Daily Bullet Journal of SBK

03.29.2023

Mark 15:39-47

Women, Pagans and Pharisees.

Timothy Keller sermon.

There are 2 ways to be your own savior and your own Lord. 

Right here in the next. 

To be the center and to make everything else revolve around you. 

2 ways to express the evil self-centeredness of the human heart and make a mess of the world- as a pagan and as a Pharisee. 

The Roman centurion- a pagan. How does a pagan become his own savior and lord? By breaking all the rules. 

Sex, drugs, violence, 

The Pharisee- how does a Pharisee, a Bible-teacher, God-believing man become his own savior and lord? By keeping all the rules. And being so good that he says to God, you have to bless me and take me to heaven and everyone else has to bow before me because I am so good. 

Both- very different but both very radical self-centered lives. They both are ways of being self-centered and making everything else center on you and orbit around you. They are different ways of making the world a miserable place to live in.

The pagan is saying- I don’t want anything to do with God. That’s the pagan’s way. 

The other, the Pharisee, is saying, oh I believe in God, I obey God. And yet, in spite of the fact that he’s obeying God, the Pharisee is making himself his own savior, because he’s saying- if I live a good enough life, God has to save me. 

Jesus says- Pagan, Pharisee, prostitute, King, you must be born again. All the same. The minister and the prostitute. The process is the same. 

THE PROCESS IS THIS-

Take my body- said Jesus. What does that mean? It doesn’t just mean believe that Jesus died for you. That’s a very important prerequisite. But to say take his body means grasp his death.

Think about it. Understand it. Go deep into the meaning of it and then take it in, digest it, like bread. Make it part of you. 

Like what happened to Joseph and Nicodemus in front of the cross and in front of Jesus’s body. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross begins to change them, to transform them. Something else became more important to them than themselves and their honor and their status, so much so that they could reach out to people of other races and classes and they could do stuff (like cleansing the body of Christ after he died, which was traditionally women’s work in that culture at that time) that wasn’t appropriate to people of their class, so that they could risk their power and their status..  Therefore becoming agents of justice because they were becoming the recipients of grace. 

Q: What does it mean to take the body, to grasp the death? 

A: Well we don’t know. 

What we know in our bones is this-  We’re all pagans and Pharisees. Some of us have been both. 

Jesus is in the ultimate ring of power, it’s called the Trinity. From all eternity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have been honoring each other, glorifying each other. John 17- Jesus says that everyone in the Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, glorify each other. 

What does it mean to glorify each other? 

It means instead of saying ‘you center on me’, it means ‘I center on you, I revolve around you, I defer to you, I harbor you at the center of my being, I love you, I give myself to you.’ The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have been doing that for all eternity. 

No wonder God hates the way things are going in the world. Because down here, we’re all committed to saying ‘everyone has to revolve around me’ ‘My needs first’, ‘Me, me, me, what about me?’

But at the very heart of reality, at the very heart of the Godhead, of who God is, God in his very essence is other-oriented.

Each person is seeking to revolve around the other two. And when you have three persons all trying to dance around the other two, you’ve got a beautiful dance. 

THE TRINITY - 

C.S. Lewis puts it like this- in Christianity, God is not an impersonal thing or a static thing. Not even one person. But a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, a kind of drama, almost- if you will not think me irreverent- a kind of dance in constant movement of overture and acceptance. Each person of the Trinity encircles the others. 

And that’s the reason that Jesus Christ left the inner ring to come here. To our reality. To the middle of our history. But when He went to the cross, he was centering on us. 

I came not to be served but to serve. The primary thing he came to do was not to be circled, but to circle, to show you how it’s done. To so radically empty himself of all of his interests, of all of his needs, to serve us- that we would see that and realize- you’re paying the penalty for my sin. That changes everything. That’s what’s happening to the Pagan and the Pharisee. 

C.S. Lewis- when we touch self-giving, the heart of all reality, when Jesus Christ was crucified, listen carefully here, when Jesus was crucified, he did here in the wild weather of his outlying provinces that which he had done at home in glory and gladness. 

Because from the foundation of the world, the Son had been glorifying the Father and the Father glorifying the Son. Therefore, when he showed up here and he gave up his life to pay the penalty for our sins and Jospeh and Nicodemus saw what he was doing-

All their lives they had been lusting after the inner ring of power, of demanding that the world revolve around them, He changed them. 

From the highest to the lowest, self, therefore, exists to be abdicated. To get out of the center. And by that abdication it becomes more truly itself. To be thereupon yet the more abdicated and so on forever. 

This is not a principal we can escape. The only thing outside the system of self-giving is hell. Hell with all its fierce imprisonment of self-absorption. Self-giving is absolute reality. 

