All ye that pass by
April 4, 2007
Chip Stam, Director of the Institute for Christian Worship at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, has a weekly “Worship Quote of the Week” you can receive as a free email (click here for more info). This week’s is a Charles Wesley poem about the atoning death of Christ. The opening line is based on Lamentations 1:12:
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me,
which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
ALL YE THAT PASS BY
All ye that pass by, to Jesus draw nigh:
To you is it nothing that Jesus should die?
Your ransom and peace, Your surety He is:
Come, see if there ever was sorrow like His.
For what you have done His blood must atone:
The Father hath punished for you His dear Son.
The Lord, in the day of His anger, did lay
Your sins on the Lamb, and He bore them away.
He answered for all: O come at His call,
And low at His cross with astonishment fall!
But lift up your eyes at Jesus’ cries:
Impassive, He suffers; immortal, He dies.
He dies to atone for sins not His own;
Your debt He hath paid, and your work He hath done.
Ye all may receive the peace He did leave,
Who made intercession, “My Father, forgive!”
For you and for me He prayed on the tree:
The prayer is accepted, the sinner is free.
That sinner am I, who on Jesus rely,
And come for the pardon God cannot deny.
My pardon I claim; for a sinner I am,
A sinner believing in Jesus’ Name.
He purchased the grace which now I embrace:
O Father, Thou know’st He hath died in my place.
His death is my plea; my Advocate see,
And hear the blood speak that hath answered for me.
My ransom He was when He bled on the cross;
And losing His life He hath carried my cause.
—Charles Wesley, 1707-1788, from METHODIST HYMNS, 1779.
4 big ideas: #1-Truth
January 2, 2007
In preaching through Galatians last year I identified four big ideas that run through Paul’s letter. Those four big ideas should form and shape how ministry is carried out in the day-to-day life of the Church. I am trying to embody them in my own ministry and to impart them to our leaders at First, Kosciusko. In this and the next three blog posts I’ll share some thoughts on each of them. The four big ideas are: truth, authority, integrity and love. (Editorial note: Yes, I realize that the form the acronym TAIL, but I am not fond of the use of acronyms, nor am I about to go around reminding people, ‘Hey, remember now, it’s all about TAIL.’)
TRUTH: This is simple: God always gets the last word. His agenda trumps all others. We must embrace tightly the truth of the gospel, especially at those points where the truth is most under assault. Paul does this in Galatians through his defense of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. I trust I don’t need to spend a lot of time writing about the importance of the truth of Scripture. We live in a time when the claims of materialism, naturalism, relativism, Islam and other religions ring loudly in the ears of many. Thus, the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ is an affront to many people. Ours is a time when we must contend for the truth once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
Moreover, on a personal level we all need to hear, speak and embrace the truth. The deceitfulness of sin, our tendency to let our emotions rage and rule over us, and our patterns of unbiblical thinking need to be confronted by biblical truth. And, as I noted in a recent post, that truth is not simply a theological system or philosophy, nor is it a set of principles and purposes. It is a person named Jesus. In Christ we hear the call to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness along with the comfort of free grace that paid for all our sins. Hear the truth, know the truth, speak the truth. Without the truth that God has revealed, I have nothing to offer, nothing to say.
Peace and mercy be upon all those who walk by this rule…
In Evil Long I Took Delight
December 13, 2006
In evil long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight, and stopped my wild career.
I saw one hanging on a tree, in agony and blood,
Who fixed his languid eyes on me, as near his cross I stood.
Sure, never to my latest breath, can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with his death, though not a word he spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt, and plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins his blood had spilt, and helped to nail him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did! But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid? For I the Lord have slain!
A second look he gave, which said, “I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid; I die that thou mayst live.”
Thus, while his death my sin displays in all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace, it seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy, my spirit now is filled,
That I should such a life destroy, yet live by him I killed!
-John Newton (1725-1807) from OLNEY HYMNS (1779).
You can find a version at www.cyberhymnal.org
