Month: January 2017

Eternal Word, Eternal Son

Eternal Word, eternal Son, 
The Father’s constant joy, 
What Thou hast done and what Thou art 
Shall all our tongues employ; 
Our life, our Lord, we Thee adore; 
Worthy art Thou for evermore. 

The eternal is living light,
Of God the image Thou,
Creator of the universe
Upholding all things now;
Our peace, our strength, we Thee adore;
Worthy art Thou for evermore.

The Son in whom the fullness dwells, 
Through whom all glories flow, 
Thou hast a servant’s form assumed 
That creatures God might know; 
Our spring, our Head, we Thee adore; 
Worthy art Thou for evermore. 

Declarer of the Father’s name,
Expression of His grace,
The Word of life, the light of men,
The Lord with unveiled face;
Our joy, our hope, we Thee adore;
Worthy art Thou for evermore.

Anonymous

Resolving Family Conflicts

Part – 6

By Emmanuel V. John

Breakup Of Family Relationships
Reactions to unresolved conflicts lead to serious problems in relationships. Sometimes these conflicts are so painful that the immediate reaction is denial – a common defense mechanism during times of conflict and high stress level. The tendency is to blame the victim in order to avoid taking responsibility for the overreaction to a situation. As Dr. Narramore points out, denial over a period of time can lead to serious mental illness. Denial is often supported by projection and fantasy. He states that “the conclusive cure for denial is confession.”1

Denial 
Denial is a barrier to a better family relationship. It shows up in many ways, making it easier to avoid responsibility for solving the conflict. I believe that denial stems from the fall of man and can be traced back to Adam and Eve. When they sinned they were bound by fear of being found out. They made aprons from fig leaves and attempted to hide themselves from the presence of God (Gen. 3:7-10). Hence, because of our sinful Adamic nature, denial is often displayed, even by children, in reaction to stress, confusion, conflict, change, abuse and violence – especially in the home. From our early years on we tend to rely on denial to provide immediate protection from having to face the reality of a situation.

In many marital relationships with unresolved conflicts, denial can manifest itself in various reactions including:

  • Simple Denial – pretending the conflict doesn’t exist when it really does.
  • Minimizing – the husband or wife, or both, recognize the conflicts in the relationship but deny the intensity of the conflict despite its present impact.
  • Excusing – while recognizing the conflict, one rationalizes the other partner’s unacceptable behavior, effectively making him or her not responsible for the conflict.
  • Generalizing – mentioning the conflict but avoiding the specific problem, thus refusing the needed emotional involvement to resolve it.
  • Dodging – the couple recognizes the conflict and even speaks about it occasionally, but often changes the topic to avoid emotional disturbances.
  • Attacking – the husband and wife become irritable and even enraged with each other when reference is made to the existing conflict.2 At this point there is usually a high level of resentment between husband and wife, even though they try to remain in denial.

Resentment 
Sometimes resentment increases when one spouse blows up while the other clams up. Resentment usually results from hiding the repressed feelings of bitter hurts that have developed over a period of time. Also, resentment evokes anger, frustration and fear, and can lead to severe consequences. The wife often fears to honestly and appropriately express her emotions, and therefore internalizes her anger. The longer a person represses his or her damaged emotions, the more he or she will be consumed by anger, fear, resentment and rejection.

The husband or wife may respond to the unresolved conflict by refusing to communicate or by communicating in a disruptive and/or highly emotional manner. Either spouse may even threaten to harm self or others to gain attention or to release frustration, or at least display a bad temper without any apparent provocation. This “acting-out behavior” may result from repressed feelings of anger and unforgiveness. One couple, who were experiencing intense conflicts, only communicated by leaving messages on the refrigerator. The wife said she was afraid of exploding if they had face-to-face communication.

