"Aslan is on the move"

Most level-headed people today enjoy a good "Chronic-what-cles of Narnia" story. Personally, I struggle to get through a whole book (particularly The Horse and His Boy)... but nonetheless, I do love the series. C.S. Lewis is a personal hero of mine... and in his writings there is an unbreakable thread running through each one: Christ--in whom Lewis finds all joy

A prime example of this theme would be this quote by Lewis from his book, The Weight of Glory:

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased."

This is true. After one year at school I have seen the desire for satisfaction played out in these very same ways. I see two traps, two cultural trends. One...the very obvious party scene. Get drunk. Get high. Have some sex. Get drunk again. Two...the not so obvious-not-party scene. Ace the courses, ace the field or gym, ace the dating scene, ace "ministry", ace the fashion trends, ace the "Office" quotes ace "uniqueness", ace having a political opinion, or whatever else you wanna ace.

In any case--these things do not have the capacity to satisfy a soul.

C.S. Lewis said, "You do not have a soul. You are a soul, you have a body" (thank you Kate Drahosh). So why then, all this effort to satisfy a temporary thing? Because people are blind to the issue. People are born dead--spiritually. Do not try to tell a drunk friend, "you're not having fun--this isn't actually fun." Do not try to tell your roommate making out with her boyfriend, "your body is a temple--treat it like it." Because sin is powerful for these reasons: it is what we naturally desire and tends to give us pleasure, or we think it will...therefore we actively choose to do it. And if someone is dead and blind, that person is not alive (obviously) and unable to see.

I myself chose to be a number in the #2 group last year at times. "i'll be happy when i get more playing time" or "i'll be happy when a boy pursues me" or "ill be happy when i get this 'ministry' stuff checked off" or "ill be happy when i ace these classes". I battled with my flesh. Desiring what the world enjoys...and tasting some... and then God in his mercy and kindness led me to repentance.

These pursuits are passionate, by anyone and everyone for satisfaction apart from Christ. The means to reach satisfaction differ, but the end is the same--despair.

The Bible says in Psalm 107: 9, "For he satisfies the longing soul". God alone has capacity to satisfy a soul because we are relational beings, created in His image. God alone has no beginning nor end--therefore he satisfies our desire for longevity (?). God alone does not change, so he satisfies our desire for consistency. God alone is the being that it will take an eternity to know--in other words, we will never completely know him--yet know him more every moment throughout eternity. Mind boggling.

So this presents a dilemma. Blindness. Deadness. We need eyes to see. We need life. Without which we cannot even begin to know God because of our sin. This is where and why the Gospel is central to all history--therefore should be central in your life.

Jesus Christ bore God's wrath on the cross, so that anyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we are able to know the one true God. This is the good news!

So if this is life which it is...we need to make it known. We need to speak it. We need to write about it. We need to sing about it. We need to be saturated in our speech with the words about Jesus, who is our only hope. Therein lies satisfaction beyond measure.

So who is Aslan? And why is he moving?

Jesus Christ is depicted in some ways by the character of Aslan in the books by Lewis. (He gave up his life for Edmund, that Edmund might live--even though he was a filthy traitor and deserved death!... Aslan took his place...and he rose...conquered death. no big deal). Mr. Beaver told the kids at the beginning of the story, "Aslan is on the move". Something huge was about to happen. The brink of war--battles to be fought and won.

In parallel...God is on the move at my campus, Concordia University in St. Paul. He will set out to conquer hearts there--to remove blindness. To call people from death to life. That they will see Christ as no longer foolishness, but treasure. And that their desires for satisfaction will completely shift from temporary things to a relationship with the unchanging God of the Bible. It is my prayer and hope and work that I might be a means to God's movement.

"According to 2 Corinthians 4, people are spiritually blind until God gives them eyes to see, that is, until God causes them to be born again. But here Jesus says in verse 18, “I am sending you to open their eyes.” The point is not hard to see. God opens the eyes of the blind to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ. But he does by sending people to tell the good news from hearts of love and lives of service. " (from Desiring God ministries)

God willing, one year from now, I will be able to see what He has done, and say with new believers, "My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26). God is sovereign. He will accomplish his purposes. He declares the end from the beginning. All praise be to His glorious grace in Jesus.

"For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it" (Isaiah 46:9-11).

Grace abounds... all around...
sather

William Cowper...

William Cowper (1731–1800) was a brilliant poet. He battled depression for most of his life. He tried to commit suicide 3 different times, and was put into an asylum. There, Dr. Nathaniel Cotton tended to William. Cotton knew and loved the God of the Bible, and the gospel--he spoke of grace to Cowper frequently.

Then Cowper read this, Romans 3:25: "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."

Here was his reaction: "Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification. In a moment I believed, and received the gospel ... Whatever my friend Madan had said to me, long before, revived in all its clearness, with demonstration of the spirit and power. Unless the Almighty arm had been under me, I think I should have died with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport; I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder".

