Donnels Creek Church

Author: pastor: Matthew Pittman

  • 010 Matthew in Seven: Happy News

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    Matthew 4:12-17

    12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

    15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
        the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
    16 the people dwelling in darkness
        have seen a great light,
    and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
        on them a light has dawned.”

    17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

  • Psalm 145

    I will extol you, my God and King,
        and bless your name forever and ever.
    2 Every day I will bless you
        and praise your name forever and ever.
    3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
        and his greatness is unsearchable.

    4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
        and shall declare your mighty acts.
    5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
        and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
    6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
        and I will declare your greatness.
    7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
        and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

    8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
        slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
    9 The Lord is good to all,
        and his mercy is over all that he has made.

    Refelction

    1. What comfort do you have that the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love?
    2. Considering Matthew 5:45 with Psalm 145:9, how is God good to all and how has he been merciful to all?
    3. In what ways was God’s love aggressive?

  • Jesus Came to Die to Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us

    And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  Colossians 2:13-14

    What a folly it is to think that our good deeds may one day outweigh our bad deeds. It is folly for two reasons. First, it is not true. Even our good deeds are defective, because we don’t honor God in the way we do them. Do we do our good deeds in joyful dependence on God with a view to making known his supreme worth? Do we fulfill the overarching command to serve people “by the strength that God supplies— in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11)?

    What then shall we say in response to God’s word, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23)? I think we shall say nothing. “Whatever the law says it speaks . . . so that every mouth may be stopped” (Romans 3:19). We will say nothing. It is folly to think that our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds before God. Without Christ-exalting faith, our deeds will signify nothing but rebellion.

    The second reason it is folly to hope in good deeds is that this is not the way God saves. If we are saved from the consequences of our bad deeds, it will not be because they weighed less than our good deeds. It will be because the “record of [our] debt” in heaven has been nailed to the cross of Christ. God has a totally different way of saving sinners than by weighing their deeds. There is no hope in our deeds. There is only hope in the suffering and death of Christ.

    There is no salvation by balancing the records. There is only salvation by canceling records. The record of our bad deeds (including our defective good deeds), along with the just penalties that each deserves, must be blotted out—not balanced. This is what Christ suffered and died to accomplish.

    The cancellation happened when the record of our deeds was “nailed to the cross” (Colossians 2:13). How was this damning record nailed to the cross? Parchment was not nailed to the cross. Christ was. So Christ became my damning record of bad (and good) deeds. He endured my damnation. He put my salvation on a totally different footing. He is my only hope. And faith in him is my only way to God.

    Reflection

    1. According to 1 Peter 4:11 who should get the glory for our good deeds?
    2. Meditate and/or write your thoughts and reactions on these two sentences from above: “If we are saved from the consequences of our bad deeds, it will not be because they weighed less than our good deeds. It will be because the “record of [our] debt” in heaven has been nailed to the cross of Christ.”

    John Piper: Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

  • The Twofold Obedience of Christ

    G.K. Beale is one of my favorite still living theologians. He wrote this article for Tabletalk Magazine in April of 2019 and it explains in very good terms the obedience of Christ and what it accomplished.

    Theologians often speak of the active and passive obedience of Christ. His active obedience consisted of His perfect keeping of the law of God throughout His life. His passive obedience consisted of His willing reception of the punishment of sinners’ breaking the law. Both are imputed to sinners who trust in Christ, so that they are seen to be perfectly righteous in Christ and without any penalty for breaking the law (see Westminster Confession of Faith 11). “Passive obedience” is somewhat of a misnomer, since Christ’s enduring the penalty of sin was an active endurance.

    The passage that most strongly affirms the positive imputation of Christ’s righteousness is 1 Corinthians 1:30: “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (NASB, here and throughout). Believers’ union with Christ means that “in Christ Jesus” we are considered to have the same (perfect) “wisdom . . . , righteousness . . . sanctification, and redemption” that Christ possesses.