Fear 
The wife or husband may be bound by fear and be in torment in the midst of the family conflict. Fear magnifies difficulties and minimizes solutions. Hence, fear can affect the individual in various ways and cripple a relationship – or even destroy the individuals. Also, it brings bondage as seen in Adam when he hid from God because he was afraid. The apostle Paul declared that “you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear” (Rom. 8:15 NKJV).

Christian families in particular should not be afraid or overly anxious about anything because our heavenly Father will take care of us. Fear is uncharacteristic of our faith in God who is able to supply our needs. Certainly, it is unwise to worry about our future (Mt. 6:25-34). Trusting God is the antidote for fear.

In many marital relationships, fear affects the process of resolving conflicts because the husband or wife worries about reliving past painful experiences, about the unbalancing effect of those experiences on the relationship, and about the possibility of being rejected. Fear significantly affects the strength of love, limiting freedom and bringing feelings of weakness. It also brings in disturbing thoughts. Dr. Tim LaHaye concluded, “The more fear one manifests, the greater the anger of the other [spouse], thus compounding the problem.”3

Internalizing excessive fear and anger often leads to depression. Or, the anger can be externalized and displaced in a destructive manner on others in the relationship. The husband can become isolated from, or agitated toward his wife for not being perfect. He may project his own feelings of failure on his wife, blame and criticize her, or even lose control and become destructive. This is a reaction to the feeling of loss within the relationship. Hence, the problem is not simply feeling angry, but it is remaining in a state of anger rather than accepting responsibility and working through the conflicts, forgiving one another and self. Instead, the husband and wife choose to be “weighed down with guilt, holding a grudge against self and others as well as punishing self through self-critical thoughts.”4 If the husband or wife remains in such an angry state, he or she is close to danger. Remember, anger is only one letter short of danger (D-anger)!

ENDNOTES 
1. Clyde M. Narramore, The Psychology of Counseling, (Michigan: Zondervan, 1978), 278. 
2. [Friends in Recovery], The Twelve Steps–A Spiritual Journey, (California: Recovery, 1988), 34-35. 
3. Tim LaHaye, I Love You, But Why Are We So Different? (Oregon: Harvest, 1991), 155. 
4. Frank B. Minirth and Paul D. Meier, Happiness is a Choice, (Michigan: Baker, 1978), 36-37.

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Is the Lord saying that Christians should not own anything?

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.

QUESTION:In Mark 10:21, is the Lord saying that Christians should not own anything??

ANSWER: The answer is “No” – but let’s look at this a bit.

God’s Word, the Bible, is one cohesive unit. No passage ever contradicts another, and Scripture must always be read in context. Peter pointed this out in 2 Peter 1:20-21: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (NKJV). Enemies of God’s Word often try to call attention to what they call contradictions in the Bible, but in so doing they are exposing their ignorance of Scripture and its principles.

Mark 10:21 is part of the account of a man who came to Jesus asking what he should do to inherit eternal life (vv.17-22). From parallel accounts in Matthew 19:16-30 and Luke 18:18-30 we learn that he was a young ruler. He addressed Jesus as “Good Teacher,” and Jesus immediately responded that only God is good. He went on to refer him to the commandments, mentioning some that referred to man’s relationship with his fellow man. The young man replied that he had kept all of these from his youth. From a purely human standpoint he was an admirable person, and we read that “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”

Romans 6:23 tells us that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is not obtained by inheritance, nor can it be secured by our works, lest we boast (Eph. 2:8-9). Jesus told this young ruler that there was one thing he was lacking. What was that one thing? The very first commandment was: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). Here was the heart of the man’s problem. He loved his riches more than he loved God. Jesus is God. He went on to tell this man, “Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

The young man “was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Things – these possessions – meant more to him than God did, and he chose his possessions rather than Jesus. He was unwilling to get rid of them and give the proceeds to the poor, unwilling to take up the cross – the instrument of the lowest kind of death in those days – and simply follow Jesus, committing himself to Him. The Lord put His finger on the sore spot, or the heart of the matter, as He told His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”

This account is not given to teach that a Christian should not own anything. Rather, it stresses the impossibility of becoming a Christian if we let anything stand between us and God, or us and the Lord Jesus.

