How can Christianity be both monotheistic and Trinitarian?

Listen to Tim Keller's explanation HERE

Acts 9:10-19 - "Go"

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.

This is a different Ananias than the one we read about in chapter 5. Jesus chose to use this Ananias in a different way that he did the Ananias we read about in the earlier chapter. Jesus came to Ananias and said to him “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”

At this point I think it would do us well to put ourselves in Ananias’ shoes. Jesus came to him and said “look for a man of Tarsus named Saul…” At this point it has to click with Ananias. By this time Saul had developed a reputation that preceded him. When Jesus told Ananias who he was to look for I’m sure Ananias wished he had been wearing a diaper. Imagine a Jew during world war two being told to go to Berlin and look for a guy named Hitler, in order to lay hands on him and pray for him. As we see, Ananias tries to reason with Jesus saying “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” I love Jesus’ response to a frightened Ananias. There is no negotiation, no rubbing his back, building his self-esteem, no pep-talk, no pleading with Ananias to obey. Jesus answers simply “Go…” He explains to Ananias that Saul is “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” Ananias, frightened but obedient “departed and entered the house. And laying hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’”

What if Jesus spoke to you in this way? What if Jesus told you to “Go.” How would you respond? Most of us, myself included, would answer something like “if Jesus spoke to me I would do whatever he told me to.” Here is the truth: Jesus has spoken to us and most of us are not doing what he commands. The Bible is God’s word to us. God speaks to us as much today as he ever has. His words to us are found on every page of Scripture. Do not think that because you don’t hear God audibly speak to you that he is not speaking at all. Whenever we take time to read His word, He is speaking to us just as if He were sitting in front of us. Jesus’ last command to his disciples before his ascension to heaven began with one simple, familiar word: “Go.” Matthew 28:18-20, familiarly known as the great commission reads like this:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So, Jesus has spoken to us and he tells us just as he told Ananias: “Go.” Has Jesus command you, like Ananias, specifically to go to the one person on the face of the earth who is “breathing threats and murder” against you? Chances are probably not. Evangelism starts at home for those who have unbelieving family members. It then extends to unbelieving friends and co-workers. This is something we are commanded by Jesus to do. It’s not something we do on our own either. Jesus said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore…” Why will we be effective when we tell people about Jesus? Why will our nervous, studdering proclamation of the Gospel gain disciples? I guarantee you it is not because we have “sold” anybody on Jesus. It is solely because “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given” to Jesus, and those whom he has chosen before the foundation of the earth will come to Him.

Lets be honest, talking to Jim two cubicles down from you is not quite as intimidating as the circumstances Ananias faced. Coming into the fire station and proclaiming the Gospel to my friends does not carry with it the perceived threat of imprisonment or death. Step up, obey the God of the universe, emulate the obedience of Ananias and “Go.”

Listen to last Sunday's sermon from Church of the Cross on Acts 9:1-19: The Unexpected, Unconventional, Undeniable Conversion of Saul.

Acts 9:1-9

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" ⁵And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." ⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

I love the language used here of breathing threats and murder. Saul wasn’t just doing what he thought was right by persecuting Christians, he had an active hatred toward them. Saul thought he was doing God’s work and these Christians were enemies of God so in his mind he was justified for his despise of the members of the Way. By this point in the book of Acts we already see Saul emerge as a leader of persecution against Christians. In chapter 7 we see Saul overseeing the execution of Stephen and now he is taking his show on the road with permission from the high priests to bring back to Jerusalem anyone he found belonging to this movement now dubbed as “the Way.” So at this point Saul is the front man in the cause of squashing this movement made up of the followers of Jesus and he is carrying out his task with murderous passion.

There are few places in Scripture where God’s election is seen in action more clearly than in verses three through six:

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

I thank God for his grace in election. Saul, a persecutor of Christians and as Jesus points out, a persecutor of Jesus himself, experiences God’s grace in this moment. Saul was a religious person and was an enemy of God. Saul, in his own words was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” Saul was the guy everyone looked at and said “Wow, he has it all together. I wish I could be as holy as he is.” But it was all meaningless because until this moment in Saul’s life, he was an enemy of God. It was not until Jesus came down and changed him that he became a friend of God. He did not accomplish this own his own. It was not done by his merit or effort. It was accomplished entirely by Jesus who goes on to say that Saul is “a chosen instrument of mine…” There was no Gospel presentation, no altar call, no sinners prayer, or no free will decision. Jesus chose Saul and Saul was changed.

