REFLECTIONS

“Final End of Creation

b. The final purpose of creation. Some find the final end or purpose of creation is the happiness of man. They say that God could not make Himself the final end, because He is sufficient unto Himself. But it would seem to be self-evident that God does not exist for man, but man for God. The creature cannot be the final end of creation. The Bible teaches us clearly that God created the world for the manifestation of His glory. Naturally, the revelation of the glory of God is not intended as an empty show to be admired by the creature, but also aims at promoting their welfare and attuning their hearts to the praise of the Creator. Isa. 43:7; 60:21; 61:3; Ezek. 36: 21,22; 39:7; Luke 2:14; Rom. 9:17; 11:36; 1 Cor. 15:28; Eph. 1:5,6,12,14; 3:9,10; Col. 1:16.

c. Substitutes for the doctrine of creation. They who reject the doctrine of creation resort to one of three categories for the explanation of the world. (1) Some say that original matter is eternal, and of it the world arose, either by mere chance, or by some higher directing force. But this is impossible, because you cannot have two eternals and therefore two infinites alongside of each other. (2) Others maintain that God and the world are essentially one, and that the world is a necessary (outflow) of the divine being. But this view robs God of His power and self-determination, and men of their freedom and of their moral and responsible character. It also makes God responsible for all the evil in the world. (3) Still others take refuge in the theory of evolution. But this is clearly a mistake, since evolution offers no explanation of the world. It already presupposes something that evolves.”

-Louis Berkhof from Summary of Christian Doctrine  Published by Eerdmans Publishing Company  Grand Rapids, MI  1938  Republished in 1975  Page 52.

REFLECTIONS

Gospel Peace 

“Only the Gospel can form a plaster to draw out the every core of contention from the heart. The apostle Paul testifies how he and his brothers were healed of malicious attitudes:

“We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). And the Paul writes in some detail how that healing came: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by work of righteousness which we have done, but  according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:4-5). He was saying, “If this love of God to us in Christ had not appeared, if we had not been washed by His regenerating Spirit, we would still be paralyzed under the power of our lusts.”

Mortification is a work of the Spirit. “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). And the Gospel is the sacrificing knife in the hand of the Spirit, the “sword” God uses to kill sin in the hearts of His people (Ephesians 6:17).

Just as the Gospel lays the axe to strife and digs it up by its bitter roots, so it fills the hearts of men who embrace with principle, leading to peace and unity. Some of these tenets are self-denial, long-suffering, and gentleness. Self-denial prefers that another be honored before himself. Long-suffering is bearing that which makes one easily provoked. And if gentleness is pushed by a wrong, it holds the door open for peace to come in again.

We can see a whole bundle of these sweet herbs growing in one bed: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). Now this fruit does not crop up in just every hedge, but only from Gospel seed.”

From the Puritan William Gurnall  Found in The Christian in Complete Armour-Daily Reading in Spiritual Warfare   Published by Moody Press Chicago  1994  First Published  in 1655.

REFLECTIONS

"Blessed are they who mourn."

“This marks off the Christian as being quite unlike the man who is not a Christian and who belongs to the world. The one thing the world tries to shun is mourning; its whole organization is based on the supposition that that is something to avoid, the philosophy of the world is, “Forget your troubles, turn your back on them, do everything you can not to face them.” The whole organization of life, the pleasure mania, the money, the energy and enthusiasm that are expended in entertaining people, are all just an expression of the great aim of the world to get away from this idea of mourning and this spirit of mourning. But the gospel says, "Happy are they that mourn." Indeed, they are the only ones who are happy! (See also Luke 6).

This is something which is never found in the world. This is something which is not as evident in the Church today as it once was and as it is in the New Testament. And idea has gained currency that if we as Christians are to attract those who are not Christians we must deliberately affect an appearance of brightness and joviality-not something that arises from within, but something which is put on.

I cannot help feeling that the final explanation of the state of the Church today is a defective sense of sin and a defective doctrine of sin. Coupled with that, of course, is a failure to understand the true nature of Christian joy. These things, working together, of necessity produce a superficial kind of person and a very inadequate kind of Christian life. It is not surprising that the Church is failing in her mission if her dual conception of sin and joy are thus defective and inadequate. Conviction must of necessity precede conversion, a real sense of sin must come before there can be true joy of salvation. So many people spend all their lives trying to find this Christian joy. They want joy apart from conviction of sin. But that is impossible; it can never be obtained."

-D. M. Lloyd-Jones from Reflections  Published by World Publishing  USA  1994