We must bear in mind that this rich young ruler was a Jew. God had promised the people of Israel many earthly blessings “if you diligently obey the voice of the LORDyour God to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you” (Dt. 28:1). Note, “all His commandments.” Scripture shows plainly that no mere human being has ever kept all God’s commandments; and nowhere does God promise eternal life as a reward for good works or for keeping His commandments.

The basic question in this account is “How does one obtain eternal life?” It is not whether a Christian should or should not own anything. In fact, throughout Scripture God recognizes what we call “property rights,” the right to have possessions. But when we read God’s Word carefully we find that we who are Christians are stewards or managers of all that God entrusts to us. One day we shall have to give an account of how we have carried out our stewardship to the One who has entrusted it to us.

Life Eternal: Its Infinite Fullness

By Leslie Grant

The eight biblical expressions we intend to consider have reference to the marvelous and immediate giving of eternal life to every soul who is born of God. Yet, each statement has its own special emphasis and significance. Without these and many more in the New Testament, we could not have a proper view of the wonder and preciousness of eternal life. May we greatly value these truths that serve to deepen in our souls a pure appreciation of the Lord Jesus and of the glory of the Father revealed in Him.

“The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” —John 5:25 NKJV

This Scripture and the next two deal with the soul’s reception of the great blessing of eternal life, not simply from the viewpoint of divine sovereignty, but from that of the soul’s response to the gospel. First, the spiritually dead hear the voice of the Son of God. They are not said to have life before they hear; but “those who hear will live.” The individual’s responsibility of hearing and the sovereign work of the Son of God in giving life are put together here. Wonderful it is that God has decreed that by the Word of God souls are born again (1 Pet. 1:23) and possess everlasting life (Jn. 5:24). This last verse also emphasizes hearing the voice of the Son of God and then living the life that is eternal.

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” —1 John 5:1

New birth, or birth from God, certainly gives new life – the life which is of God, eternal life. New birth, in contrast to our natural birth as children of Adam, stresses the precious fact of a vital, real relationship with the eternal God as Father: “As many as received Him [the Lord Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (Jn. 1:12-13). Thus by new birth, the relationship of children to the Father through the Son is eternally established. How precious beyond thought! Of course this could only be possible by possessing eternal life. Notice too that personal faith is seen as a requisite, or requirement, in new birth.

“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.” —John 6:54

Eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of Man in a spiritual sense is an absolute necessity to the reception of eternal life. In John 5, hearing the voice of the Son of God was indispensible, now eating and drinking is insisted on in John 6. One cannot be without the other, for faith in the deity of Christ means faith also in His true Manhood, suffering and death. This eating and drinking implies taking home to the soul the truth of the gospel: the necessary death of Christ for our sins. Our verse therefore shows that the death of the Lord Jesus was an absolute necessity in order that men and women may possess eternal life. It is life vitally connected with the sufferings and death of the Son of Man, which is the very food of eternal life. In anticipation of Calvary, God could and did give eternal life before that time.

“God … made us alive together with Christ.” —Ephesians 2:5

Making alive, or quickening, is said to be by the Son (Jn. 5:21) and “with Christ” (Eph. 2:5). If new birth emphasizes relationship with the Father, quickening emphasizes the power of God in bringing life out of death. New birth does not in itself suggest that man was dead. But in his Adam-nature, corrupted by sin, man could not inherit the kingdom of God; he required a new nature from God. Quickening supposes a state of death in which divine power must work to bring life. Here, too, the resurrection of Christ is introduced, and the believer is linked with Him in such a life. It is of course the same eternal life of which we have been speaking, but it is now seen in resurrection power.