Depression did not disappear from Cowper's life after his conversion. John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace" soon entered Cowper's life by God's plan. "I found those comforts in your [Newton] visit, which have formerly sweetened all our interviews, in part restored. I knew you; knew you for the same shepherd who was sent to lead me out of the wilderness into the pasture where the Chief Shepherd feed His flock, and felt my sentiments of affectionate friendship for you the same as ever. But one thing was still wanting, and that the crown of all. I shall find it in God's time, if it be not lost for ever".

Newton spent himself for the cause of the Gospel and ministering to those like Cowper (and William Wilberforce). Newton did not "despair of the despairing" --read more about Cowper's life and John Newton's influence on him at Desiring God.

Cowper displayed a brutal honesty. Cotton persisted in sharing the Gospel. Newton shared the burdens of desparing people--pointing them to the cross. God uses means to accomplish his purposes and his will. He works sovereignly over all things--to the praise of His glory. May we not despair in the despairing, but hold fast to the joy found in knowing Christ--and make every effort to help others "see and savour" Jesus.

"God Moves in a Mysterious Way"
by William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

Hip-Hop...minus sex, drugs, 'n thugs...?

I have somethin wired in me that needs a break from Coldplay, John Mayer, or Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat... or Rascall Flatts. I have this love for Hip-Hop music; it ignites a passion in me. I dance to it. I sing with it. I enjoy it.

"Serve the Lord with gladness" (Psalm 100:2) and "Delight yourself in the Lord" (Psalm 37:4); and who prayed, "Satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may . . . be glad all our days" (Psalm 90:14); and who promised that complete and lasting pleasure is found in God alone: "In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever" (Psalm 16:11).

God not only desires our joy in Him, he commands it. And that which he commands he works within us. Philippians 2:12,13, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

So is it right and good to delight in something that usually reps sin? Popular hip-hop like Akon, Usher, Young Jeezy... our culture loves their words because they represent where they seek their satisfaction: sex. drugs. and thugs. People relate to these desires because they share them--it's our nature. They rhyme about their rims and escalades and cribs that could probably pay to feed thousands of starving children.

So here's my predicament...how can I glorify God and yet still enjoy this music? The answer: listen to someone else. Someone rhyming about God's glory. Someone saturating their lyrics with Bible... someone centering their music on Jesus Christ. Something simple yet profound. But not music that is a poor excuse for it's genre. So here's what has come up on my radar...

Click on the link to hear their stuff on Myspace music...
Json.
Flame.
Trip Lee.
Lecrae.
116 Clique.

These guys do just what I was craving... Glorify God because their satisfaction is found in Him alone. This music ignites a passion in me for the Cross, and for truth--not money, sex, drugs, or thugs.

My pastor was talking about them at church. He said something like, "It's amazing how much theology and truth you can pack into this music...with the way rap works...its just amazing!"

It's true. It's relevant. and, it's just good music. Check it out...

Calvinism, it is simply the Gospel.

It's been three years. Three years since God gave me new life, and granted me faith and repentance. Three years of battle...with my flesh, with my mind, with my pride. And time and time again God conquers, His Truth prevails upon me and His grace endures.

God himself and his External Word are becoming more dear to me than relationships, school, soccer, even my family. I'm only begining to taste what Paul meant when he wrote, "I count ALL THINGS loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord."

Salvation, I had thought, was my choice. "When I chose to believe in Jesus, His death on the cross became effective for my case. " This is wrong thinking. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "According to His great mercy, he has caused us to be born again..."

Ephesians says we were "dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked" (2:1). A dead person doesn't ask for someone to save him.

"God...made us alive together with Christ" (2:4,5).

John chapter 6 continually shatters my pride. Jesus is talking. Listen to what he says:
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (v37). "...that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day" (v44).
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail" (v63).
"No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father" (v65).

and John chapter 10 encourages me more deeply than almost any other passage. Listen to what Jesus says:
"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out" (v3).
"I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice" (v 16).
"You do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand, I and the Father are one" (v26-30).

God alone is the author and perfector of my faith, or anyone's faith (Eph 2:8-10). Because in eternity past, he chose in Christ---before the foundation of the world--individuals that he would redeem (Eph 1:4-6), whose names were written in "the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain" before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8, 17:8). Jesus died for His sheep...Jesus himself said that those who do not believe do so because they are not His sheep. He KNOWS His sheep, and He calls them by name...and NO ONE, not even that sheep himself, can pluck them from the Father's hand. God will bring His good work to completion (Phil 1:6). Those whom he knew, personally, he predestined---and those same ones he WILL glorify.

Romans 8:29-30, "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

Praise be to God's glorious grace that He accomplishes His purposes... and that not one soul falls from this chain of redemption, but are upheld moment by moment by God's grace in Christ. Jesus is my only hope!

