Higher Obedience

Montréal was hosting Mark Dever from Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. with his team of three preachers (Greg Gelbert, Jonathan Leeman, Matt Schmucker). They taught from Thursday night all through the last session on Saturday afternoon on the local church. The majority of people who attended were local pastors and pastors-in-training. I was able to attend three sessions (Friday night for young people and two on Saturday afternoon).

Here are the topics they touched upon: The Gospel, biblical theology, conversion, evangelism, involvement and discipline of the members in the church, discipleship, church life, elders and congregationalism, recognizing the real Gospel, preaching the Bible as a whole, taking part in the life of the church, the worth of the local church…

I really enjoyed what I heard, especially when Dever taught. Friday night there was a special session for young people and the topic was the local church. I assumed that it was probably not a very appealing topic for young people. Dever didn’t try to make his teaching sound somehow cool for young people, he simply kept it clear, straight-forward and always gave it a good dose of bluntness (which I particularly enjoyed).

Finally, I must quote Leeman ’cause I thought it was quite funny. At one point he spoke of the citizens of Québec and said, “The Quebecans and the Americans”. I had never thought of calling Quebecers “Quebecans” before. It seems that Leeman got mixted up or simply didn’t know and put the American ending to the name of our province ot speak of its citizens.

Too bad if you couldn’t make it!

Once upon a time, I went to university almost everyday, now that the professors are on strike and my student association too, I don’t get to go as often. Only once a week to vote against the strike and continue to work on a team assignment on the same day. When I went to school, I usually listened to a John MacArthur sermon in the metro. His podcast sermons are only about 25 minutes so it fits perfectly with the time it takes me to leave my place and enter my classroom.

I remember that a few weeks ago I listened to one of his sermons in his series  on the doctrine of Election. The last one gave me some food for thought. You can read/download/listen to it here. I had never heard anybody speak of election in that way (obviously there is much more he said before and after in all the sermons, this is not the only thing he said). But in a nutshell here it is:

Drawing from the ancient world’s way of doing marriage, MacArthur makes links between God’s relationship to His Son and the Son to the Church. He says that God in His love for His Son chose a bride for Him which was a redeemed humanity, namely the Church. The bride would then spend eternity loving, praising, worshiping, serving Christ. As it was in the ancient world, the bridegroom had to pay a price for the bride, in the same way Jesus had to come down, become fully human and die on the cross to redeem His bride.

I’m not sure what I think about this. It makes a lot of sense to me since it’s obvious from the Bible that God has a remnant that Christ willfully redeemed by His death on the cross and that the Church is the bride of Christ and that one day Christ will be united to His bride at the wedding supper of the Lamb, etc. all those things are true. I just had never thought of them in that perspective, but again I don’t know what I think of it.

This perspective really puts the emphasis on the love of God for His Son, not on the bride’s goodness. Jesus didn’t come redeem His bride because she was lovable or better than the rest. She was a gift from His Father, and He died for her sins.

I don’t want to give a wrong idea if I am, so I’d encourage you to check out the sermon for yourself.

I guess I’m stuck with jujubes.

Our third roommate is getting married, needless to say that she is leaving. She’s not only leaving us and leaving with all the furniture and stuff that is hers, but she’s leaving us with the task of finding someone to replace her. I don’t like making important decisions, you know, those that can affect your life and the lives of others either positively or negatively. You can’t know the outcome unless you push a button, make a decision and live with it. That is sort of how it feels now as we are pondering about the different prospect roommates we have and not being certain of who would be the best person to pick. Thinking about these things can get me a bit confused or wanting to know the outcome of every option and this simply doesn’t get me anywhere.

I think that the real problem is not in the outcome of the choice made but rather in the attitude we have after the decision is made, when we realize it wasn’t the best choice and can’t go back. It is obvious that we always try to make right decisions, but in trying to get the best thing for me, I’m basically saying that I want the least trouble, I want things to go my own way so I’m comfortable . And that’s alright. But if things just happen to not work well and are awkward and I wish I’d chosen differently… am I to get frustrated and unhappy? Should it have the power to change my attitude? I think that no matter the better choices we could have made, we should use that opportunity to learn to be more like Jesus and deal with whatever situation we’re in.

