Theodoulos’ blog

On Being a Jar of Clay

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:05:22 -0700

During my mini-workout this morning, I was listening to Sinclair Ferguson preaching on 2 Corinthians 4. The text, which I have read many times, particularly struck me today. The passage that most penetrated my heart was that of verses 7-12, which is below:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, butnot forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

I want to focus today on the first verse in this passage, 2 Cor. 4:7. "This treasure" that Paul is referring to is mentioned in the preceding verse, as "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," or simply the Gospel. And so we store this beautiful glory in ourselves, as jars of clay. Why do we do so? "to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

Too many teachers today (particularly the health and wealth preachers) are trying to paint the jars of clay. To make us look better than we are. When I go to a church service and the pastor says something to the effect of "we are all good people," I want to throw up. That is not God-glorifying, claiming that we are good people. We need to continually acknowledge, as Jesus did, that only God is good (Luke 18:19). In direct contrast to this, Paul refers to us as "jars of clay."

Jars of clay have no particular beauty to them. Sure, they are made for a purpose, for storage, but they are not very aesthetically pleasing, and certainly no one would attribute great glory to them. For it is what is inside that counts when it is a clay jar. It could be the most hideous jar ever (as my days in various ceramics classes produced), but if something is glorious inside, then we value that treasure. This is what Paul is saying. We do not have any particular glory ourselves (other than the dignity, value and worth in being created in the image of God). But inside, we hold the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, jars of clay are brittle, and easily broken. When we are broken, we are always shown for what we are. Even the "super apostles" who espouse health and wealth theologies will be shown to be merely human when they are broken, in death or otherwise. But if we have inside of us the Gospel, in all its glory and saving power, when we break, it is actually more profitable to the kingdom than if we do not. God works much more often through weakness than strength, because man's strength adds nothing to God's strength, but God's strength in man's weakness adds to God's glory.

Let us remember that the surpassing power belongs to God, not to man. Let us hold dear to the Gospel of Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection. And let us take heart, when things push in from every side, that Jesus went through the same thing. That as we might be crushed, he was crushed. And that through these momentary afflictions, God might win even more glory to his name, because when we break, then the Gospel of Jesus Christ will shine forth from the rubble of our jar of clay.

So help us. Amen.

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The Essential Doctrine of God's Foreknowledge

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:51:40 -0700

Just over a year ago, I took a class in Game Theory (for those who don’t know what that is, the guy who developed most of it is John Nash, the subject of A Beautiful Mind).

In the class, one of the “games” we looked at was the interaction of a human and some higher being (usually referred to in the problem as God). The game was set up like this:

· There are two suitcases, one with one million dollars and one with one thousand dollars

· You, as the human, take either one or two suitcases.

· If God knew you would take one, you take the one with one million dollars.

· If God knew you would take both suitcases, he puts one thousand dollars in one of them and takes the one million dollars from the other suitcase.

· If you then take one suitcase and he predicted you take one suitcase, you would get one million dollars.

· If you take two suitcases and he predicted you take one suitcase, you get 1,001,000 dollars.

So that makes the following payoff table, with God being the column player, and you being the row player:

	Predicted Take Both	Predicted Take One
Take Both	$1000	$1,001,000
Take One	$0	$1,000,000

Here is why this is a big game theory problem:

The dominant strategy for you, the row player, is to take both, because the payoffs are better for each prediction. $1000 is better than $0 and $1,001,000 is better than $1,000,000.

However, consider if God is wrong 10% of the time:

EV(take both) = (.9*1000)+(.1*1,001,000) = 101,000

EV(take one) = (.9*1,000,000)+(.1*0) = 900,000

The expected values tell you that you should always take one. In game theory, the dominant strategy and expected values are always supposed to support one another.

Some economic philosophers has speculated that this kind of a deep paradox proves that there is no God.

