A Conversation with Death on Good Friday
From John Piper’s blog yet again:
CHRISTIAN:
Hello, Death, my old enemy. My old slave-master. Have you come to talk to me again? To frighten me?
I am not the person you think I am. I am not the one you used to talk to. Something has happened. Let me ask you a question, Death.
Where is your sting?
DEATH, sneeringly:
My sting is your sin.
CHRISTIAN:
I know that, Death. But that’s not what I asked you. I asked, where is your sting? I know what it is. But tell me where it is.
Why are you fidgeting, Death? Why are you looking away? Why are you turning to go? Wait, Death, you have not answered my question. Where is your sting?
Where is, my sin?
What? You have no answer? But, Death, why do you have no answer? How will you terrify me, if you have no answer?
O Death, I will tell you the answer. Where is your sting? Where is my sin? It is hanging on that tree. God made Christ to be sin—my sin. When he died, the penalty of my sin was paid. The power of it was broken. I bear it no more.
Farewell, Death. You need not show up here again to frighten me. God will tell you when to come next time. And when you come, you will be his servant. For me, you will have no sting.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Following Christ
From John Piper’s blog today:
Today, sixty-four years ago, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged for his part in the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He is known by many for one main sentence. It is worthy of Holy Week.
Here is the context of his most famous quote:
The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. (The Cost of Discipleship, 99)
Leave and go:
- “a death like that of the first disciples – leave home and work to follow him”
- “a death like Luther’s – leave the monastery and go out into the world”
I don’t believe that I have really left anything and gone anywhere as a follower of Jesus. I don’t feel a personal calling. Perhaps the answer is in his previous blog. Perhaps a “personal call” is not necessary. Perhaps, even, it’s American arrogance.
Former DG staffer, Jonathan Dodson has posted a helpful article that challenges us to re-examine our Western paradigms of gospel conversion. Here’s a key quote:
Gospel change in some cultures is more gradual than instantaneous. The American Evangelical tradition of “deep consciousness of personal sin followed by a sense of joyous liberation” is not common to all cultures. Missionaries labored for years before they saw a single conversion, and even then, the conversions were sometimes very different than what they expected. Cultures that are more communal experience conversion differently that cultures that are highly individualistic. In many African and Asian cultures, conversions come in pairs or families instead of by single individuals. Not all gospel change happens identically, especially across cultures.
Brannon Howse on Obama and Economics
I just finished listening to Brannon Howse’s Worldview radio broadcast about our president placing the US under the authority of the European Union. I think the main points are:
- Obama likes the financial disaster because it will make it easier to nationalize banks, a primary socialist goal. (He has a history of socialist ties.)
- All US regulatory bodies, markets and business have been placed under the authority of a global economic authority based in Europe.
- A “Financial Stability Board” will standardize markets, compensation, social responsibility of all firms.
- This board and the IMF are made up of G20 members, which are appointed by leaders of the member nations. It’s an international economic union.
- This is absolutely opposite of the positions we have held before – economic sovereignty, no taxation without representation, etc.
- Obama is a “little” anti-Christ, a false spiritual teacher/leader
All these are scary thoughts, but I can’t help but think that one of the main reasons God gave us the OT was to see that this is nothing new, that evil people have been in power before, and God still controls history. And that He gave us Revelation to show us that He “wins” in the end. Thank God for His Word!
And I thank people who are bringing these issues to light, but Brannon, take it easy on the rhetoric!! Kissinger controlling the world? President Aladdin? Chairman Obama? Prime Minister Benny Hill? Who wants to have Europeans in charge – they don’t bathe or use deodorant? Oh, come on… He’s not going to get folks to take him seriously if he continues talking like that.
PRAYER POINT — We need reasonable national voices to get after this and keep it in the news. Emphasis on reasonable.
So, thinking about how I’m going to address this subject if it comes up, how do you tell an unbeliever that this is a bad thing. What do you say to them when they ask, so what’s wrong with a global economic government? It’s something I should probably prepare a “white paper” on … along with the other 10,000 or so things I’ve been thinking about. Sigh.