While these verses in Acts are descriptive of the calling of Saul and are not prescriptive in that we are not all to be saved in the exact same manner, the mode of salvation is the same: God calls the sinner, dead in his trespasses and sins, to come to life in Jesus and the sinner is reborn to life in Christ. The account of Lazarus in John 11:38-44 is a perfect illustration of how Jesus saves us:

Then Jesus ,deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go.


Lazarus was physically dead, just as apart from the saving work of Jesus we are spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). Jesus came to Lazarus and called him to life. Lazarus did not ponder the Lord’s call and make the decision to accept Jesus’ invitation because dead people don’t ponder anything or make any decisions. When Jesus calls us, the spiritually dead, to come to life, we respond. Just as a dead Lazarus was unable to make any decision regarding Jesus’ call, you and I who are spiritual dead are unable to make any spiritual decisions for ourselves. Salvation is, from beginning to end, the work of Jesus. It is “not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

So what is Saul’s response to Jesus when he tells him to “rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do”? The following verses tell us that Saul rose up and went into the city. Saul’s world had been changed. He was no longer God’s enemy but his chosen instrument who would carry the name of Jesus to the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

Listen to last Sunday's sermon from Church of the Cross on Acts 9:1-19: The Unexpected, Unconventional, Undeniable Conversion of Saul.

Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

I just started reading Thomas Brooks' "Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices", a book about how Satan temps us and ways we can recognize and fight against his tactics. I'll start sharing some of the things I read.

Device: To present the bait and hide the hook

Brooks paints the picture of Satan fishing for men. Satan does this by hiding sin and its effects with "bait". Brooks writes "to present the golden cup, and hide the poison; to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin, and by hiding from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin." Like a fisherman using the correct bait for specific fish, Satan will use whatever bait each individual person is most prone to bite on. "Satan loves to sail with the wind, and to suit men's temptations to their conditions and inclinations." If you are prone to greed, Satan will put opportunities in front of you for great monetary gain. If you are prone to lust, Satan will be sure to surround you with all that your eyes desire. If gossip is your weakness, Satan will present you with the juciest piece of information that everyone would love to know. Satan is not all-knowing but he is very wise and will use whatever he can to get us to turn from Jesus and follow him.

Remedy (1): First, keep at the greatest distance from sin, and from playing with the golden bait that Satan holds forth to catch you.

Brooks writes "The best course to prevent falling into the pit is to keep at the greatest distance." Sounds like common sense. If you struggle with lust, stay away from the websites you know arouse your desire, stop watching the tv shows that do the same, cancel your subscription to Maxim, Stuff, and all other porn mags. If gossip is your fight, stop associating with the people you know who love to hear and dish out the latest information on everyone in the workplace. Don't play with fire or you will get burned. Proverbs 6:28 says "Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?" Follow this advice.

(2): To consider, that sin is but a bitter sweet.

"That seeming sweet that is sin will quicky vanish, and lasting shame, sorrow, horror, and terror will come in the room thereof." Sin may seem sweet at first but in the end turns out to be bitter, costing us time, money, relationships, health, and most importantly intimacy with Jesus. Brooks writes "When the asp stings a man, it doth first tickle him so as it makes him laugh, till the poison, by little and little, gets to the heart, and then it pains him more than it ever delighted him."

(3): Solemnly to consider, that sin will usher in the greatest and saddest losses that can be upon our souls.

"It will usher in the loss of that divine favour that is better than life, and the loss of that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and the loss of that peace that passeth understanding, and the loss of those divine influenes by which the soul hath been refreshed, quickened, raised, strengthened, and gladded, and the loss of many outward desirable mercies, which otherwise the soul might have enjoyed."

(4): Seriously to consider, that sin is of a very deceitful and bewitching nature.

"Sin so bewitches the soul that it makes the soul call evil good and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light; and a soul thus bewitched with sin will stand it out to the death at the the sword's point with God. So a man bewitched with sin had rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul than part with his sin. Oh, therefore, for ever take heed of playing with or nibbling at Satan's golden baits."

The Tornado, the Lutherans, and Homosexuality

This is taken from the Desiring God website. You can view the commentary, written by John Piper, here: Article

I saw the fast-moving, misshapen, unusually-wide funnel over downtown Minneapolis from Seven Corners. I said to Kevin Dau, “That looks serious.”

It was. Serious in more ways than one. A friend who drove down to see the damage wrote,

On a day when no severe weather was predicted or expected...a tornado forms, baffling the weather experts—most saying they’ve never seen anything like it. It happens right in the city. The city: Minneapolis.

The tornado happens on a Wednesday...during the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's national convention in the Minneapolis Convention Center. The convention is using Central Lutheran across the street as its church. The church has set up tents around it’s building for this purpose.