I sort of have that perspective about finding a roommate. It doesn’t really matter if we don’t choose the best person, what matters is that whoever it is, I’ll be found loving that person as Jesus calls me to, no matter the ups and downs. And that really brings relief. Yes we’ll make the best decision we can, but really what counts is love and learning from each other and growing in Christ in that situation.

No wonder why people say I’m worry-free. I truly am and that’s only because of Christ who teaches me and that’s why I can rejoice.

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17

R. Baxter writes, “When your desires are over eager, bethink you of the mercies which you have received already and do possess. Hath God done so much for you, and are you still calling for more, even of that which is unnecessary, when you should be giving thanks for what you have? This is unthankful greediness is an odious sin. Think what you have already for your soul and body, estate and friends; and will not all this quiet you, (even this with Christ and heaven,) unless you have other lust or fancy satisfied, and unless God humor you in your sick desires?”

I remember that when I was an adolescent I had a bike I really didn’t like. It worked well but I wanted a new one, one that would look good, no this red one I had painted over its former pink color that I was tired of. There was no reason for me to want a new bike so passionately, I really wanted it to break. I can’t remember what happened, but I got a new one at one point (my parents were serious bike buyers, so I didn’t get a cheap one…).

We always seem to  be wanting more and better stuff. And it’s not just about stuff, it’s about things like more time, better friends, better school, more pleasures. Even if these things can be alright to have, shouldn’t we desire above all to thank God for what He’s already given us and not be looking for more and better whatever? I think that I look quite stupid sometimes when I long for something in particular, totally forgetting that God in Christ,  purchased me for His Son, from among a world going to hell. Doesn’t it look foolish for such a redeemed child of God to be wanting more things of the world and longing to fulfill his fleshly desires, when there is so much in God we have and can receive? We really need a renewed and transformed mind.

I remember not being graded on an essay I’d written about Jesus at university. My friend was told to make sure to not talk and write as if Jesus was the only truth at school. Those things are little things and it is not as if we are being persecuted (well, unless you call having worse grades that you could have had ‘persecution’). They are just frustrating.

To promote so-called “peace” and “tolerance” in our society you must waterdown your beliefs and convictions.

“Peace shall destroy many” (Wiebe) – So true.

Got to go.

“For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory…” Jeremiah 13:11

Certain people often mock Christianity by saying that it is a crutch for the weak, for those who need some mental or emotional support. They say that since we are scared and weak, we have constructed someone that we call God in which we find comfort and security. For a long time I thought that these critics of Christianity were totally wrong, but there is a good extent of truth in what they say – to their own disadvantage.

God Himself says in Jeremiah that He made His people Israel and Judah to cling to Him so that this whole “clinging” brings Him fame and glory. To me this small verse really synthesizes what God’s plan has always been and is still today for His creation: We are in need of Him. We go to Him and cling to Him to be whole. He is glorified.

It is true that we are weak. It is true that we are in need of a crutch and even more than a crutch. We are all sinners and in desperate need for divine redemption. We all need to acknowledge our state, repent and believe that God in Jesus willingly bore the punishment that our sins deserved by dying on a cross and rising from the dead. We need to be a people that clings to their Maker and Redeemer, everyday of out lives. Trusting in His blood and walking in obedience to His Word.

Yes we are weak. It would be one of the greatest mistakes to think we aren’t and that we need no divine help. If we think that way, then we’re lost, forever in hell.

I guess I find myself in Mexico for Christmas this year… Don’t raise your fist at me though, I was almost obliged to go. I’ve been to Mexico for a full day now and well, yeah, I got a sunburn. I guess I am prone to get sunburns since I’m so white but on the other hand I like it because in my head, it makes me get a tan faster. But anyways, I’m tired from the sun hitting on my head, I know you know that tiredness too.

I wanted to share a first picture of my trip. It’s the first breakfast I got in Mexico. Can you guess what it is? I know, it looks so foreign and exotic, you probably have no clue what it is. Peanut butter toasts.