If you have read this blog before, you should know that I do not agree with the above position; in fact I readily maintain that there is a God who is active and present, especially shown to mankind through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

The problem with the above “game” is that it assumes that God does not have definite foreknowledge (that he does not know the end from the beginning) and from there concludes that there is no God. If we are considering a God like that, it is simple to disprove his existence. This is exactly why I will maintain until the day I die that the God of the Bible has an exhaustive foreknowledge. If we bend that doctrine at all, we end up not with a weaker God, but with no God.

It has become hip as of late, at least in philosophical circles, to question whether God knows the future. While the Bible teaches clearly that God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), this should also compel us to hold onto the doctrine of God’s foreknowledge. Believe me, I was one of those people, who tried to talk around this doctrine, to soften it; I have since been convicted of my error. If we weaken this doctrine, all of a sudden we lose the ability to pray with confidence; we lose the comfort of the sovereignty of God. And not only that: we lose God. Might I submit that while the doctrine of God’s exhaustive foreknowledge is offensive to some, discarding it is offensive to God. Who would you rather offend?

Now to him who can do more than we can ask, think, or even imagine. To Jesus be all the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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Jesus Christ: God's Amen

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:10:06 -0700

I was reading through Revelation today (don't worry, I am not saving up any canned goods and I don't have a chart showing exactly when Jesus is coming back to take the elect back...), and I came to the message from God to the church of Laodicea. Each of the letters has a different introduction and description of who Jesus is. This description was "The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation." It intrigued me that Jesus would be called "the AMEN," because it is such a rich word. Turns out, thanks to my free bible software (shameless plug you can get it with the journaling ESV bible from crossway), 2 Corinthians 1:20 has a similar description of Jesus, saying, "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." This letter was written to the church at Laodicea, a church that verses later will be called to account for being neither hot nor cold. And why were they lukewarm? Because they didn't understand fully who Jesus was. And so God sends this description of Jesus to them: the AMEN. The fulfillment of all of the promises of God. Every promise made in the Old Testament is fulfilled by Jesus. That the promises God makes find their Yes, their Amen, their accomplishment in Jesus. Paul writes to the Romans that Jesus became a servant "in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs."

J.I. Packer, in "God Has Spoken," defined faith as taking hold of the promises of God, believing that he will deliver on his promises. In order for this to happen, for us to receive this kind of faith, we must comprehend that Jesus is the AMEN of God. Through Jesus all things are accomplished. While God elected some for salvation, it was Jesus who accomplished this, purchasing the elect on the cross. While God spoke the worlds into being, it was Jesus who accomplished this as well, as we are told in John 1.

And so let us declare Jesus to be the AMEN of God. Whenever we pray, let us utter AMEN knowing that Jesus is our AMEN, and that he is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask, think or even imagine.

AMEN. God help us. AMEN

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Books I Would Recommend

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:22:09 -0700

Since it is the summer and all I am doing is research and reading, I have more time to blog, which will hopefully happen more than once a month. I wanted to share a couple book recommendations for "summer reading." (Not light reading, but hearty reading for sure).

The first is Run with Horses by Eugene Peterson. His writing style is captivating and also very convicting. The book focuses on the life of the prophet Jeremiah, and gains its title from Jeremiah 12, when God rebukes Jeremiah, saying, "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?" All in all an amazing book, deep with insight from an amazing scholar and devotionalist.

Run With the Horses

Eugene H. Peterson

Another good read is God Has Spoken by J.I Packer. J.I. Packer is an amazing academic, and sits on the chair of the translation committee that oversees the translation of the English Standard Version (ESV). This book is a sequel of sorts to Knowing God, which is his most well-known book. God Has Spoken, from beginning to end, calls us to get into the Scriptures, knowing that what they say, God says, and to learn about the sweetness of them, as the psalmist says. Steeped in the Anglican tradition, Packer continually looks to the teaching of the Anglican Church on the Bible (as well as all of Reformed Christianity), and addresses some of the well known attacks on biblical inerrancy, infallibilty, and the sufficiency of Scripture. It is truly amazing, and he keeps Christ at the center throughout the book. If you are having trouble seeking the Scriptures, this book will call you to account and grow in you a love for the Word of God. Altogether amazing.