“Jesus answered them, ‘ … I give them eternal life.’” —John 10:28

In this passage it is the Son who gives life, while Romans 6:23 tells us, “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If new birth stresses relationship and making alive stresses power of God in bringing life out of death, these verses stress the grace of God in communicating eternal life. It is a wonderful act of divine favor apart from any merit on the part of the recipient – a gift freely given of God. It is totally God’s sovereign work: precious grace indeed!

“Partakers of the divine nature.” —2 Peter 1:4

In the same verse Peter tells us we have become partakers by His “great and precious promises.” New birth is accomplished by the Word of God, and this divine nature is identified with eternal life. It is “the life of God” (Eph. 4:18). But 2 Peter 1:4 emphasizes the blessed fact of God’s sharing with us the divine nature, that it might show itself in every godly virtue as a representation of Himself in an evil world.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” —2 Corinthians 5:17

Each individual believer is “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10). This highlights the fact of “all things” becoming new. Because of the new creation, or by possessing eternal life, every believer is “in Christ.” Just as “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” so also “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” But the expression “new creation” points to an entirely new order of things that God brings into being by His creatorial power.

“ … The washing of regeneration.” —Titus 3:5

The Lord Jesus told Peter, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet” (Jn. 13:10). Hebrews 10:22 adds, “Our bodies washed with pure water.” Regeneration certainly involves new life, and, of course, that eternal life of which we are speaking. But the insistence here is upon the moral cleansing that takes place in saints of God, though sin is not eradicated. The washing of mere moral reform would not suffice. It must be the washing of regeneration: a new life must be present, or the cleansing is not cleansing at all. Thus, receiving eternal life is the “bath” that breaks the power of sin in the soul.

In Relation To Old Testament Saints 
None of these things could have been known or so expressed by saints in the Old Testament in spite of the fact that they certainly possessed eternal life, for this was not a subject of revelation at that time. The Son of God had not yet come to tell clearly of eternal life. In His coming to Israel (the sheepfold) He said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” – not a different life or different kind of life “more abundantly,” but “it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). Their having life actually depended on His coming, though in some true sense His saints in that day already had life, which was to be made more abundant. In grace, that life was given to them in anticipation of His coming, for they could not possibly know the vital, precious character of eternal life in all its fullness until He who is Himself the “eternal life which was with the Father … was manifested to us” (1 Jn. 1:2).

In Relation To Our Day 
We may add to this the great fact that is peculiar to our own dispensation: the blessed gift of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost. Israel did not have the abiding character of His presence as does the Church, the body of Christ. It is His presence that is “a fountain of water spring up into everlasting life” (Jn. 4:14) and becomes “rivers of living water” flowing forth (7:37-39).

What a lesson is this for our souls! Though we are blessed infinitely and marvelously with eternal life, “the life of God,” yet this is not enough. We need God Himself dwelling in the soul by the Spirit, who makes known to us the Father and the Son in blessed reality. It is this great fact that distinguishes Christianity from every previous dispensation, enables us to understand eternal things and places us in a position apart from the world and from time.

Its Full Expression 
Eternal life itself is above and beyond all dispensations, for it is the very nature of our God and Father. It is perfectly seen in the Lord Jesus Christ in every detail of His life on earth – its purity untainted by anything through which He passed. This is the marvelous life that is communicated to every believer. At this time it exists in us side by side with the corrupted life we have received from Adam, so we cannot look within to see what that life is like. We must look simply at the Lord Jesus; there we see it in perfection!

We enter into eternal life now by faith; but in the presence of the Lord Jesus, in the eternal state, we shall enter into it in its fullest expression: every surrounding circumstance will be vibrant with that life, in contrast to today’s death and decay. In this sense, eternal life is a “promise” (1 Jn. 2:25); but it is the same life we have known in new birth. And just as natural life develops gradually, so in us the realization of eternal life gradually develops, by proper food, exercise, atmosphere and occupation. May we have grace to allow it its fullest and purest expressions through abiding in the love of Christ.