WHAT IS PRICELESS

What do we consider to be “priceless?”  It’s hard to say in this day and age: two days after a tornado or hurricane and we have already put a 2 billion dollar value on the damage; your cancer treatment will cost you 1 million dollars; “I’m sorry doctor, the mistake you made reading that x-ray will cost you 200 million after lawyer’s fees.” 

Scripture seems to have a few definitions of priceless: What I am willing to give everything else in my life to obtain, or that which I cannot obtain on my own.  The pearl of great price is obtained by the man selling everything else he owns.  I always wondered what he then did to live!  Did he then go out and sell the pearl?  Would sell everything you have to obtain a single item: the Hope Diamond, a Villa at the Riviera, your health?  What would you then do with your life?

To obtain that which I cannot obtain on my own means it must be given to me.  If the item is priceless, because I could never afford to obtain it (nor anyone else for that matter) then what does that say about the one who gives it to me?  If the item in question is truly priceless, no man could ever obtain it or actually place a monetary worth upon it, then the one who gives it must be the owner of all things!  That makes the priceless item something that only God can provide.

Mary pours a vial of “priceless” (in her world) nard on the heat torso and feet of Jesus Christ and the proceeds to wipe His feet with her hair.  The Lord had given her much: His time, He had raised her brother from the dead, and He was about to give His life to atone for her sin.  In an expression of love she opens the vial and anoints the Messiah.  For the one who has received the priceless, no act of thanks is too great.

THE KINGDOM

This will be a little more academic than usual and I am using material from The Reformation Study Bible (p. 1489),  Systematic Theology by Berkhof (p. 569-70) and the Reformed Reader.

The theme of the Kingdom of God runs through both the Old and New Testaments, focusing on God’s purpose for this world.  God has declared that He would exercise His kingship (Dan. 4:34-35) by ruling over His chosen people through His chosen King (Jesus - Is. 9:6-7).  Jesus is ruler over all (Matt. 28:18; Col 1:13), King of kings and Lord of lords (Re. 17:14; 19:16).  The kingdom is present in its beginning but future in it fullness; in one sense it is here already, but in the richest sense still to come (Luke 11:20; 16:16; 17:12; 22:16-30). 

The kingdom came bring mercy and judgment (Matt. 3:1-2).  Those who repented and believe would find mercy, those who did not would find judgment.  The task of the church is to make this kingdom visible in our action and words. How the rule of God is established and demonstrated in our lives, along with the powerful regenerative influence or the Holy Spirit, will help this be realized on earth in an imperfect form.  Jesus taught the present spiritual realization and the universal character of the Kingdom; while at the same time holding out to the future the perfect blessings of salvation yet to be realized.  It is in heaven that the believers will understand the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is not to be found in an organization, but is to be demonstrated by those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells.  This does not mean that the organized church has no responsibility in the Kingdom here on earth, but it points to the necessity of groups of believers applying these principles of the Kingdom to every domain of life.  This interaction with humanity necessitates the Kingdom being imperfect in form until the return of Christ.  The parables of the Wheat and Tares and the Fishnet show the imperfections in the visible church.  The Kingdom may be said to be a broader concept than the Church, because it aims at nothing less than the complete control of the areas of life.  It represents the domain of God in every sphere of human endeavor.

For a short review of the Kingdom read:

http://beginningwithmoses.org/bt-articles/232/the-kingdom-of-god

For those of you a little more serious about things Jonathan Edwards has some great material at:

http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/JE-pressing.htm

This selection is from the Reformed Reader:

What is the Kingdom of God? The idea is so pervasive in Scripture that it is very difficult to be comprehensive. There is much that can be said in trying to give a definition. It must be asserted that the kingdom of God is not a place—though we usually think of kingdoms in geographic terms. It is better understood in terms of the dynamic reign of God. Geerhardus Vos identified three strands which he called its essence: (1) the supremacy of God in the sphere of saving power; (2) the sphere of righteousness; and (3) the state of blessedness. Paul says, "The kingdom of God is . . . in power" (1 Cor. 4:20). The sermon on the mount is, in many ways, an explication of the nature of the righteousness of the kingdom, evident even in the blessedness promised in the beatitudes. The kingdom of God is the sphere in which he reigns—that is—the place where his sovereignty and dominion express themselves. When the Pharisees came to him and asked him when the kingdom was to come, Jesus could tell his hearers, that the Kingdom of God was in their midst. Imagine how confused they must have been when he said "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the Kingdom of God is in your midst." It was present in the ministry of Jesus—his teaching, his acts of compassion, his miracles. Isn’t this what Jesus was intending when, after his temptations in the wilderness, he sat in the synagogue in Nazareth and read on the Sabbath Day from Isaiah the prophet: "18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18&19? These are the acts of the reign of God—proof that he had come on a divine mission—that he was the unique son, who fulfills the words of Scripture. The Pharisees were confused, because they did not expect this kind of kingdom.

DO I REALLY WANT TO BE FREE?

I have decided to write about free will.  Did I really decide to do that or was it foreordained from all eternity that on this day I would write about how I am free to act in any way I wish to act?  I dressed myself this morning.  I chose to eat cereal not waffles this morning.  I decided against stepping on a bug this morning.  Why did I choose these things instead of other or even contrary actions?  The journal, Scientific American, did a study a few years ago in an attempt to explain why things happen in the way they do.  There conclusion were that, “everything that happens is determined by what happened before — our actions are inevitable consequences of the events leading up to the action.”  There once was a theological view similar to this called “Process Theology.”  This view held that everything is in the processes of becoming, so your next action is determined by your previous action and won’t “become” until the process of “now” has worked itself out; thereby determine what will happen “then.”  This theological view was abandoned by all but some of the most liberal scholars years ago.

But back to our question of free will; was this topic determined for me by our study of the Gospel of John, is it the natural outcome of that study, or could it be that I chose to highlight this particular aspect of chapter 18?  How about throwing sin into the mix?  Could I ever really have a free will if I am totally depraved? (For those of you who are not Calvinist you will have to look up Total Depravity on your own)

Let me quote R. C. Sproul as he elaborates on Luther’s famous work, “Martin Luther struggled greatly with the relationship of God’s sovereignty to human free will and sin. In fact, one of the greatest books ever written on the subject, The Bondage of the Will, is from Luther’s pen. When Luther grappled with this issue, he especially struggled with the Old Testament passages where we read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 4:21; 7:3–4, 13–14, 22–23; 8:15, 19, 30–32; 9:27–10:2; 10:16–20, 24–28). When we read these passages, we tend to think, “Doesn’t this suggest that God not only works through the desires and actions of humans, but that He actually forces evil upon people?” After all, the Bible does say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. When Luther discussed this, he observed that when the Bible says that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, God did not create fresh evil in the heart of an innocent man. Luther said that God didn’t harden people by putting evil in their hearts. All that God must do to harden anyone’s heart is to withhold His own grace; that is, He gives a person over to himself.”  (RTJ - For even more on this topic read Jonathan Edwards: Freedom of the Will)

I have seen what I am like; therefore I don’t want to be given over to my own will!  Maybe free will isn’t all that I had hoped for?  Maybe the Providence of God is starting to look better all the time?  He did created me, form me in my mother’s womb, shape me into what He wanted me to be, save me from my sin, and guaranteed my salvation for all eternity.  Definitely – I like His will more than mine.