    This does not mean that we possess these attributes in our personal existence on earth. Instead, we are represented by Christ as becoming these things because of our unity with Him (that is, we “are in Christ”). The phrase “to us” refers to our location “in Christ Jesus” and our sharing in His attributes.

    Some object to this conclusion because it appears difficult to understand how Christ Himself was “redeemed” in the same manner that believers are “redeemed.” Accordingly, some contend that neither should the references to “wisdom,” “righteousness,” and “sanctification” be taken in a representative manner. The verse would refer only to believers’ becoming wise, holy, righteous, and redeemed through Christ, and the first three characteristics would be godly traits that should characterize increasingly the lives of Christians.

    A simple word study alleviates this problem. The word translated “redemption” is sometimes used in the Greek Old Testament to refer to release from sin but is more often used to refer to liberation from harsh oppression. In view of this, it would appear to be a normal use of “redemption” in 1 Corinthians 1:30 to indicate liberation from oppression, particularly with respect to Christ. It would refer to His deliverance from death and liberation from bondage to the powers of Satan in the resurrection.

    The first part of the verse augments the conception of Christians’ being represented by these attributes of Christ: it was by God’s “doing” that we “are in Christ Jesus,” and because we are “in” Him, we share positionally in His impeccable traits. Therefore, we are to boast not of our own abilities (vv. 29, 31) but of the benefits resulting from our representation by Christ.

    Consequently, 1 Corinthians 1:30 supports the idea that believers are represented by Christ’s perfect righteousness and are, positionally, as completely righteous as He is (see Rom. 5:15–19; Phil. 3:9). In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul writes, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Paul asserts that Christ took on an alien guilt and endured a punishment that He Himself did not deserve so that the sinners for whom Christ suffered the punishment would “become the righteousness of God in Him [Christ].” This means that God would view us as “not guilty” and not deserving of the penalty though we had committed sin. But our becoming “the righteousness of God” also means being identified with “the righteousness of God” not only in the death offering of Christ but explicitly in the risen Christ, so that some positive aspect of Christ’s righteousness is credited to us.

  • Psalm 117

    God chose a small nation to bring a GREAT Savior!

    Praise the Lord, all nations!
        Extol him, all peoples!
    2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,
        and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
    Praise the Lord!

    Reflection

    1. In what ways throughout Scripture has God used small things to do GREAT things?
    2. In what ways throughout your life has God used small things to do GREAT things?
    3. Read Acts 10:9-43. What is the significance of ALL nations coming to the Lord?
    4. The Hebrew word for God’s love is “khesed”. Chad Bird commented that God’s love does not grow larger or lessen. How is this faithfulness of the Lord encouraging to you?

  • 009 Matthew in Seven: Help in the Wilderness 3

    Matthew 4:1-11

    Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

    “‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
        but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

    5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

    “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

    and

    “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
        lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

    7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

    “‘You shall worship the Lord your God
        and him only shall you serve.’”

    11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

  • Jesus Came to Die to Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

    Today’s Lent reading reinforces what has been taught the past three Sundays at the Creek. We have been in Matthew 4:1-11 and much focus was on the humanity of Christ and while in the flesh he learned to obey and be led by the Lord.

    Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Hebrews 5:8

    For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
    Hebrews 2:10

    The very book in the Bible that says Christ “learned obedience” through suffering, and that he was “made perfect” through suffering, also says that he was “without sin.” “In every respect [Christ] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

    This is the consistent teaching of the Bible. Christ was sinless. Although he was the divine Son of God, he was really human, with all our temptations and appetites and physical weaknesses. There was hunger (Matthew 21:18) and anger and grief (Mark 3:5) and pain (Matthew 17:12). But his heart was perfectly in love with God, and he acted consistently with that love: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).

    Therefore, when the Bible says that Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered,” it doesn’t mean that he learned to stop disobeying. It means that with each new trial he learned in practice—and in pain—what it means to obey.

    When it says that he was “made perfect through suffering,” it doesn’t mean that he was gradually getting rid of defects. It means that he was gradually fulfilling the perfect righteousness that he had to have in order to save us.

