Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith: Jesus Christ—Incarnation of the Eternal Word

Who is Jesus? Is he a true prophet? Is he a good teacher? Is he the perfect man? 

Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human. In the unique person of Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal Son of God entered history and became a real human being. He is truly the Word of God (John 1:1-3)—that is, the perfect and culminating revelation of God’s mind and heart, of God’s will and character—present in the intimate fellowship of the Holy Trinity from eternity and fully engaged with the Father in the work of creation and redemption.

Becoming human, Jesus was “all of God in a human body” (Colossians 1:19) and “God with us” (Matthew 1:23)—a living tabernacle and the fullest expression of God’s holy presence, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14-18). His divine-human identity is substantiated by the true witness of Scripture—in his divine conception and virgin birth, in God’s own testimony concerning Jesus, in Jesus’ supernatural works of healing and deliverance, in his obedience to the point of sacrificial death, and in his bodily resurrection from the dead, ascension, and exaltation. He is now Lord over everything in creation.

The early church in the creeds of Nicea and Chalcedon accurately interpreted and expressed the apostles’ witness concerning Jesus—fully God and fully human. The significance of this is: in Jesus we are dealing with God himself; in Jesus we have a human being who truly represents us.

Jesus Christ is God’s only Mediator between God and humanity and God’s unique agent for the salvation of the world. He is also the perfect expression of what humanity was created to be. In his complete obedience, Jesus became the representative Human Being, a second Adam, modeling for us human life and offering to God on our behalf human life that is rightly in God’s image— reflecting God’s glory in a wholly submitted life of steadfast love and righteousness. This same Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, as shown in Scripture, is to be the center of the Christian Church’s proclamation, worship, discipleship, and mission. As we eagerly and prayerfully anticipate that “he will come again to judge the living and the dead” and to establish God’s righteous kingdom in fullness and perfection, we say, “Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

+In Christ+

Pastor Jill

Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith: Humanity—Original Righteousness and Fall into Sin

And now to consider the human condition-- human beings were created by God in God’s own image—in true righteousness and holiness—to know, love, and obey God and be righteous stewards of the creation. As we read in Genesis, our earliest ancestors, instead of acknowledging, worshiping, and obeying God, became disobedient sinners and brought sin and death upon themselves and all creation.

There is now a radical brokenness and corruption in human nature that is both the result of and results in sin. Sin is simply rebellion against God. No human effort can fully resolve or redeem this defect. Sin is destructive, contagious, parasitical, polluting, disabling. Human beings are sinners by nature, by influence, by choice, by action.

While there is an inalienable glory and nobility to human beings because they are God’s image bearers, this image is now broken and distorted, and even our best and noblest actions are contaminated by sin. Every part of our human being—our personality, intellect, emotions, will, motives, virtues, and actions—is corrupted by sin. The human will, originally free and righteous, is now crippled and defective.

As a result, human beings are in bondage to sin and subject to God’s holy judgment. Without God’s intervening grace and salvation, we are lost and condemned.

Sin is both personal but social. Not only are we human beings sinful, we create organizations and institutions that are broken and sinful as well.

If we are to accept God’s grace and salvation, then we must recognize the reality of sin in our world and in ourselves. There is no such thing as good enough. There can be no forgiveness, no new creation, unless we realize that we are all sinners.  

It is also essential that we get out of our heads any idea that human nature is basically good and that we can somehow redeem ourselves through good effort, discipline, improved environment, etc. The defective nature of human being is not the result of heredity or environment to such a degree that human beings are not morally responsible for their nature or behavior.

God is in no way the author or source of sin. Sin is not part of his original plan to educate and improve humankind. God hates sin. God loves us.

Sin is our both our legacy and our choice. God is a good judge who passes just sentence on our crimes. We cannot pay the price of God’s righteous judgment.  But there is One who can.

