For Whom Did Christ Die?

A common question asked at ordination councils (at least in some church associations) is this: “For whom did Christ die?” I got that one from a pastor who sat on the council during my doctrinal examination. This is not a bad question. In fact it ranks right up there with the question Why did Christ die? It has, though, often been asked to identify whether the candidate believes Jesus died for everyone equally. Some would say that the answer to that question determines whether or not an individual is evangelistic.

Sorry for emoting, but that’s crazy. Was Jonathan Edwards evangelistic? How about Matthew Henry? Were George Whitefield, William Carey and Charles Haddon Spurgeon passionate about reaching people with the gospel? These guys all believed that Jesus died particularly for the elect. Put it into our day. Can we doubt the evangelistic zeal in our day of R.C. Sproul, C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, John MacArthur and Mark Driscoll, teachers who still believe the theology of the apostles and the Puritans?

There are number of ways to answer that question:

· Christ died for sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Isn’t everyone a sinner? Surely, but Jesus pointed out that some people are not convinced. He said He did not come to call the righteous but sinners. The righteous need not apply.

· Christ died for us all (Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Timothy 4:10). All people equally? Look at the way Isaiah uses his pronouns. He starts the chapter asking a question similar to the one we are discussing: “Who has believed our message?” (53:1). The sin-bearer of Isaiah 53 died for all who would eventually believe. Paul told Timothy that Jesus is the “Savior of all men, especially of believers.”

· Christ died for many (Isaiah 53:11-12; Mark 10:45). That is a large, unspecified number. Many people were bought with the blood of Christ so we can expect to find them all over the place.

· Christ died for people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). He purchased people from all around the world with His blood. The evangelist can preach with confidence that the powerful gospel will call many from the grave of their sins.

· Christ died for the weak brother (Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 8:11). Because he is a brother, Paul says you can know he is one for whom Christ died.

· Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Like “sinners,” the “ungodly” encompasses the population of planet, but a limited number will ever count themselves in that number.

· Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But who is “us”? Look at the particular message of Romans. It was written “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints” (1:7).

· Christ died for His sheep (John 10). Jesus laid down His life for His sheep (verse 11), but made it clear that not everyone is numbered with His sheep (verse 26).

· Christ died for the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). The very design of marriage makes a groom say “yes” to His bride and “no” to every other. Jesus died to make His bride—not the neighbor lady—holy.

· Christ died for the Father (Romans 3:25). What? Absolutely. This is the meaning of the word propitiation. The death of Christ was not all about the worth of people. It was about satisfying the Father’s righteous demands.

If you are reading this article as someone unsettled about the condition of your soul before God, follow this closely: The death of Jesus Christ does not tell you how valuable you are. It stands as a solemn witness to the condition of the messed-up race to which you belong. It testifies to the immense demands of God the Father and the measureless sacrifice of God the Son, who bore His Father’s wrath in his body. Because He conquered death by rising again, you will stand before Him one day and give an account of yourself. Yours is not to see your value but to flee the coming wrath. Where else will you go? When you see yourself as God sees you, turn from your sins and believe this good news, you can join the ranks of the rescued and say, “I cannot identify which people Jesus died to rescue, but I know He died for me.”

...Out of Every Tribe

It's 5:41 a.m. I've been up since four. As we say in the Industry, I'm paid up, prayed up, packed and ready to go. The plane to Miami (...Chicago...MSP) is scheduled to leave at about noon CST.

We passed out certificates of completion to the men last night before supper. I was impressed. I brought my commentary on James to Haiti in a three-ring binder with the intent of finding someone here who could use it. I decided to give it to someone who aced the final exam for James and come up with a tie-breaker using other criteria. No one aced the exam, but I found a way to isolate a man for the prize. A part of the grade was to read the epistle of James four times in four days. Most of the students made it, but Lestin Savin read it nine times. He went home with a new book.

If you have any prejudices about Caribbean people (particularly men) being lazy, don't tack it on Haiti. The fifty percent unemployment is unrelated to the work ethic here. Many of the paintings and carvings you see show people at work. Our students were no exception. Academic work of this kind was new to most of them, but they were up to the challenge. I heard group studying noises (not rowdy dorm noices) well into each night and before the sun every morning.

I am anxious to get home, but I have had my eyes opened both to how good I have it and how worthless are the things I think will bring me comfort and happiness. God does not need American wealth to build His kingdom. Jesus died to redeem His people out of every tribe, tongue and nation. I found some of those people here and they are trophies of God's grace.

"Just Do It"

Adventure report: We had a nice downpour last night that thankfully settled the abundance of dust being kicked up at the intersection of Delmas 10 and Mackendal. Since the day had been so hot I went swimming with some of the “boys” during the deluge. We laughed, made big waves and raced the length of the very small pool. I even got to teach a swimming lesson. Funny how those casual relational times make the instructional times more relational.

I went through all of James chapter four with the guys yesterday. They have conferred on me the honorary title “Pastor Jacques” (which they pronounce with a laughing, growling, nasal tone: “Zhak”). We really do have fun learning together.