    That’s what he said at his baptism. He didn’t need to be baptized because he was a sinner. Rather, he explained to John the Baptist, “Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).

    The point is this: If the Son of God had gone from incarnation to the cross without a life of temptation and pain to test his righteousness and his love, he would not be a suitable Savior for fallen man. His suffering not only absorbed the wrath of God. It also fulfilled his true humanity and made him able to call us brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:17).

    John Piper, 50 Reasons Christ Came to Die

    Reflection

    1. Please meditate and ponder upon this and, if journaling, write a response of your reaction to this teaching.
    2. In what way did living through suffering make Christ able to make atonement for sin?
    3. In what ways does considering Christ an “elder brother” help make him more real and relatable to you?

  • Psalm 41

    Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
        In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
    2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
        he is called blessed in the land;
        you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
    3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
        in his illness you restore him to full health.

    4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
        heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
    5 My enemies say of me in malice,
        “When will he die, and his name perish?”
    6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
        while his heart gathers iniquity;
        when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
    7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
        they imagine the worst for me.

    8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;
        he will not rise again from where he lies.”
    9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
        who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
    10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
        and raise me up, that I may repay them!

    11 By this I know that you delight in me:
        my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
    12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
        and set me in your presence forever.

    13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
        from everlasting to everlasting!
    Amen and Amen.

    Reflection

    1. In what ways were you at one time considered poor?
    2. How can Jesus say, “I have sinned against you,” v.4? (compare with 2 Corinthians 5:21)
    3. In what ways are you comforted knowing that this one, in the Psalm, who prays is also in the presence of the Lord forever?

    content by Ed Killian and Chad Bird

  • The Work of Christ in Propitiation & Expiation

    Today continues a thought from yesterday on propitiation but adds something called expiation. This article is important to know but also a bit more on the theological side of Christ’s work. The sacrifices in the Old Law were a type of what was to come in the Messiah. L. Michael Morales explains in brief the way Christ fulfills the sacrificial system.

    In the world of the first century, Roman crucifixion was not only a horrific form of torture, reserved for the lowest dregs of the criminal class, but it was also associated with severe shame.

    Not only were Roman citizens exempt from this humiliating death, but even the word crucifixion was avoided in social gatherings. In the Jewish mind-set, crucifixion was seen through the lens of Deuteronomy 21:23, which declares that anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed of God (see also Gal. 3:13).

    Given such a reality, how is it that the Apostle Paul, along with the rest of the New Testament authors, determined to know nothing but “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2), even to placard publicly Jesus as crucified in preaching (Gal. 3:1) and, indeed, to boast in nothing else except “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:14)?

    The answer lies, in part, in the sacrificial system of the old covenant temple. God, to the praise of His unsearchable wisdom, gave ancient Israel sacrifices to serve as theological tools, instructing His people about the remedy for sin and the need for reconciliation with God.

    After the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, the Apostles were enabled to discern in the pages of the Old Testament Scriptures how the system of sacrificial worship had been divinely ordained for the sake of unfolding the wonders of Christ and His accomplished work on the cross (e.g., Rom. 3:21–26; Heb. 9:16–10:18). The categories of sacrifice enabled the paradigm shift to seeing the cross of Christ not as a source of deep embarrassment but rather—and wondrously—as God’s greatest gift to humanity and His highest demonstration of love for sinners (Rom. 5:8).

    Two theological concepts of sacrifice are especially noteworthy for understanding the death of Jesus on the cross as the only sacrifice able to secure pardon from our sins and definitive reconciliation with God: expiation and propitiation.

    Expiation refers to the cleansing of sin and removal of sin’s guilt. In the sacrificial system of Israel, blood was collected from an animal’s severed arteries and then manipulated in a variety of ways. Blood was smeared, sprinkled, tossed, and poured out. Remember, “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11) Displaying the blood before God demonstrated that a life, had endured death, the wages of sin.