+In Christ+

Pastor Jill

Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith: In the Beginning, God

First, we considered what we believe about Scripture and now we turn to consider what we believe about God. The Shorter Catechism says, “The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” What, then, do the Scriptures teach concerning God? First and foremost, Scripture affirms that there is only one living and true God. This proclamation is found early in the Old Testament in the Shema—“Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” That there is only one true God that we should worship and obey is reiterated time and again in many and various ways in the Ten Commandments, in the teachings of the judges and the prophets, and finally in the teaching of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son. Moreover, Scripture calls us again and again to turn our backs on any and all other gods.  Religious belief in other gods is seen throughout the Old Testament as well as the New, yet God declares that it is he, YHWH, the God who entered into covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and with Moses to deliver a people unto himself out of Egypt, who alone is to be worshiped (Exod. 20:1-3).

Scriptures also teach us the character and characteristics of the living and true God. Again, the Shorter Catechism says that God “is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” The truth is that God has some characteristics that are unique to God and others that he shares with us human beings because we are created in his image. Let’s look briefly at a few of these characteristics.

God is a Spirit. We need to understand that God is not in his being a physical creature like you and I. He is not composed of material elements or limited by the restrictions imposed by a material existence. He also cannot be perceived by any of our five human senses. This teaching contradicts any idea that God has an actual body and helps us to recognize that when we talk about God having eyes, ear, a strong right arm, we are speaking  in ways that help us to understand and relate to God.

That God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable further emphasizes the ways that God is distinct from you and I. God is self-sufficient. He is perfectly complete and fulfilled in his triune being. He did not create anything because he needed to but because, out of the abundance of his love and grace, he wanted to.

God is infinite—he is not subject to the limitations of space. God is present everywhere and in everything, but everywhere and everything IS NOT God. God is the Creator and creation is not God. God is everywhere and in everything, but God is also more than and greater than everywhere and everything. God is distinct from all that is because he was before everything and everything was created through him. God is creator and is in no way created.

God is also eternal so he is not subject to the limitations of time as we creatures are. God stands outside of time, but he chose to enter into time and space for the salvation of his creation. Before anything was created and time was called into being, God eternally existed. With creation and the calling of space and time into existence, God both stood over all things as Lord of time and entered into all things in upholding them and acting so that his purpose for creation to would come to full fruition. God stands outside of time and is able to see it all as present. He knows everything from the beginning to the end and vice versa and he knows it all at once, because he eternally is!

Finally, God is unchangeable. Because God is complete and perfect, there is no need for God to change as we creatures do. There is no sense in which God could improve or grow or in any way become more God than he already is.

We also discover in Scripture the triune nature of God. In other words, in the divine being of God, there are three “persons”. Attempts to explain the mystery of the Trinity in human terms always fall short, but some can be helpful. The triangle is particularly useful for demonstrating the oneness within the Trinity. There are three persons in the Godhead, but one essence in which all three relate and share. In the same way, the whole undivided essence of God belongs equally to each of the three persons of the Trinity. The divine being is not divided up among the three persons, but is wholly in each of the three persons, so that they have a complete unity of essence, being one God.

It is important to realize also that Scripture teaches that there never was a time when each of the three persons of the Godhead did not exist; all are eternally existent persons within the perfect communion of the Godhead. Moreover, while each of the persons has a particular focus in the Trinity’s relation to creation, the Father as Creator, the Son as Redeemer, the Spirit as Sanctifier (see, for instance, 1 Pet. 1:2), each participates in the work of the others, because all are fully God. It is because God is unchanging in his being, perfection, purposes, and promises, that we can trust him completely and know that his word is sure.

