Lord of all those who belong to Him, those who are living and those who have already died. Because Christ himself once died and now lives, those who are “in Him” will remain “in Him” in either state, dead or living. For those to whom He is Lord in this life, He will remain Lord after death. 

Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, those who are united with Him can be assured that death will not change these two things: They can still count on living eternally with Christ, and Christ will remain their Lord. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians that we should use these truths to comfort and edify each other. We have nothing to fear, because no matter what happens to us, we are permanently and eternally included with Christ, since He died and rose for us. 

Christ died and rose on our behalf so that we can be certain that we will live forever with Him, whether live until his return or die prior to it; and so that he will always be our Lord, both while we are living and after we die.

Thankful Thursday

One of the advantage of doing these posts of thanksgiving every week is that it causes me to look in the ordinariness of my life for good gifts from God. This is an exercise that helps me be content with God’s providence for me, and an exercise that brings me joy. The first item on the list of things for which I’m thankful, then, is Thankful Thursday.

Today my oldest daughter and youngest granddaughter daughter spent the afternoon with me. We made a double batch of sourdough naan bread, enough for each of our families and a little more to share. So I’ve been thinking about yeast as one of God’s gifts. I’m thankful he created it and caused someone, way back in history, to discover that it could put to good use. I’m especially thankful that it helps us make light and tasty breads.

While I’m thinking of it, I’m thankful that I can google just about anything I feel like making, food-wise, and find a recipe that’ll work. I’m thankful for the internet and for people who share their recipes.

I’m thankful for lots and lots of new snow. We usually get our snow a little bit at a time, but last night, we got a 8 inches or so. It made my mid-January world beautiful and my mid-January dog walk a fun adventure. I thank God for new snow—and for my son and son-in-law who shoveled the walk and driveway for me. Twice in one day.

I’m also thankful for a slow morning to catch up on reading. 

I’m thankful that God’s providence for me teaches me to trust him, even when things are difficult.

I’m thankful that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved [me], even when [I was] dead in our trespasses, made [me] alive together with Christ….”