OCTOBER 2024
FROM THE PASTORS DESK
“Don’t bury the lead!” I wish every internet “journalist” today would abide by this axiom. Anytime I succumb to the clickbait headline I immediately skip to at least the third paragraph of the article, because I know the first two will contain mindless dribble and leftist propaganda. Usually, by paragraph three or four, I can find the meat of the article. This irritating style of writing seems to be the way of the “journalism” today. I hope it is a quickly fading trend.
As Christians, however, how often do we bury the lead of our faith? Describing major theological and historical movements by one or two primary characteristics is dubious at best. Continental Pietism, late 17th and early 18th Centuries, was too broad and rich to distill down to one or two characteristics or legacies. Nevertheless, the focus on individual salvation, as if it was the telos of Redemptive History, certainly received significant momentum from Pietism in general. I am grateful that Jesus provides me with a way to have my sins forgiven and my soul restored to a right relationship with God. I am grateful that Jesus has rescued me from the domain of darkness and transferred me into the Kingdom of God. I am grateful that Jesus has provided me with an eternal home with God. These individual blessings, however, are not the lead in the story of Christianity. Yet, these blessings are often the central and single focus of preaching in the contemporary church.
What in the world am I talking about? The telos of Redemptive History is the magnificent glory of God that will be on full display for eternity when Jesus Christ restores the cosmos to the pre-Fall, Garden-like state at His Second Coming. When we broaden our theological and biblical aperture, we begin to realize that individual salvation is a part of the story, but not the entire story. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:19-22, “For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility-not willing, but because of Him who subjected it-in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.” Not only will individual Christians be glorified in fullness at the Second Coming, but creation itself will be made right when Jesus returns. Again, Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Christ], and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross-whether things on earth or things in heaven.” God is reconciling all things on earth and in heaven to Himself in and through Jesus Christ. Maybe you are thinking, “Why would things in heaven need reconciling?”
Paul is not merely talking about the abode of God, but he is talking about the spiritual realm. F.F. Bruce explains, “The universe has been involved in conflict with its Creator and needs to be reconciled to him: the conflict must be replaced by peace. This peace has been made through Christ, by the shedding of his life-blood on the cross. This note of universal reconciliation has been taken to imply the ultimate reconciliation to God not only of all mankind but of hostile spiritual powers as well (Bruce, NICNT: The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 74-5). God gave us vivid evidence of the beginning of the physical and spiritual reconciliation in Jesus’ First Advent as He healed the lame, cast out demons, and provided the final atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity.
When Jesus was accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, He set the record straight. Jesus’ victory over the demonic realm was not accomplished through dark power; rather, Jesus’ victory over the demonic realm was due to the inbreaking of the New Covenant Kingdom of God established in Himself. Jesus said, On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man’s house and rob his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he will rob his house (Mark 3:27). Let’s not bury the lead: Jesus has bound the devil in manner that renders Him incapable of stopping the spread of the gospel, the growth of the church, and the reconciliation of the cosmos. To God be the glory for the great things that He has done in and through the Lord Jesus Christ!
As Christians, however, how often do we bury the lead of our faith? Describing major theological and historical movements by one or two primary characteristics is dubious at best. Continental Pietism, late 17th and early 18th Centuries, was too broad and rich to distill down to one or two characteristics or legacies. Nevertheless, the focus on individual salvation, as if it was the telos of Redemptive History, certainly received significant momentum from Pietism in general. I am grateful that Jesus provides me with a way to have my sins forgiven and my soul restored to a right relationship with God. I am grateful that Jesus has rescued me from the domain of darkness and transferred me into the Kingdom of God. I am grateful that Jesus has provided me with an eternal home with God. These individual blessings, however, are not the lead in the story of Christianity. Yet, these blessings are often the central and single focus of preaching in the contemporary church.
What in the world am I talking about? The telos of Redemptive History is the magnificent glory of God that will be on full display for eternity when Jesus Christ restores the cosmos to the pre-Fall, Garden-like state at His Second Coming. When we broaden our theological and biblical aperture, we begin to realize that individual salvation is a part of the story, but not the entire story. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:19-22, “For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility-not willing, but because of Him who subjected it-in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.” Not only will individual Christians be glorified in fullness at the Second Coming, but creation itself will be made right when Jesus returns. Again, Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Christ], and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross-whether things on earth or things in heaven.” God is reconciling all things on earth and in heaven to Himself in and through Jesus Christ. Maybe you are thinking, “Why would things in heaven need reconciling?”
Paul is not merely talking about the abode of God, but he is talking about the spiritual realm. F.F. Bruce explains, “The universe has been involved in conflict with its Creator and needs to be reconciled to him: the conflict must be replaced by peace. This peace has been made through Christ, by the shedding of his life-blood on the cross. This note of universal reconciliation has been taken to imply the ultimate reconciliation to God not only of all mankind but of hostile spiritual powers as well (Bruce, NICNT: The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 74-5). God gave us vivid evidence of the beginning of the physical and spiritual reconciliation in Jesus’ First Advent as He healed the lame, cast out demons, and provided the final atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity.
When Jesus was accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, He set the record straight. Jesus’ victory over the demonic realm was not accomplished through dark power; rather, Jesus’ victory over the demonic realm was due to the inbreaking of the New Covenant Kingdom of God established in Himself. Jesus said, On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man’s house and rob his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he will rob his house (Mark 3:27). Let’s not bury the lead: Jesus has bound the devil in manner that renders Him incapable of stopping the spread of the gospel, the growth of the church, and the reconciliation of the cosmos. To God be the glory for the great things that He has done in and through the Lord Jesus Christ!
-Pastor Clint Miller
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