God has appointed this summer to be a brain-wracking, pride-shattering, joy-producing time in the depths of the Bible for me...learning from the Creator of the universe...sitting at His feet and having my man-centered, self-exalting mind humbled, and shaped, and conformed to Truth instead of opinion or what I "feel" God is like.

God is all Sovereign. He declares the end from the begining. His purposes stand. He is never changing. He is glorious. Do you know Him?

He sent His Son Jesus to be crushed. We have sinned and fallen short of his glory, none are righteous the Bible says! But Christ, lived the perfect life--without sin, and yet became sin for us...bearing the Father's wrath and fury...and then conquered death! That WHOEVER trusts in Him will have eternal life--because when God looks at those who trust in Jesus, he sees not our sin, but the righteousness of Christ.

Do you know Him? You can.

Below are exerpts from something C.H. Spurgeon wrote... these words resonate with my soul so deeply that I would dare say I may even die for these truths--or pray that if the opportunity came about, that in that moment I would choose to. Calvinism is merely a nickname for the Gospel, Sprugeon says. It is nothing else. This is what I would give up my life for, The Gospel. Because the Gospel did not change my life, it gave birth to my life--all because of Jesus Christ.

A DEFENSE OF CALVINISM (C.H. Spurgeon)
"I cannot understand the reason why I am saved except upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a partaker of Divine Grace. If I am at this moment with Christ, it is only because Christ Jesus would have His will with me and that will was that I should be with Him where He is and should share His glory. I can put the crown nowhere but upon the head of Him whose mighty Grace has saved me from going down into the pit...

"I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this...

"I believe the doctrine of election because I am quite certain that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen Him...I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the Gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the Gospel if we do not preach justification by faith, without works—nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of Grace—nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah. Nor do I think we can preach the Gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the Cross. Nor can I comprehend a Gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a Gospel I abhor—

"I do not know how some people who believe that a Christian can fall from Grace manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair...

"Some persons love the doctrine of universal atonement because they say, “It is so beautiful. It is a lovely idea that Christ should have died for all men. It commends itself,” they say, “to the instincts of humanity. There is something in it full of joy and beauty.” I admit there is, but beauty may be often associated with falsehood. There is much which I might admire in the theory of universal redemption but I will just show what the supposition necessarily involves. If Christ on His Cross intended to save every man, then He intended to save those who were lost before He died. If the doctrine istrue—that He died for all men—then He died for some who were in Hell before He came into this world—for doubtless there were even then myriads there who had been cast away because of their sins. Once again—if it were Christ’s intention to save all men, how deplorably has He been disappointed,for we have His own testimony that there is a lake which burns with fire and brimstone and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons who, according to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His blood. That seems to me a conception a thousand times more repulsive than any of those consequences which are said to be associated with the Calvinistic and Christian doctrine of special and particular redemption...

"There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of Grace than I do and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer—I wish to be called nothing but a Christian. But if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin? I reply I do in the main hold them and rejoice to avow it...

"That God predestines and yet that man is responsible are two facts that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is foreordained—that is true. And if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions—that is true. It is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil—but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are so nearly parallel that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never discover that they converge—but they do converge and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the Throne of God, where all of His Truths spring...

"We believe that God has predestinated all things from the beginning, but there is a difference between the predestination of an intelligent, All-wise, All-bounteous God and that blind fatalism which simply says, “It is because it is to be.” Between the predestination of Scripture and the fate of the Koran every sensible man must perceive a difference of the most essential character...

"But we are next met by some who tell us that we preach the wicked and horrible doctrine of sovereign and unmerited reprobation. “Oh,” say they, “you teach that men are damned because God made them to be damned and that they go to Hell, not because of sin, not because of unbelief—but because of some dark decree with which God has stamped their destiny.” Brethren, this is an another unfair charge. Election does not involve reprobation. There may be some who hold unconditional reprobation. I stand not here as their defender—let them defend themselves as best they can. I hold God’s election, but I testify just as clearly that if any man is lost he is lost for sin. This has been the uniform statement of Calvinistic ministers.

"If he is lost, damnation is all of men. But, if he is saved, still salvation is all of God.

"A yet further charge against us is that we dare not preach the Gospel to the unregenerate! That, in fact, our theology is so narrow and cramped that we cannot preach to sinners! Gentlemen, if you dare to say this, I would take you to any library in the world where the old Puritan fathers are stored up and I would let you take down any one volume and tell me if you ever read more telling exhortations and addresses to sinners in any of your own books. Did not Bunyan plead with sinners and whoever classed him with any but the Calvinists? Did not Charnock, Goodwin and Howe agonize for souls and what were they but Calvinists? Did not Jonathan Edwards preach to sinners and who more clear and explicit on these doctrinal matters?

