Park Church Denver Blog

Which is it?

If your house was burning down but your whole family escaped, and I came to you

and said, “Let me show you how much I love you!” and ran into the fiery house

and died, you would say, “What an idiot!” But if one of your children was still in the

house, and I said, “Let me show you how much I love you!” and ran into the fiery

house and saved your child but died myself, you would say, “Behold, how he loved

us!” Now if you can save yourself by works, Jesus death is not loving; it is pure

stupidity. If, however, you are lost and dying and unable to save yourself, his death

means everything.

- Roger Nicole, speaking on Galatians 2:21

Galatians Resources

We've put together a list of helpful resources pertaining to our series on Galatians. We'll try to add more in the future but here is a link to it. A link is also on the toolbar to the left should you want to return to it.

resources

Greg Gilbert on What is the Gospel

I've been following a series of posts at the 9 Marks Blog on the content of the gospel. In the three posts, Greg Gilbert makes some extremely helpful distinctions and draws out some implications that are extremely pertinent for our ministry together as a church. I recommend you read all three.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Justin Taylor has made some helpful summary observations on the series.

Gospel

Galatians Week 4.

We're moving into our 4th week in Galatians at Park Church. Finally, after 3 weeks of largely narrative from Paul, where he has been defending his authority, the authority of his message and damning his opposition to hell- we begin to see him unfold his argument for why circumcision and law-obedience is not the basis for our justification. And it all begins with a meal... this weekend we'll be in 2:11-21

Also, our friend Joel Limpic from Bridgeway Church in Edmond, OK will be leading worship for us and bringing us sweater vests from our favorite charismatic Calvinist/J. Edwards expert.

Please pray for us this weekend.

I should have some Galatians resources up soon, with an annotated bibliography I've been working on. Meanwhile I recommend Trevor Burke's Aopted into God's Family:

Music, Sermons, Teaching

Mocking Idols - Isaiah 44

Isaiah 44:9-11

"All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together."

The theme of blind eyes and deaf ears (or seeing but never seeing, hearing but never hearing) which Isaiah takes up throughout his prophecy (and Jesus adapts to his own ministry) is directly connected to another theme which runs throughout Isaiah. That of idols. In Isaiah 44, Isaiah takes some shots at idol worship by taking a closer look at how an idol comes to be. At the core, the idolator worships something human hands have made. So that wood from a tree is divided- some goes to cooking fuel, some to warm the house, and some to making a statue that a man will worship. Isaiah finds this not simply atrocious, but stupid... worshipping what our hands have made- rather than the one who has made us. We stand over what we have made with our own strength and imagine that it might save us from whatever calamity may strike: a storm, a disease, a personal tragedy.

Another theme Isaiah (and the rest of the Scriptures) confronts us with is the idea that we become like what we worship. Isaiah compares the worshippers of idols to the dead idols themselves- unable to see, unable to hear, ultimately unable to speak. Here the idol worshipper's eyes are closed and he can't perceive the foolishness of worshipping something as a god which ones' own hands have made.

Where does this temptation come from? And is it possible that as we are foolishly tempted to worship objects our hands have made- seeking salvation, meaning, and hope in something we can construct- we ultimately simply seek to exalt the works of our own hands?

Also- where can we see the truth that we become what we worship? Where do we see blindness and rampant foolishness coming from lives spent worshipping something our own hands have made: a career, a family, financial independence, emotional independence, a political party, etc.?

The human condition is a picture of insanity in the Scriptures. We refuse to worship or acknowledge the God who gives us life. And so, we fashion our own gods- made with our hands. We worship the work of our hands and thus, become like what we worship- blind, deaf, hard hearted, and in the end insane. Calling evil good and good, evil.

So that when we come to v. 21 and 22 our hearts should sing:

"Remember these things, O jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you."

Even in the midst of our rebellion, our idolatrous works, and our painful blindness- God says: "I have redeemed you." Could there be anything more wonderful? He does not simply pass over our rebellion- but calls us to Himself, "Return to me!" He takes away blind eyes, He repairs deaf ears. He rights all that has gone wrong. He is our Maker, our redeemer, our Lord.