God Has Spoken

J.I. Packer

I'm sure more of these to come. I am also reading through the Narnia series (for the first time ironically) and I am about to start The Sovereignty of God by AW Pink, who is a truly amazing author as well. Hope all two of you have an amazing summer, and that you relax in the rest of the Almighty.

For from Him and to him and through him are all things forever and ever amen. (Romans 11:36)

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False Saviors in Everything: Political Edition

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:27:57 -0700

First of all, tip of the hat to the geniuses at the Marginal Revolution blog, as I appropriated their common blog title for my own (theirs is markets in everything). I hope to make False Saviors in Everything a regular installation, basically whenever I see a culture setting up a false savior.
Second, I want to make clear: This is not a knock on any particular candidate for the Presidency. I do not endorse any candidate, I will vote, I just don't know for whom.

Yesterday I have the privilege to attend an Obama rally (I was told there would be free food), and I began to notice how Obama had become a false savior. I got into the rally, which was held in our campus chapel, and there was a large sign in the front with a picture of Obama and the word "HOPE" below it (not unlike our cheesy Christian bookstore posters with the permed-hair Jesus). Then one of the Senator's from Oregon got up and shared a story about Obama, showing what Obama has taught (similar to preaching of a parable from the Gospels). He asserted, "America wants change" and "Obama will make things better."
You see, the hopeful people at this rally are scared of another 8 years of "bad president hell" and "hillary clinton hell." (I will stay out of the debate from both of these...).
So where do we turn? We turn to Barack Obama of course! He is our savior from our self-defined hell.
The senator at the rally ended his speech by telling us that we should tell our friends to vote for Obama, sharing the "good news" of his presidency hopeful (not unlike the strategy taken up by youth groups when their numbers are down).
It was asserted that Senator Obama is "going to win." (As opposed to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ [1 Cor 15]).

Then, after the speaker, some volunteers ran to the front to throw out t-shirts. The lead volunteer, a friend of mine, yelled, "how much does this side love Obama?" which gave me vivid flashbacks to church camp, when some random Oriental Trading Company piece of junk was being thrown to someone in the crowd, presumably to the area that yelled the most for Jesus.

After the throwing of t-shirts, one of the acapella groups at our school, who renamed themselves Barackapella for the events on campus, served as the Church of Obama choir. Their final song was an acapella rendition of "yes we can," the famous Obama speech that has become the slogan of his campaign. What struck me during this song was its opposition to the Gospel (big G), that "Jesus will." No longer is Jesus the center, but we, as a society, can make things better if we just elect the right candidate and try hard enough.
The assertion throughout the afternoon, explicitly and implicity, is that Obama will make life better. But the Gospel stands in direct contrast to that: Jesus doesn't just make life better; He is better than life (Ps 63:3).

The hilarious thing to me was that while the acapella group was singing, people began to clap in unison. Now these are the same people, many of them, who think it completely weird that Christians sing in church. It was semi-spontaneous that they began clapping, but I bet none of them would clap in church, because it would be "weird." Which is utter ridiculousness.

The group's final song was 525,600 minutes from Rent, which they said reminded us for the real "reason for the season," which is clearly Love. Ultimately, two things stood out: that Love is God, and that the rally was an utter praise of the human ability.

Juxtaposed to that is Jesus. He came to show, once and for all, that we aren't good enough. That HE ALONE is the Saviour of all humanity, for there is no other name under heaven by which men are to be saved. Political leaders are fine, but we need to remember that they are temporary; Jesus is eternal. We gain joy from that which we praise. If we praise something other than God because it will give us pleasure, we aren't getting more pleasure; we are getting less. Because there is only so much to praise, until we begin to praise God, who is infinite, and then we can gain eternal joy from praising him, because he rightly can be praised eternally. We do not settle for less joy when we begin to follow Christ; We gain more. We gain more than we could ever imagine.