"It is an indisputable fact that we have labored more than they all for the winning of souls. Was George Whitefield any the less seraphic? Did his eyes weep the fewer tears or his heart move with less compassion because he believed in God’s electing love and preached the sovereignty of the Most High? It is an unfounded calumny.

"Our souls are not stony.

"Our hearts are not withdrawn from the compassion which we ought to feel for our fellow men. We can hold all our views and yet can weep as Christ did over a Jerusalem which was certainly to be destroyed. Again I must say I am not defending certain Brethren who have exaggerated Calvinism. I speak of Calvinism proper—not that which has run to seed and outgrown its beauty and verdure. I speak of it as I find it in Calvin’s Institutes and especially in his Expositions. I have read them carefully. I take not my views of Calvinism from common repute but from his books. Nor do I, in thus speaking, even vindicate Calvinism as if I cared for the name, but I mean that glorious system which teaches that salvation is of Grace from first to last. And again, then, I say it is an utterly unfounded charge that we dare not preach to sinners.

"What was the Reformation itself but the waking up of men’s minds to those old truths? However far modern Lutherans may have turned aside from their ancient doctrines—and I must confess some of them would not agree with what I now say, yet, at any rate—Luther and Calvin had no dispute about Predestination. Their views were identical and Luther’s “On the Bondage of the Will” is as strong a book upon the free Grace of God as Calvin himself could have written. Hear that great thunder while he cries in that book, 'Let the Christian reader know, then, that God foresees nothing in a contingent manner—but that He foresees, proposes and acts from His eternal and unchangeable will. This is the thunder- stroke which breaks and overturns Free Will.'

"And then it has another virtue. I take it that the last is no mean one, but it has another—that when it is preached there is a something in it which excites thought. A man may hear sermons upon the other theory which shall glance over him as the swallow’s wing gently sweeps the brook—but these old doctrines either make a man so angry that he goes home and cannot sleep for very hatred—or else they bring him down into lowliness of thought feeling the immensity of the things which he has heard. Either way, it excites and stirs him up not temporarily, but in a most lasting manner. These doctrines haunt him. He kicks against the pricks and full often the Word forces a way into his soul. And I think this is no small thing for any doctrine to do—in an age given to slumber and with human hearts so indifferent to the Truth of God. I know that many men have gained more good by being made angry under a sermon than by being pleased by it—for being angry they have turned the Truth of God over and over again and at last that Truth has burned its way right into their hearts.

"Some by putting the strain upon their judgments may manage to hold two or three points and not the rest. But sound logic, I take it, requires a man to hold the whole or reject the whole. The doctrines stand like soldiers in a square, presenting on every side a line of defense which is hazardous to attack, but easy to maintain. And mark you—in these times when error is so rife and neology strives to be so rampant, it is no little thing to put into the hands of a young man a weapon which can slay his foe. A weapon he can easily learn to handle—which he may grasp tenaciously, wield readily and carry without fatigue. A weapon, I may add, which no rust can corrode and no blows can break—trenchant and well annealed—a true Jerusalem blade of a temper fit for deeds of renown. The coherency of the parts, though it is, of course, but a trifle in comparison with other things, is not unimportant.

"...be more prayerful, more watchful, more holy, more active than we have ever been before and by so doing, we shall put to silence the gainsaying of foolish men. A living argument is an argument which tells upon every man. We cannot deny what we see and feel. Be it ours, if aspersed and calumniated, to disprove it by a blameless life and it shall yet come to pass that our Church and its sentiments, too, shall come forth, “Fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners.”

So here is my weak prayer...that I might know Christ, and do so in such a way as to make Him look like the TREASURE that He actually is. He is not a name to be thrown around. He is the Lamb that was slain, the centerpiece of worship for all eternity. Do you know him?

Grace Abounds,
Sara Grace

Hedonism

he·do·nism (noun):
1 : the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life
2 : a way of life based on or suggesting the principles of hedonism

"say imma hedonist>>i seek my pleasure>>hey man look around>>cats seekin their pleasure>>seeking joy>>seekin satisfaction.>>well, us too.>>but the difference is>>we seekin to be satisfied in the Lord alone,>>cuz not only is He far greater,>>but He's glorified in that."
--Trip Lee

"What Is Christian Hedonism?
My shortest summary of Christian Hedonism is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
We all make a god out of what we take the most pleasure in. Christian Hedonists want to make God their God by seeking after the greatest pleasure—pleasure in him.
By Christian Hedonism, we do not mean that our happiness is the highest good. We mean that pursuing the highest good will always result in our greatest happiness in the end. We should pursue this happiness, and pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God. " --Pastor John Piper

Trip Lee


Lecrae




Don't Waste Your Life.

Sara Grace

heaven?

"The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?" (God Is the Gospel, Dr. John Piper)

The answer is: no.