Gospel , Old Testament, Teaching

Evil is Personal

One of the most startling things about the bible is the way that it speaks of evil. We commonly think of evil as something which is at work in the world around us. We act as though evil is an influence outside, or the results of others' words or actions when again and again the bible places it within. Sin works as an agent in each of us, twisting, distorting, and hiding. The great problem with the world is not systems or the behavior of others. It isn't even primarily our own behavior- it is the Sin that hides within, turning and twisting our thoughts and desires in on themselves. It plants us firmly in our own pride. It makes us forget our constant and pervasive need for grace. It causes us to take deep offense at the sins of others while forgetting our collusion in all of it. There is a reason why righteousness is accounted and given only on the basis of faith- there is nowhere else to stand.

"For although they (we) knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles..." (Romans 1:21-23)

One of the most difficult realities that the gospel illuminates in our own lives is the sheer twisted-ness of our foolishness- how dark things really get the deeper we probe the depths of our motives and desires. We need light. But we desperately need grace. Grace to straighten what is twisted. Grace to turn us away from ourselves, and grace to reveal to us and in us the mercy of Christ.

This quote was from Of First Importance was deeply encouraging yesterday:

"All the wickedness in this world that man might work or think is no more to the mercy of God than a live coal in the sea."

-William Langland, Piers Plowman , quoted in Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson Angels in the Architecture

May God swallow our sin in the ocean of His mercy.

Gospel

Isaiah 29

Isaiah 29:18

"In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see."

Isaiah 6:8-10

"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." And he said, "Go, and say to this people:

'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'"

Isaiah consistently describes judgment as blindness and deafness. In chapter 6 he makes it clear that this isn't primarily a reference to physical blindness or deafness, rather it is a matter of the heart- it is the inability to perceive and understand the way of righteousness- the word of God. So when God judges a people it is not merely some sort of physical punishment, like a divine spanking. Instead it is something far more terrifying, it is the inability to perceive His Word. We hear it and we see it, but we cannot understand it or be transformed by it. Paul picks up this theme in Romans 1. Isaiah is sent with an almost unbearable commission- "go, and through your preaching these people will be made blind and deaf and unable to respond to My word."

But if God's judgment is terrifying, his mercy is wonderful. It is the opening of eyes to see and ears to hear His word. It is the crushing of a dead and stony heart that it is made pliable under God's merciful word. And so when God describes what his mercy looks like as it comes in Isaiah 29, he describes it as the blind being able to see and the deaf being able to hear. And this is precisely what happens. We live out life deaf and blind and unable to perceive God's word, and then we are made able to hear and able to see and are transformed by God's word. This is the starting point of salvation and perhaps one of the most offensive aspects of the Gospel. We don't figure out Christianity and the Gospel. We don't logically deduce its superiority. We can't, we're blind. Instead God says (as in 2 Corinthians 4), "Let there be light," and suddenly what looked irrelevant and boring and foolish and worthless appears beautiful and precious and glorious beyond words. This is salvation. This is God's mercy- atleast as it is described in Isaiah.

Gospel , Sovereign Grace, Teaching

Find out everything you ever wanted to know

This site has statistics on everything Denver. You can compare Denver with other cities, the National average, etc. Check it out and learn some things about our little city.

Here is the site.

City

Starting Next week

So the blog has been pretty much useless and silent these past few weeks (months?). Next week that's all going to change. Starting next week we will start featuring a bi-weekly reflection on Scripture based on our community's readings (find the link to the bookmarks here.) We'll also feature a short review of a local business (either in the Highlands, Lodo, or near downtown) that we're finding exceptionally delightful. Interspersed will be various reflections, comments and exasperations on our developing life together as a community, our common mission in this city, and our common hope- the Gospel. We hope to see more of you around here regularly, and hope that this little blog will prove a bit more helpful than it has been so far.

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