And now, to him who can do immeasurably more than we can ask, think, or even imagine, who lived, died and rose, and then ascended to the right hand of the father. Let us praise him forever, and put our hope in nothing but him.
Amen, so help me, Amen.

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Baptism and Preparing for Death

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:56:13 -0700

Much ink has been spilled about the proper administering of the holy sacrament of baptism. While this is of utmost importance, being one of the sacraments of the church, I have been meditating and ruminating on the view of baptism as a preparation for death. The common liturgy for the administering of the baptism is “participating in the death of Christ in baptism, and raised again in the newness of life.” (I don’t have this exactly right, but bear with me or let me know what it actually is in a message). While baptism as a public confession of faith is very important, I have been ruminating about baptism as a spiritual discipline.

I have been thinking that the attitude of baptism is necessary for all of life. Let me set this up for you scripturally (because if I don’t, you shouldn’t listen to me). Baptism was an ancient Hebrew practice of cleansing. The temple scribes, as I understand it, would go submerge themselves in water before writing the name of the Lord (YHWH). Then John started baptizing people in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem in a spiritual revival. Jesus is baptized, and then passes on the sacrament of baptism during the Great Comission. It becomes the way that believers publicly proclaim their faith. On the subject of baptism, Paul writes, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5, ESV)

In a similar fashion, Jesus commands us "Then If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:24-25) We are called into a discipline of dying continually to ourselves, which means continually being baptized in the Holy Spirit. When we first become a Christian and then become baptized, we participate in Jesus’ death. And then every day after that, after we are confirmed in the faith, we pick up our cross, denying ourselves and declaring ourselves functionally dead (I have an earlier post on the subject of taking up your cross), and we follow Christ. Daily we die to ourselves, being regenerated daily in the flesh. We bury ourselves daily in a baptism of sorts, and then daily we participate in the Resurrection, walking in the newness of life. How glorious it is!

Then, finally, when it comes time for us to be called home by the Father in Heaven, we do not fret for our future. We have been dying every day for years; this is simply the culmination of all of our spiritual discipline. We approach the door to Heaven, and Death, which used to have so much power which has been neutered by Jesus, opens the door to Heaven. Our final death is our most glorious, as we suffer with Christ so that we might also be glorified with Christ. (Romans 8:17) No longer is death the great beyond…it is the normal. When we continually die to ourselves, our final death should come almost as an afterthought, but with great expectation, since we will finally fulfill the prophecy of our baptism, and “we were buried therefore with him [Jesus] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Finally our flesh will be thrown off, and in heaven we will participate in a newness of life with the Creator and Source of all Life. How amazing that day will be, how glorious our Father is, and how wonderful is the Son for mediating for us as our great high priest in order that we might gain access to this grace in which we stand, through faith, so that we might rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2) How deserving of our praise! Amen.

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On the Audacity of Calling Christ "Lord"

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:49:17 -0800

This morning I was reading through Matthew 8, and I came to the familiar story of the faith of the centurion. Now, I am sure that men more capable than me could devote their life's work to this story, but I want to focus on one word in the entire story.
Matthew records, "When he [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly."

I want to first observe that this is a centurion, a commanding officer in the Roman army. He answers to the emperor.

The background of this story is that, in order to supress the Jewish people, the Roman Empire declared that all must attest that "Caesar is Lord," drawing on the word addonai from the Jewish people, which is how they read the "name of God" (In the old testament, the name of God, usually in all capital letters in english translations, is written in the hebrew YHWH, and instead of reading it, the Jewish people will say addonai instead, or Lord in Hebrew).

