Every church should put a notice on its front door: “All face-saving moralists, take warning! Within these doors your chilly pride is in danger of melting into exuberant joy. Enter at your own risk. But all sinners depressed with guilt are welcome.” Christianity throbs with holy joy for bad people. God made it that way.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has officially been elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. I looked at an overview of Bergoglio’s life through his Wikipedia entry, which has already been updated. One quote about his character particularly stood out:

As Cardinal, Bergoglio became known for personal humility, doctrinal conservatism and a commitment to social justice. A simple lifestyle has contributed to his reputation for humility. He lives in a small apartment, rather than in the palatial bishop’s residence. He gave up his chauffeured limousine in favor of public transportation, and he reportedly cooks his own meals.

Read the rest of the entry here.

UPDATE:

This quote is from a Washington Post article:

He is also most comfortable taking a low profile, and his personal style is the antithesis of Vatican splendor. “It’s a very curious thing: When bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is very well seen in Rome,” Rubin said.

Elevation Creative: In Your Presence

And the things of earth
They grow strangely dim
In the light of Your glory and grace

Carl Trueman’s latest book, The Creedal Imperative, makes a case for the necessity of creeds and confessions in the church. At this point, if you’re a Presbyterian, you’re nodding. If you’re a Baptist you’re likely moving on to other blogs and web articles. But, regardless of whether you’re familiar or not with creeds, Trueman’s insight is relevant.

According to Trueman, every church has creeds and confessions of some sort, even if these statements are not codified or written. Every church has values and expresses what they value in a number of ways. Trueman notes that every Christian “think[s] the Bible means something and that its teaching can be summarized.” Therefore, churches should be clear and give careful thought to historical creeds and confessions of the faith. These creeds are not inspired, but they can serve as guideposts and boundary markers for the church. Again, Trueman notes that creeds  “are one of the means by which the faith is transmitted from age to age.” Paul instructs the church at Thessaloniki, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”

Fred Sanders writes in his Christianity Today review of the book:

The spirit of our age ignores history, distrusts institutions, values emotions more than words, and hankers after novelty. For moderns, the loftiest goal is to be authentic, to speak spontaneously from the heart, giving voice to unique insights from our own points of view. For this mindset, the idea of reciting a set of ancient words in public agreement with a group is, if the word be allowed, anathema.

Read all of Sanders’ review here.

Check out Scot McKnight’s interaction with the book here.

Check out Trueman’s book at the WTS bookstore.

Biblical maturity is never just about what you know; it’s always about how grace has employed what you have come to know to transform the way you live.

We’ll let history speak today. Here is a prayer of gratefulness from the Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we thine unworthy servants
do give thee most humble and hearty thanks
for all thy goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all men.
We bless thee for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for thine inestimable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.

And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies,
that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful;
and that we show forth thy praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to thy service,
and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost,
be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

Financial standing, attitude, religious beliefs, educational upbringing, social status – these aspects of life, and so many others, contribute to the way one views the entirety of their existence. Think of these aspects as lenses. They’re like this stylish pair of Warby Parker frames and lenses. Except all of these combine to compose a unique set of lenses. Though we probably share some things in common, your lenses are different than mine.

It’s important to understand the nature of lenses and how one views life for a number of reasons. If you’re wearing a pair of rose glasses, you only know life to be in a red hue. In fact, you wouldn’t be able to identify it as red unless someone told you because that’s the way you have always seen things. Now, I have to be careful here because this illustration is not all-encompassing. Certain life outlooks and experiences cannot be taken off just as one would remove a pair of glasses. However, there are aspects of life and experiences in our lives that have shaped and continually shape the way we see life, sometimes unaware to our own eye and understanding. One of these aspects that I’ve become aware of in my own life recently is insecurity.

I walk around every day seeing through lenses of insecurity. This can include things such as social acceptance, reputation, upbringing, financial status, physical heath, or relationships. These lenses become the means by which I interpret life’s events. For example, if I’m deeply insecure about how people perceive me because I want to be liked and praised by all, I will see events in my life with respect to this. So if I see two of my friends talking in another room and my first thought is that they must be talking about me or something they don’t want me to know, it’s evident I’m seeing through a lens of insecurity.

Now, before this sounds overly introspective and self-helpy, let me make my point plain and clear. Insecurity shapes the way you and I see the world around us. And if we are not careful, we will see things not as they really are, much like the rose-lensed friend may be convinced the sky is purple. I can create an entire false world through my habitual, deep and unexamined lens of insecurity! There’s great news though. If you are a Christian, you can find healing through Christ. His life, death, and resurrection has given us a new heart and a new nature. We are no longer dominated by sin and its destructive ways. Through the Word of God, repentance, community, and other means of grace, we can not only identify places of insecurity, but learn to live in accordance with the truth. So, may we find grace to identify lenses of insecurity that cause us to misrepresent others. And may we be encouraged today that God has given us his word and put others in our midst to help us live a life of godliness.

Mondays are not ideal for such existential considerations. However, if you’re anything like me and you’re a Christian, you’ve asked this question at least once in your life. And it’s worth asking today.

Logically, this plays out in my mind like this. I have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. God illuminates and resuscitates my dead soul by his Spirit and saves me because of Christ’s finished work on the cross. I’m now reconciled to the Father through my union with Christ. Shouldn’t I now just go to heaven? Why am I still here? God has rescued me, why can’t I just be with him now where I’m not plagued by the trouble of this world?

Paul considered this question in a different sense in Philippians 2:22-24, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” While a number of considerations deserve attention, I’m going to focus on one.

In John 17, Jesus prays something wild. Verses 14-15 read, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

However hard one may desire to be in heaven, here is Jesus who is praying that he or she would not depart from this world. Why? J.C. Ryle offers a great response,

Nor is it difficult on reflection to see the wisdom of our Lord’s mind about His people, in this as in everything else. Pleasant as it might be to flesh and blood to be snatched away from conflict and temptation, we may easily see that it would not be profitable. How could Christ’s people do any good in the world, if taken away from it immediately after conversion? How could they exhibit the power of grace, and make proof of faith, and courage, and patience, as good soldiers of a crucified Lord? How could they be duly trained for heaven, and taught to value the blood and intercession and patience of their Redeemer, unless they purchased their experience by suffering? Questions like these admit of only one kind of answer. To abide here in this valley of tears, tried, tempted, assaulted, and yet kept from falling into sin, is the surest plan to promote the sanctification of Christians, and to glorify Christ. To go to heaven at once, in the day of conversion, would doubtless be an easy course, and would save us much trouble. But the easiest course is not always the path of duty. He that would win the crown must carry the cross, and show himself light in the midst of darkness, and salt in the midst of corruption.

In other words, we are still here for a number of reasons as Ryle suggests, like doing good in the world and being sanctified. But the pinnacle of it all is to glorify Christ. That may sound obvious, but consider it in response to the original question. You are here today to bring glory to the Redeemer. May such a simple truth liberate you.