One of our discussions was about the will of God. So many of us were taught that it is our task to find God’s will, but then we bump up against the biblical use of that term. It is really only used two ways in Scripture: God’s decreed will and God’s moral will. James refers to both. The Eternal One has rarely let His people in on His decreed will. About the decreed will of God we do not pray, but submit:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16

God’s moral will is not hidden. It is plainly laid out for us. About that we do not pray. No sense asking if it is God’s will for you to steal or murder someone. You know what He wants, so you act:

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17

So the point is that we waste a lot of energy worrying about God’s will when we ought to be doing God’s will. Pray for Him to make you like His Son, but don't expect mystical signs to help you make decisions. Don’t look for God’s will. Just do it.

Li Se Senyè

This morning Jim asked us to study Psalm 15 for our morning Bible time. The assignment was to find eleven character qualities that please God. Can you find them? The brief text says:

A Psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy hill?

² He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.

³ He does not slander with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

⁴ In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,

But who honors those who fear the LORD;

He swears to his own hurt and does not change;

⁵ He does not put out his money at interest,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

It is common for readers to misunderstand this as a list of qualities one must have in order to get to heaven (insert obnoxious buzzer sound here). There is a more likely (not to mention biblical) understanding of this psalm. Before the face of God David was recruiting the kind of people he wanted to serve in Jerusalem. That’s the “holy hill” where God’s tent was. A godly leader surrounds himself with godly advisors. He knows that his “business” will be carried on in full view of the Lord.

This is significant on at least two levels. First, leaders are only as good as their advisors. The heaven-directed foresight which allowed David to rule successfully for so long was lacking in some other kings. When Saul started his reign, “the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him” (1 Samuel 10:26). But after his heart began craving other places of refuge we are told, “when Saul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he attached him to his staff” (1 Samuel 14:52). Saul thought he could do better than God’s kind of counsel. That is why Saul ended his life with a medium as an advisor.

King Reheboam the son of Solomon lost more than half the kingdom when he listened to his childhood friends instead of the wisdom of his father’s advisors (2 Chronicles 10:8). Ahab lost his life because—within the sovereign plan of God—he surrounded himself with “yes men” (2 Chronicles 18:9-13).

But this is not just about leaders creating a team of other leaders. The second significant application of this text is that the rest of us are only as good as the people to whom we listen. David not only listed the qualities of good servants of the king, he listed the qualities of good role models for us. You become like those to whom you listen the most. That applies to close friendships, instructors, business dealings and churches. Be careful whom you admire.

Adventure report: One of the men who regularly seeks me out after class to ask questions decided to try teaching me a song in Creole. After my 8 p.m. class, while I was lowering my body temperature, in the pool, Johnny worked with me in rote memorization. This morning I surprised the men at the start of my first class by asking them to sing “Li Se Senyè” (“He Is Lord”) and then joining them (Johnny wrote down the words for me).

...That I Know Could Never Be

Yesterday I preached during our worship time (watch the singing video if you haven’t). The text I used was James 1:17-18. I thought it might help us get a head start on a text I planned to cover later in the day (I am teaching the book of Jacques now). This text teaches us, like John 1, that those of us who are "born again" were brought to birth because of the powerful word of God and His free will, not our free will (like every other text about regeneration). Then we went on with our day and in the evening I arrived again at verses 17-18.

After only four and a half days of theological instruction, I asked these Baptist guys a question last night when we arrived at those verses: “Which comes first, faith or the new birth?” I expected the answer I normally get in the US when I ask that question.

I was prepared during that class session to undo some of the error I used to embrace about the source of faith. James is introducing the God Who is the giver of all good gifts. I used to think that being born again was kind of a trade-off. We give God our faith and He gives us the new birth. Then things are all square. But I was confronted a few years ago with all the texts of Scripture that show man as spiritually dead and God as the sole agent in salvation. I pitied these Haitians who have had so little training and assumed that Arminianism (ask me what that is) is to be expected before we grow to understand grace. How wrong I was.

I was armed with Scripture to defend the power of the gospel that brings us to faith and repentance. But almost in unison they answered my question: “Naissance!” I looked at the translator and realized that these men were saying, “Birth!” Upon a study of Scripture these fellows had concluded that dead men have no faith to muster. Go figure. I had extra time to spend on the rest of James 1.

Does it really matter? Isn’t this just something for pastors and theologians to debate? It does matter and here is why: The God of the Bible is all about His own glory. Any rescue in which sinners can participate not only robs God of His glory, it hints at a deity other than the Father of lights and the Author of salvation. God-centered theology produces God-centered, cross-focused living. People who are humble enough to take no credit for their salvation can be humble enough to live a lifestyle of repentance. There is hope for Haiti.

Adventure report: I am learning to brush my teeth with bottled water. Having seen where the water comes from (a cistern on the roof) I now know why I was warned about opening my mouth in the shower and drinking the tap water. By the way, there is no hot water here, but I must say I haven’t minded.

Lord, 'tis not that I did choose Thee;

            That, I know, could never be;

For this heart would still refuse Thee

Had Thy grace not chosen me.

Thou hast from the sin that stained me

Washed and cleansed and set me free

And unto this end ordained me,

That I ever live to Thee.