And so this centurion, who must answer at the end of the day to the Roman Empire, walks up to Jesus and says, "Lord." Calling Jesus, not Caesar "Lord." He was likely with other Roman soldiers, and if they went and told their commanders that this centurion called this Jesus of Nazareth "Lord," the centurion would likely be executed for treason. He is not just asking for a healing. He is risking EVERYTHING on this. And it isn't like it it a slip of the tongue on his part. The next thing he says to Jesus, he precedes with the title "Lord" as well. This is astounding, that this centurion would risk his very life for his servant.

The word Lord has lost much of its meaning in this day and age. We need to reclaim its ancient forbidden nature. We need to acknowledge that everything is vying for the position of Lord in our life, and that only Jesus ought to occupy this role.
And so let us call Jesus "Lord," risking everything by saying it, because we risk the whole world by declaring that Jesus, this crucified (but then resurrected and glorified) man, the Accursed One, might be the God of the Universe.

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Photo Frames

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:21:09 -0800

So this has nothing to do with theology...but heck, art is theological. I just made a picture frame from plexiglas, and I am trying to sell my photos at coffee shops here at home. So here's hoping...and here is a picture of my picture frame

My photo...of a photo frame

All my other pictures are at my flickr page, so...I guess check that out?
All the best
Theodoulos

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Recommendations Part II

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:11:41 -0800

Another recommendation for this year: Creation and Fall / Temptation is a compilation of both works by Dietrich Bonhoffer, who was an amazing theologian before being executed by the Nazi's for plotting to assassinate Hitler. His insights into the first three chapter of Genesis are something special. Also, his updated Letters and Papers From Prison is an interesting study into his own life and struggles while imprisoned.

Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Letter and Papers from Prison

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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My Recommendations for the New Year

nobody@vox.com(Theodoulos) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:25:47 -0800

As most of you who read this have hopefully figured out by now...I like reading. A lot. And I'm really nerdy about the whole thing. So I decided to compile a list of things I have read recently that I think everyone ought to read (because they are amazing books. They are compiled by author.

G.K. Chesterton
Essentially, his big three all should be read. Heretics, Orthodoxy (written in response to criticism about Heretics) and The Everlasting Man. The last book is probably his best book ever, and reportedly strongly influenced C.S. Lewis to convert to Christianity. It is essentially an overview of history as informed by the incarnation of Christ. Honestly...if you read one book by Chesterton, it should be this one. He is an amazing writer.
Warning: If you get bogged down in the first...30 pages of Chesterton's books (any of them) it is just because you aren't used to his writing style yet. He is an old British curmudgeon, and writes just as ironically as the best of them, and so his voice takes some getting used to. But I assure you, it will be worth it.

C.S. Lewis
I could say just read all of his stuff, but that would be too easy. My recommendation for this year is his Science-Fiction trilogy, better known as the Ransom Trilogy (sidenote again, he wrote it based on a coinflip with Tolkien, where they agreed one would write a time trilogy and one a science-fiction trilogy. Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis wrote the Ransom trilogy) Anyway, all the books are just amazing, I blew through them while in school in a month (about 600 pages in a month...is a lot during school...but it was too good for homework to take priority). It amazes me that Lewis can weave his philosophy into his fiction as well as his nonfiction, and sometimes even clearer in his fiction, which is the mark of true genius. This trilogy is a must-read for any person remotely interested in Lewis.
P.S. If you have time, also pick up Till We Have Faces, Lewis' retelling of the Cupid-Psyche myth. Truly magical.

J.I. Packer
An oldie but a goodie, Packer's Knowing God has amazing insight and readability for a man who is so immersed in theology (He is the chair of translation for the ESV Bible). Honestly, this book calls you to reckon with yourself. I hope no Christian who is theologically passionate passes up on this book. His sound Biblical doctrine combined with amazing application convicts your understanding of God page after page.

If I think of any more books to read, then I will write an additional list. Have a great new year.

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