Cross to Crown Blog

  • Of Mandates and Commissions

    In the first chapter of the Bible, God commanded man to: 

    Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

    This is appropriately termed the “dominion mandate.” Man was to exercise dominion over the earth. There was no separate higher, deeper, or inner aspect to man. Adam was a man of the earth. He glorified God by getting his fingernails dirty.

    But soon there was trouble.

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  • Be Filled

    We are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit. It is important to understand what this really means. If we don't, there will be endless confusion and frustration in our walk with God.

    Speaking of that, let's begin with the popular interpretation.

    Let Go and Let God

    The narrative goes like this: First, I realize that there is nothing I can do for God—O' what a worm am I! Sinner that I am, I always mess things up... 

    Then comes enlightenment—My life can only become useful to God if I am not involved in it. I need to get me out of my life. The Spirit needs to take over completely. More of Thee, less of me. There can only be one driver of the car—either God or me. It's "Jesus-take-the-wheel" time... 

    And finally . . .

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  • Worship Principles? Pshaw!

    Who needs to wrestle with "principles?" Just do it the way the apostles did it. Ananias and Sapphira spring to mind. Then there's music - the Apostles' Hymn - Just As I Am. Continue until all are either dead or sanctified.

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  • Burnout, Life's Biggest Time-Waster

    What is life's biggest time-waster? For those of us who are serious about Christ's lordship over every area of life, the most common answer is: neglecting rest. Here's what happens. Dedicated Christian thinks every moment should be spent in productive God-honoring work. Everything else is a time-waster, supposedly. This sounds noble and spiritual...but there is a problem. His humanity gets in the way. Because he is made in the image of God, Dedicated Christian is designed to work then rest. Rest refreshes him from his work and enables him to do more work. When Dedicated Christian neglects his rest, he becomes exhausted. When he becomes exhausted, his work becomes less productive. When his work is less productive, he doubles down and works even longer and rests less. This cycle continues until he eventually burns out. Burnout is life's biggest time-waster.

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  • I Say the Pledge of Allegiance in Good Conscience

    The larger issue is: Should Christians engage with or withdraw from the societies they live in? Of course, it is never absolutely one course or the other. There is always a line to be drawn. Which side of the line should the Pledge be on?

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  • Faith and Works: Distinct But Not Separate

    We must always separate faith from works in reference to justification. Paul did this to refute the error of the Judaizers. Martin Luther did this to refute the error of the Roman Catholic Church. However, we must never separate faith from works in reference to living. This is James' point. The Reformers also said it well, "Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone." But Jesus said it best, "The tree is known by its fruit.

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  • Half a Savior?

    The Bible is full of ideas that we can't reconcile. God is one and God is three. God's sovereignty and man's free will. God's goodness and the existence of evil. And, our topic, the divinity and humanity of Christ. These are all paradoxical to us. They seem to be contradictory, yet we must—if we are to take God at his word—believe both halves of each pair. We must not choose A or B. We must choose A and B. And we must keep both halves of the truth together. Half a horse isn't good for much. Neither is half a car. Neither is half a Savior.

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  • Why Does God Rest? – Part 4: WDJD? (What Did Jesus Do?)

    When are Christians to rest? Actually, this question is embedded in the larger issue of the relationship of the New Covenant to the Old Covenant. Our study now leads us directly to Jesus. To understand His teaching and practice, we must first understand His place and time in theological history.

    For the Jews, obedience to the terms of their covenant with God, as defined by Mosaic Law, brought blessing. Disobedience to the covenant brought cursing. The cursing, like the blessing, primarily had national but also personal repercussions. Because the nation of Israel violated the terms of the covenant, the whole nation suffered the curses of the covenant in the dispersion and by political oppression from Rome. They hoped to regain God's blessing and liberation through zealous obedience to the written Law, the Torah, and, for some, an even greater enthusiasm for the oral Law, the Talmud, as championed by the Pharisees. Had I been there, I'm pretty sure that I would have agreed with this rigorous law keeping. After all, what could be more important than keeping God's commandments to obtain his blessings? I may have even become a committed Pharisee, like Saul. Much of the focus of law obedience concerned resting, that is, Sabbath observance. There was a biblical basis for this, of course:

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  • Why Does God Rest? – Part 3: The Purpose of Rest

    From Part 2, we learned that rest is any activity that is not work. This led us to seek a biblical definition of work, which I proposed is: Doing activities that provide for the needs of ourselves, our families, and others. So now let's turn our definition of work to the negative in order to further define rest. Rest is: Not doing activities that provide for the needs of ourselves, our families, and others.

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  • Why Does God Rest? – Part 2: What is Rest?

    We learned in Part 1 that rest is an element of God's created natural order. But what exactly is rest? God did it. We are to do it. Do what? It is now time to define the word. For God, the Genesis passage above says that he "finished his work" and rested "from all his work." How does God rest? He does not work. He ceases from his work. Is this true for man? Let us return to the fourth commandment:

    "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work.... Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:8-11)

    The phrase "not do any work" or a variation is repeated over and over again in reference to Sabbath. But the seventh day was not the only time work was prohibited. The Day of Atonement, which is called a "Sabbath of rest," the Passover, and the feasts were also times of "no ordinary work." All of these were holy days, that is, days that were set apart. Set apart from what? Answer: from work. Days that are not for work are for rest.

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