I find myself alone tonight, which I like. It’s Christmas Eve I know, but I had the choice to enjoy some tourtière with my mom’s friends somewhere nice or stay here by myself. I didn’t do much, I took a walk and spent some time reading and thinking about and thanking God for Jesus’ birth. People around seem to be celebrating, but I don’t know what they are celebrating.

I was sitting in my classroom last week with a few people around me. We are talking about one of us whose kid was doing his “sacrament of the Eucharist” (I think that’s what it is, French: Sacrament du pardon). So basically, the title of the sacrament calls for “forgiveness”. So I asked my friend (a was a little sarcastic obviously, but…) “Your son’s going to ask forgiveness for what?” my friend answered something like, “… About bad little things he’s done…”. My friend then said, “You don’t need to do that, you don’t sin” (she was being sarcastic a bit too). So it gave me the opportunity to tell her and the two other people in our group that it was not because I was a Christian that I didn’t sin anymore, that actualy, I was quite aware of my need for forgiveness and I did ask for it everyday, that I didn’t need to go to church to be forgiven, that I had a personal relationship with God. Ends up that one of the guys around said, “Hey, my girlfriend’s a pastor’s kid too!” He thought it was quite random. Anyways, I think it’s so strange how some people think and do things just because of tradition when tradition means nothing to you right now.

It was around 11:00am. I had spent 1:30 of my life sitting at a desk among frustrated colleagues and a teacher who seemed to think we spoke a different language. It was break time, so I got up, needing some fresh air. And since I had eaten all my peanuts (yes I do eat peanuts during class) I left the classroom, heading for the Christian group’s booth. Every fall, there are all sorts of booths at university, advertizing all sorts of things and the Christian group has one. Neat eh? So I went there and found the Christian group leader sitting at the booth, talking with a lady. There was a chair behind the booth, beside the leader, so I sat there, waiting for the lady to leave so I could chat with him a little. She was a peculiar person. She asked about the activities that were happening with the Christian group. She noticed that the time for the activities were written on a sheet where new contacts wrote their names and email addresses. She then noticed, that the time for the meetings were not written on the pamphlet we’d given her. So she asked if she could have the contacts sheet. Obviously, we said no – no distributing the contacts info, c’mon. So we said she could photocopy the sheet under that one, which did not contain any contacts’ info. All of the sudden she got mad – real mad. She said, “You guys aren’t organized and I am a very organized person!” she started drawing lines over her own name and phone number on the contacts list that she’d written while talking, like, big lines and then circles so we wouldn’t be able to read anymore. She continued lifting her voice and telling us how disorganized we were for not having the meeting times on the pamphlets. My friend tried to explain why they weren’t on there, but she wouldn’t listen. So she finally took the sheet and tore it apart (!!!), then threw it on the table. Nice. She left. My friend and I looked at each other. We couldn’t believe it. The lady obviously had some problems. I felt bad for my friend who had his contact list in pieces. So we put it back together on the table. Then I had to leave for class. I said I was sorry about the torn sheet, but he said, “You know, I don’t have anything to do, so I’ll just copy the names and contact info onto another sheet. It’ll give me something to do.” With a smile.

Yeah. Some people are interesting.

I was at university tonight, sitting in a narrow and long classroom and it was getting a little cool so I put my grey jacket on, a little sad to hide the red letters on my tshirt that said, “Meat is Murder, Tasty, Tasty Murder”. But eh, I was getting cold.

The teacher was talking about socio-constructivism and how it works in an ESL classroom today. He talked about how it worked before, without the socio-constructivism philosophy. And this is sort of how he expained it; “Teachers used to be God, giving knowledge to the students. There was no interaction between the students, only the teachers gave knowledge, they were above the students.” (my words, not real quote). And the idea of teachers being “God” really stuck with the people in my classroom. They thought it was funny.

A little later on, a student asked the teacher if God (the teachers) could exist in the socio-constructivism philosophy in the ESL classroom. The teacher said that now teachers were no longer “God”, but rather, omnipresent, everywhere in the classroom, not above the students anymore, but helping students learn together and from one another. The girl then said something like, “Ah, it’s like, teachers are not God anymore, they’re Jesus!”

I thought this whole thing quite interesting. Just to see that the girl understood, at least to a certain extent, that Jesus was God who came among us.