3 OBSERVATIONS ON OUR REALITY- 

# 1 Now do you see why the gospel doesn’t just make you happy and take you to heaven- but it makes you an agent for justice in the world. It makes you a person who shares the power and privilege of God, who reaches out to people of other races and classes who otherwise you wouldn’t. Because the gospel says you’re so bad, Jesus had to die for you. That humbles you out of your pride. Any pride. All pride. Any person’s pride, no matter their identity, no matter their privileges of rank, birth, giftedness. He loved you so much he was glad to die for you. And that affirms you up to a place where power just becomes power. And money just becomes money, not your identity any more, and you can use it. Instead of being abused by it and used by it and defined by it and measured and found wanting by it (power and money). 

# 2 The Church is filled with people who, otherwise, apart from the gospel, would never give each other the time of day. 

And the more you understand the gospel, the more we corporately understand the gospel, the more we’re going to be bringing people together who would otherwise never even.. We wouldn’t like each other. We wouldn’t have anything to do with each other. And it’s still tough. 

It’s hard. Other races, other classes, other vocations, other politics, other walks of life. It’s tough. It’s still tough. Yet- what binds Christians together is not our common education, our common race, our common income or common politics or common nationality or common accents or common jobs or anything else of that sort. Christians come together not because they form a natural collection but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ. We are a band of natural enemies turned into friends who love one another for Jesus’s sake. 

We are a band of natural enemies turned into friends who love one another for Jesus’s sake. Christian love is mutual love among social incompatibles. 

The gospel will create the most unique community of people in the world. 

Women, Pagans and Pharisees.. That’s everybody. 

# 3 However, when do you really change in life? When does your identify change? When does the boldness and the humility coming from the gospel hit you the way it hit Joseph? I don’t believe it happens sort of naturally, it usually happens through a trauma. God’s grace, your need for grace, the beauty and radical nature of God’s grace, almost always happens through a trauma. Why did Joseph, who had always been scared that anybody would know that he was a disciple, come out when it was even more dangerous? I believe it was the trauma of seeing the Sanhedrin that he was a member of, putting Jesus to death, basically. 

Revelation by Flannery O’Connor

Mary Grace- the young woman who listens to Mrs. Turner in the waiting room.  

Mrs. Turner: How could I be saved and from Hell too? 

It makes sense when you understand the gospel. The gospel is you’re saved by grace, not by works, which means that when you receive Jesus Christ, you are accepted and yet still sinful. You’re saved and you’re a warthog from Hell. 

When you’re a Christian, as Martin Luther said in latin, you’re simultaneously accepted but sinful. 

You’re simultaneously just, loved, accepted and a warthog from Hell. Pharisees don’t believe that. ‘Exactly how am I like them?’ asks Mrs. Turner. God, who do you think you are? 

REVELATION’S REVELATION (By FLANNERY O’CONNOR) 

A final surge of fury shook her and she cried out to God, “who do you think you are?” And at that moment the sun set and she saw a purple streak in the sky. A visionary light settled in her eyes and she saw a vast, swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire. Upon it was this vast horde of souls marching toward Heaven. 

There were whole companies of people she thought of as trash, battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. Then she saw to her surprise, coming at the end of the parade, a tribe of people whom she recognized as those who like herself always had a little bit of everything and the God-given wit to use it right. But they were marching behind the others. With great dignity, accountable as they always had been for good order and common sense and respectable behavior, they alone were singing on key. Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away. 

And in a moment the vision faded. And in the woods around her the invisible cricket choruses had struck up but what she heard were the voices of the souls climbing upwards into the starry fields and shouting ‘Hallelujah’. 

ON THE NATURE OF GRACE- 

03.23.2034

This awful headache. The stress that chases sleep from my nights and keeps my soul from peace. I got respite from it all tonight at worship. Worship at our church on a Thursday night at 8pm, for only the second time in In Com's history. It felt good. It felt life-affirming, it felt life-sustaining, it felt like God was giving me room to breathe in that space along with that collective of souls. It felt good. Thank you God for giving me the gift of worship in your name tonight. Life is scary when the next step is unknown and even worse, when the decision comes down.. when I execute.. when I ask.. and the question itself is a mistake.. in the real world, with real world consequences for my company, for my boss, for me, for the relationship, it is terrifying. But it needs to be done. Because without progress thereis no growth. And it has to be my next step or it's not my growth. Internally, spiritually, or externally, in my life in the office, or without. And God knows that. And God knows that I know that and that I fear that and that therefore, I shy away from that. But shying away from that is not what will help me at this stage in my life when I am twenty eight, going on twenty nine. That is not what will leave a lasting legacy into my thirties and beyond for me right now. Right now is my opportunity to ask the questions, to take the next step. It may be wobbly, but I will ask for grace to make my steps as firm as God deems sufficient. For His plan and not mine. For my plan to be part of His plan- for His will to be obeyed and executed faithfully. That I may be a vessel for His will. That I may be true creation. Face to face with my God. In conversation with my God. With my God walking with me in my life, in this world, in HIs kingdom.

Tonight's Scripture reading was Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying. "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Mixed with reflections on Timothy Keller's sermon via podcast preached on March 4, 2007 at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Mark 14:29-31; 53-54; 66-72.