These are the unique aspects of God, but there are also characteristics of God that we share as men and women created in God’s image: wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. These were characteristics of God given originally to humanity for our relationships with each other and stewardship over all of creation (Gen. 1:28); however, by our fall into sin, these characteristics were twisted and bent to selfish purposes. In Christ and by the Holy Spirit we are renewed in these attributes. Wisdom comes from following the will of God in everyday life. All our power is derivative, given by God not as an end in itself, but as a means for serving others. Holiness is God’s expectation that his people will be like he is, pure and righteous. Justice is the practical ramification of holiness—when we act upon the righteous demands of the holy God for equity in personal relationships and the care especially of the poor. Goodness is the quality of being loving, gracious and kind and flows from and has its source in God. Truth is living within the reality of God’s Word and will. In each of these ways, God bestows upon us his own characteristics by the work of his Spirit to make us more like himself.

I know that seems mighty deep and complicated,  but that is really as short and sweet as I know how to make it. As together we read through the Bible this year, I hope you will keep your eyes and heart open so that you can discover these truths about God for yourself.

+In Christ+

Pastor Jill

THE YEAR OF THE BIBLE 2012

Next Year: The Year of the Bible This coming year will be a special one in the life of our congregation. We are planning to give major emphasis to the Bible. It will be the focus of sermons, Fellowship Tea discussions, and many other activities in the life of our church.

The centerpiece for this emphasis on the Bible will be a call for everyone in our congregation to commit to read the entire Bible during the year. Many people say that they would like to know the Bible better, but they aren’t sure how to go about doing that. Reading the Bible straight through is one way that seems to help many people. Those in our congregation who have done it in the past can tell you how enjoyable and valuable the experience was for them.

It may sound like an imposing task to read the entire Bible in one year, but it can be done much more easily than you may think. It takes only twenty minutes or so a day to do the readings. Of course, it will take some energy and organization to plan reading time into your daily schedule. But even if you get behind on your reading occasionally, it’s not that difficult to catch up.

It will be an exciting adventure for all of us together to read through the pages of Scripture in this way. I am sure you will find this to be enriching and stimulating for your life as a disciple of Christ. I am looking forward to it. I hope you are too!

Pastor Jill

Check out the online discussion at OJCC Church Blogspot

Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith: Authority of Scripture*

Scripture. The Bible. The Word. Whatever you want to call it, this is has to be one of the essentials. The Reformation rediscovered the Bible. The force of the Reformation came from reading, studying, hearing, and understanding the words of the Bible in the language of the people. The Bible was the inspiration for the preaching and the teaching of Luther, Calvin, Knox, Bunyan. To the Reformers, the Bible was more than a book of moral stories, inspiring teachings, ethical rules. The Bible was authoritative for human lives.

Reformed Christians believe and affirm that Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are God’s uniquely revealed and written Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and are the church’s first and final authority in all areas of faith and life. This includes, but is not limited to, theological doctrine, mission, church order and organization, character, and ethical behavior.

The Bible speaks to us with the authority of God himself. We seek to understand, love, follow, obey, surrender, and submit to God’s Word. God’s Word is certainly Jesus Christ, the Living Word, and we come to know Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, the written Word of God, which bear true and faithful witness to Jesus Christ.

Confessing that the Bible is authoritative should have consequences for our daily living. The Bible speaks to what we say, what we do, where we go, and who we are. We don’t only need to understand what the Bible says. We need to stand under what the Bible says. We cannot comprehend God in all his majesty, his power, his wisdom and his glory. We may never understand all that the Bible teaches about who God is and what God wants us to do. But if our goal is to know and love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, then it stands to reason that we need to study the Old and New Testament, learn what they teach, so that we can live it out in our homes, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods.

This is precisely why we have decided that 2012 is the Year of the Bible at the Ogden Japanese Christian Church. If the Bible speaks to us with the authority of God, then we need to know it as completely as we possibly can. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church and of our lives and he rules the church and our lives through the written word of Scripture illuminated by the light of Holy Spirit.

Scripture. The Bible. God’s Word to me. God’s Word to you. God’s Word to me. God’s Word to God’s world.

+In Christ+

Pastor Jill

*With appreciation for the work of the Presbytery of San Diego