I Want Blood

I've been reading "Death By Love" which is a new book by Mark Driscoll. I have to share an excerpt from the book that is absolutely fascinating.

Pastor Mark Driscoll talked to a Christian guy in his church directly after his wife confessed to him that she had cheated on him by sleeping with his friend in their own marriage bed (back before she became a Christian). As you could imagine, this guy was ticked off. Driscoll said, "What do you want?" to the guy. He replied, "I want blood."

Here is an excerpt from the pastoral letter (found in the book Death By Love) to this man regarding the friend who stabbed him in the back:

"God does not have a heart of grace toward [your friend], because he is an unrepentant sinner. Second, Christ's death has not applied to him and will not unless he repents of sin and receives Jesus. Third, he is not justified and, therefore, stands guilty and condemned before God. Fourth, he is an enemy of God. Fifth, he is not reconciled to God. Seventh, the wrath of God remains upon him. Eight, if he continues in unrepentance and unbelief, Jesus' blood will not cover him, and he will spend eternity suffering in conscious, eternal torment. [He and the other] unrepentent sinners will be thrown like grapes into the winepress and Jesus will stomp them underfoot so that their blood flows as high as the bit in a horse's mouth for one hundred eighty miles (Rev. 14:19-20)."

Driscoll wrote this to encourage this guy by reminding him that he will get the justice he wants. He will get his "blood" in the future when his friend finds himself under the "boot of Jesus."

HOWEVER...

Driscoll reminds the guy that IF his friend-turned-enemy becomes a Christian and truly repents and follows Jesus, that Jesus' blood on the cross will cover his sin and cleanse him. When someone comes to Jesus, the punishment and wrath that the person deserves is absorbed by Jesus. Justice is served - but not on the guilty party, on Jesus. He substitutes himself for the guilty.

So, once again, if his friend-turned-enemy repents and follows Jesus, the justice blood that he wants and will get... will be Jesus' blood, not his friend's.

Pretty profound if you ask me.

Driscoll's last piece of advice is this: "Though not to minimize what your wife has done in any way, your sin against God is even more painful for [God] to bear than your wife's sin against you. Therefore, I would encourage you not only to look at the sin of your wife [and friend] but to also look at your own sin in other parts of your life to see where you too have betrayed God as your wife has betrayed you... Simply, your wife treated you like God's people in the Old Testament treated him, which is why the Bible repeatedly calls Israel a whore. Yet Jesus lovingly pursues and redeems [her]."

Wow.

Godology

On my day off today, I went to a Christian bookstore. I went in and was angry when I saw that there is now a Christianized “Guitar Hero” video game called “Guitar Praise” with a new sanctified guitar inside.

However, I was extremely happy to see that Christian George has a new book out. I read the first two chapters of “Godology” and it is just as good as his first book “Sex, Sushi, and Salvation”. His audience is twentysomethings and writes creatively like Donald Miller. But before you start making assumptions, know that J.I. Packer has this 27-year old author's back.

Here are some quotes from my reading of the first two chapters of “Godology”:

“God isn't as tame as we thought. He bursts from the tupperware we seal Him in, and He's on the move. He's calling us to wipe off our spiritual milk mustaches, exchange earthly habits for holy ones, and gorge ourselves on the nourishing Bread of Life.”

“Christ is the real superhero. He is the One who dueled with the Devil in the desert and changed the molecular structure of water into wine. He's the One who x-rayed hearts, hushed storms, and absorbed the evil of humanity.”

On prayer: “It's always tiring being the subject of the sentence. God doesn't want to be our footnote, but our title. It's time to elevate God with prayers that revolve around His ability and beauty.”

“We want a jack-in-the-box Jesus who appears at our command. But God is wilder than that, and harrier, too. He's not the clean-shaven gentlemen we pretend He is. We want an Easter bunny, but God's a tyrannosaurus rex – a growling King who protects his cubs from the enemy.”

“Christians are not robots, lacking power to make real choices. We're made of guts not gigabytes. Yet in God's mysterious mainframe, our decisions run in harmony with His program.”

“We discover there is more to God's musical than our own short solos. There's more to His symphony than our brief melodies. Any by dethroning ourselves, we applaud the God who gets the encore.”