Jesus is my advocate in heaven, standing at the right side of God. In the court of heaven, my lawyer, my advocate is Jesus Christ. My righteousness is in heaven, in his kingdom, not here, not judged or ordained or administered by people, by the world.

Jesus being my advocate, even till now, says Paul- does not mean that Jesus stands up before God the Judge, saying, 'Lord, it's your daughter again. She promised just last night she would never do it again, but she did it again today. Can you please give her a chance? For me, just do it for me, please.'

That is not Christ Jesus's advocacy on my behalf. It is this- Lord, your daughter sinned again today, when she swore, when she promised she wouldn't do it yesterday. I have already paid the price for her sin. So it is not fair for you to ask for the price for the same sin twice. This is paid in full. The debt is cleared by me. The balance is restored forever and nothing more can be asked in repayment for her sins.

And so, through the advocacy of Christ Jesus on my behalf, I am justified in the eyes of God. I am whole and perfect and righteous in the eyes of God. I am, in other words, God's daughter, whom he loves, with her I am well pleased.

Because Christ Jesus secured that eternal, unrevocable, undeserved privilege for me to stand before God without burning up and dying on the spot. I can meet the face of God, I can stand in His presence, I can talk to Him, I can pray to Him, I can meet Him, again.. like Adam and Eve did in Eden.. because of what Christ Jesus endured on the cross for me. His obedience to his father's commands bought my salvation, through which I've gained true freedom. So I give it up all for Christ, all for God. I choose to put on His yoke, that I may have true, righteous freedom by being new creation in His Kingdom. That I may bring His Kingdom to my reality, even if just in my little corner of the world, even for short bursts of time. It isn't the span of a life that makes it glorious. It's who's made it justified that makes it glorious. The very nature of His being... and that He created me in His image, created to bring His glory to all the earth, his creation, and to glorify Him by reflecting his glory back to Him in a way that only human beings can do.. that only the priests in his temple were created, designed and ordained to do.

The mayflies know more than we do. Look at how glad he is to be alive.

Look and feel how glad you are to be alive.

03.22.2023

I prayed desparately today. Momentarily, but sincerely. Quietly, but desperately. I know He heard me. I'm only sorry I didn't have the willpower and the strength to keep my head bowed and on my knees longer.

I prayed for HIs guiding hand. I prayed for Him to never let go of my hand as I walk this path. This is the path I've chosen. This is the path you've chosen for me, for which I am eternally thankful. In this life, until death, and beyond, into life after death and until the second coming of Jesus Christ and ever after, as long as God will allow me. I've chosen this path, out of all. Thorny, narrow, and ordinary as it is, because there is no better option from what I can see of life. I didn't choose this path becuase it was the most compelling or because it was the smoothest or the most beautiful out of all of the streets laid out before me- I chose this path because this is the only path to life and justifcation.. all through salvation, and my Father's love for HIs son and HIs son's sacrifice for humanity and His love for me.

I prayed my thanks for the relief I am granted under the shadow of the Cross of my Savior. That i have rest there, and clean air to breathe and a justified existence in harmony with the rest of creation because we all acknoweldge our master, a taste of the Kingdom.. relief and succor, salvation and grace, happiness and true contentment here, under the shadow of the Cross, where I meet my Creator face to face, if only I muster the courage to tilt my chin up. I am already justified. I can approach my God and not be instantly killed. I am saved in the love of my God. I am justified in my right to bathe in HIs glory. I am an instrument of His glory, justified and anointed, even though I am a sinner. All thanks to Jesus Christ and his good works. HIs ultimate sacrifice. His obedience to His father. Through him, I am granted all things. I am granted God's blessings to His creation. Through him, I can ask and I shall receive.

Together, as one body under Christ,... these are growing pains of humanity. As we forgive each other, understand each other.. and all things are fulfilled in the Spirit.. all empty spaces, all insufficiency is met and filled and fulfilled in the Spirit, by the Spirit. Where I meet Jesus Christ my Savior and I can gaze upon the face of my God.

I pray even now, as I write this- God, hold my hand and walk me into the mystery of your love. Don't let go of my hand. Guide me so that my decisions lead to life and not death. And even when I do make mistakes and make decisions that shove me out of the shadow of your Cross, pull me back in always. Please, God.

Even in the face of uncertainty... when I am overwhelmed with fear of the unknown.. of the no-happily-ever-after gauranteed murky future.. where there lies the unknown, possible failure, possible no-success... I pray to you, God, in desperation for assurances and soothing.. I pray that I have the strength of faith to rely on you for true wisdom, light through the darkness, footsteps to walk in. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, much less a year or two or five or a decade or a life from now.. or even after death. Ultimately, I do not know. And that makes me fearful. I am justified, regardless. I am saved regardless. I am loved regardless of my fear, my possible success or failure, joy or heartbrake, peace or madness.