There must be a proportion (on John xi)

Martha, do you believe?

I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the healer, and that if you had been here, Lazarus would still be alive.

Why do you limit me?

How do I limit you?

Look at your hands. What do you see?

My hands.

I made them. Look at the sky. What do you see?

It is vast.

I made it.

All this I believe.

Do you?

Lord, why didn't you come? If you had come, if you had only come, he would be here. Don't you love him?

Yes.

Then why did he die? Why this pain? Why this defeat?

I must obey my Father. I must glorify him, that I may be glorified in him. I and the Father are one.

He is dead.

I am life.

He is dead.

I made him.

He is dead.

I can give him life. I, who made all things, through whom the universe was made, I can give him life. Why do you limit me?

My faith is small.

Enlarge it. Come close. Know me. In knowing me, see what I can do. See my love towards those that draw near. Then you will believe with a strength that will take you through until the end.

When is the end? What role is left for me?

Walk in obedience, trust that no task is too big. Proportion your faith to the nature of its object. I made all things, can do all things, even greater than all you can imagine. Ask, draw near, walk into obedience. All is possible.

Sonnets on Freedom

“It is for freedom that Christ set us free”
In cells or yoked oxen obligated
Pain avoided or pleasure satiated
A ring in Mannaseh’s nose, bended knee,
This creature set in his walked course, not me
No, who am I? Not this thing, which I am
All held in will’s exerted, swollen dam
Broke, and raging for moments I can’t be.
Free to walk where pain is, free to see
And be seen, free to hope for pleasure pulled
By my hand, free to know a will annulled,
And river water’s power an oak tree,
Channel what could only harm, covenant
Anew with him who love’s power has sent.

“We are Abraham’s children, and therefore
We have never been slaves of anyone!”
Never slaves, for we took and gave back none,
We took, not thinking of the taking nor
Of what we took, simply grasping e’er more
What slavery is it to take? Must not
Slavery give? We saw it take and rot
All time and want, this waste should abhor.
The poet Traherne knew what want was for
These wants are bands which attach us, cement,
Our want is our treasure and all God sent
He sent through the path ordained and these four:
Wanter, wanted, will, desire, our core
Hidden slavery, when one lost before.

“You are enslaved to that which you obey,”
Self-image crowns man, dispensing each part
Flattered in false control, masked empty heart
Folly’s fool is he who seized that old day,
And laughed in discipline, his face like May!
Like Archimedes’ crown, his inside fake,
Iron-mixed gold, shine but will never take,
And offered always, never could but stray
I own myself, says owned man to the grave,
Then why’re you here? replies, I cannot save.
I came here myself, he believes, but nay,
You would not choose this! He can only pray,
That though wasted change can come to the grey.

Part one, “Conscience must rise above the rule,
and seek no more his righteousness in it”
For if found there e’en small, only one bit,
Then the suff’ring servant is but a fool.
Part two, “Freed as pupils from a harsh school,
The soul obeys in voluntary service.”
The servant becomes son and observe this:
Reins for a stallion, not whip for a mule.
Part three, “Uncleanness once a master cruel,
No neutral thing binds, omit or use her!”
Cowered once before mere things, like some cur,
Now all that’s made is clean, his renewal.
Here is freedom’s stable three-legged stool,
Stand upon it, protect her as life’s jewel.

STP Talk--31.5.2011 Part 1

The Nature of Christian Liberty

Text: Galatians 5:1-- It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Doctrine:
1. Those in Christ have been set free.
2. The purpose of this is to enjoy and experience freedom.
3. You will be tempted to enslave yourselves again.
4. You will have to be fiercely committed to your freedom.

-----

1. Those in Christ have been set free.

What enslaved us?

A) Gal iii.23-- "We were held prisoners by the Law"

i. What is the nature of the Law's slavery?

The original covenant with man made in the garden was based on full obedience. Obey, receive life. Disobey, receive death. Under these conditions, man is obligated to obey. So long as he was free to obey, this was no slavery, but agreeable to his nature. Having disobeyed, his nature is fallen. He is obligated both to a full obedience which he cannot supply, and to the punishment demanded by disobedience, which is death. These two external requirements standing above him enslaved him. No obedience, no performance, no work, no act of religious service could free him from this slavery.

ii. How are we freed from the Law?

Christ fulfilled the Law for us perfectly, both by rendering perfect obedience to it, and by dying in our place, satisfying the requirement of punishment. Through faith, his life and death are counted as our own--they are imputed to us. Thus the Law is fully satisfied towards us and has nothing else to say to us.

Paul talks about this in Romans vii, saying that when a man has died, the Law no longer has power over him. So when we died with Christ, the Law was finished with us.

B) Gal iii.22-- "The whole world is a prisoner of sin"

i. What is the nature of sin's slavery?

In choosing to disobey (an act in which all men participate), man's nature is stained by sin. He is fallen. Sin now has mastery over him. This is manifested in three ways.

--The mind--our understandings are darkened so that we cannot tell good from evil.
--The heart--meaning the seat of the desires; it is perverted by sin so that we desire what is contrary to God. Our passions and desires master us.
--The will--It is directed by the heart and mind and powerless to do good.

Sin has ultimate control over us. This power is sometimes restrained by God and his earthly agents. But sinful man cannot but sin.

ii. How are we freed from sin?

By being born again. The new creation is the dwelling of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is stronger than sin. We are no longer controlled by sin.

2. We are set free to experience and enjoy freedom

What is the nature of this freedom?

1. We must no longer think of finding justification before God in our actions. Instead, we trust wholly in Jesus.

2. We voluntarily submit ourselves to the will of God.

3. No morally neutral external thing can bind us, but we are free to either use them or omit them.

Key thoughts here: Freedom is in a thing as it was created to be. Thus Paul equates slavery to God and freedom. Freedom is slavery to God. Freedom is obedience.

Second half some other time.