According to the ELCA’s printed convention schedule, at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 19, the 5th session of the convention was to begin. The main item of the session: “Consideration: Proposed Social Statement on Human Sexuality.” The issue is whether practicing homosexuality is a behavior that should disqualify a person from the pastoral ministry.

The eyewitness of the damage continues:

This curious tornado touches down just south of downtown and follows 35W straight towards the city center. It crosses I94. It is now downtown.

The time: 2PM.

The first buildings on the downtown side of I94 are the Minneapolis Convention Center and Central Lutheran. The tornado severely damages the convention center roof, shreds the tents, breaks off the steeple of Central Lutheran, splits what’s left of the steeple in two...and then lifts.

Let me venture an interpretation of this Providence with some biblical warrant.

1. The unrepentant practice of homosexual behavior (like other sins) will exclude a person from the kingdom of God.

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

2. The church has always embraced those who forsake sexual sin but who still struggle with homosexual desires, rejoicing with them that all our fallen, sinful, disordered lives (all of us, no exceptions) are forgiven if we turn to Christ in faith.

Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)

3. Therefore, official church pronouncements that condone the very sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God, are evil. They dishonor God, contradict Scripture, and implicitly promote damnation where salvation is freely offered.

4. Jesus Christ controls the wind, including all tornados.

Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark 4:41)

5. When asked about a seemingly random calamity near Jerusalem where 18 people were killed, Jesus answered in general terms—an answer that would cover calamities in Minneapolis, Taiwan, or Baghdad. God’s message is repent, because none of us will otherwise escape God’s judgment.

Jesus: “Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)

6. Conclusion: The tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction. Reaffirm the great Lutheran heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture. Turn back from distorting the grace of God into sensuality. Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform left and right wing sinners.

When is Abortion Racism?

The Sufficiency of Scripture and Conservatism

"‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’" (Genesis 3:2)

Eve's response to the serpent in Genesis 3 is the first example of man's refusal to trust in the sufficiency of Scripture. Trusting in the sufficiency of Scripture simply means believing that in the Bible God has given us everything we need to be "equipped for every good work." It means that we don't feel the need to add our own morality to the inspired words of Scripture. Granted, in Genesis 3 Adam and Eve did not have the full revelation of Scripture that we have today. But they did have all the information that God intended them to have at that time to live in His perfect will for their lives.

The mistake that conservatives make is that they do not trust in the sufficiency of Scripture. They simply do not trust God enough to believe that everything we need to live our lives in ways that would glorify Him is in the Bible. In addition they are arrogant enough to believe that they can add their own thoughts, preferences, traditions, and morality to God's word. How offensive must that be to a holy and perfect God. To think that God needs your input or advice in instructing people how to live lives pleasing to Him must infuriate Him.

In addition conservatives tend to see themselves as holier or better than everyone else because of the rules they follow (rules which they made up). Conservatives tend to fiercely dislike and argue with liberals. In reality conservatives are no better than liberals even though they would look down on liberals for their refusal to follow or hold to the traditional interpretation of Scripture. I have news for conservatives: you are in exactly the same boat as liberals. Neither of you trust in Scripture. Liberals do not trust in the authority of Scripture while conservatives do not trust in the sufficiency of Scripture. You are both in sin and in need of repentance.

In his book "Christian Beliefs", Wayne Grudem writes "There are issues and situations for which God has not provided the precise direction or rules that we sometimes desire. But because Scripture is sufficient, we do not have the right to add to it's commands or teachings." For example, conservatives who look down on others for smoking cigarettes probably wish there was a verse in the Bible that prohibited the smoking of cigarettes. Since there isn't, conservatives will then find an obscure verse and add their own meaning to it resulting in the opinion that smoking is a sin. Grudem continues "In the same way, with regard to living the Christian life, the sufficiency of Scripture reminds us that nothing is sin that is not forbidden by Scripture either explicitally or by implication. Therefore we are not to add prohibitions where we don't believe Scripture is precise enough." There are situations in a Christian's life where drinking alcohol, going to a movie theater, or eating meat offered to idols would be inappropriate (1 Cor. 8-10). But since there is no explicit or implied teaching that forbids these actions, they cannot be called sinful.

Since the first man and woman we have had a tendency to distrust the creator God and put our trust in His creation, most frequently ourselves. We do this by relying on our own knowledge and insight by adding our own words to the words of a perfect and holy God. This brings us back to our mother Eve. Eve did like many of us continue to do by"exchanging the truth about God for a lie and worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator." We should learn from her the serious consequenses of not trusting in the sufficiency of the word of God. As a result of her and Adam's sin, mankind fell and death and decay entered the world. Let us not be like our mother Eve. Let us rest in the peace of the knowledge that in God's word is everything we need to live lives pleasing to Him.