    Propitiation refers to the soothing of God’s righteous wrath and gaining of His favor. We find a vivid portrayal of the appeasing of God’s wrath as we reflect now on the whole burnt offering. Israel’s worship was founded on the whole burnt offering, so much so that the altar, the central focus of worship, was even dubbed “the altar of burnt offering” (Ex. 30:28).

    Jesus fulfilled the Levitical system of sacrifice only because He offered Himself up to God on the cross as One who had fulfilled the law. In His tormented night of prayer in Gethsemane He had prayed, “My Father . . . not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39), and then He drank the cup of divine judgment as our blameless substitute. Jesus’ life of complete and loving devotion to God, offered up to the Father by the Spirit and through the cross—this is the appeasing of God’s wrath.

    Because Jesus’ suffering was as a vicarious* penal substitute, sinners can find rest for their souls. A Christian basks securely in the warm rays of the Father’s favor only because that storm of judgment has already broken in the full measure of its fury on the crucified Son of God. His shed blood cleanses us from our sins, removing our guilt from the sight of God.

    His wholehearted, law-keeping life offered up to God through the cross, even as He bore our penalty, rises to heaven as a pleasing aroma. Here, at last, the chief of sinners finds cause to boast in nothing at all except in the One who “loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2).

    *Vicarious: Experienced through the actions of another person.

    Reflection

    1. Hebrews 12:2 “he despised the shame of the cross,” affirms what was stated earlier in this article. Do you think people in first century Rome would wear cross jewelry or clothing? Explain.
    2. Galatians 6:14 Paul says that his only “boast is in the cross of Christ.” How is this true for you?
    3. Meditate upon Ephesians 5:2: “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Journal or think through how following Jesus’ example of love can change how you are live in this world.

  • Jesus Came to Die to Absorb the Wrath of God

    “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— Galatians 3:14

    “Whom God put forward as a propitiation (wrath absorber) by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Romans 3:25

    “ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation (wrath absorber) for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

    If God were not just, there would be no demand for his Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for his Son to suffer and die. But God is both just and loving. Therefore his love is willing to meet the demands of his justice.

    God’s law demanded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). But we have all loved other things more. This is what sin is—dishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences. Therefore, the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We glorify what we enjoy most. And it isn’t God.

    Therefore sin is not small, because it is not against a small Sovereign. The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted. The Creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and admiration and loyalty. Therefore, failure to love him is not trivial—it is treason. It defames God and destroys human happiness.

    Since God is just, he does not sweep these crimes under the rug of the universe. He feels a holy wrath against them. They deserve to be punished, and he has made this clear: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

    There is a holy curse hanging over all sin. Not to punish would be unjust. The demeaning of God would be endorsed. A lie would reign at the core of reality. Therefore, God says, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).

    But the love of God does not rest with the curse that hangs over all sinful humanity. He is not content to show wrath, no matter how holy it is. Therefore God sends his own Son to absorb his wrath and bear the curse for all who trust him. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

    This is the meaning of the word “propitiation” in the text quoted above (Romans 3:25). It refers to the removal of God’s wrath by providing a substitute. The substitute is provided by God himself. The substitute, Jesus Christ, does not just cancel the wrath; he absorbs it and diverts it from us to himself. God’s wrath is just, and it was spent, not withdrawn.

    Let us not trifle with God or trivialize his love. We will never stand in awe of being loved by God until we reckon with the seriousness of our sin and the justice of his wrath against us. But when, by grace, we waken to our unworthiness, then we may look at the suffering and death of Christ and say, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the [wrath-absorbing] propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

    from John Piper’s Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die

    Reflection

    1. John Piper said, “Therefore sin is not small.” How do you sometimes justify your sin or think in your heart that some of your sin is “small”?
    2. What does the word propitiation mean and how did Jesus propitiate for you?
    3. How would God be unjust if He just overlooked sin or simply decreed forgiveness?
    4. In what ways does this reading increase your love and praise for Christ?