Of First Importance

“Transcendent living is Christ-centered living. Living for Christ is the only way you will ever be liberated from your bondage to the overwhelming tendency to shrink the size of your life to the size of your life. The only way to spin free of the narrow confines of your little cubicle kingdom is to live in the big sky country of Christ-centered living. You will never win the battle with yourself simply by saying ‘no’ to yourself. The battle only begins to be won when you say ‘yes’ to the call of your King, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

- Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2007), 99.

“The true Scriptural source of consolation, in the face of all that troubles us, is to keep steadily before our eyes the second coming of Christ.

We must grasp and realize the blessed fact that the rightful King of the world is returning soon, and shall have His own again; that He shall put down that old usurper, the devil, and take away the curse from off the earth.

Let us cultivate the habit of daily looking forward to the resurrection of the dead, the gathering together of the saints, the restitution of all things, the banishment of sorrow and sin, and the re-establishment of a new kingdom, of which the rule shall be righteousness.”

- J.C. Ryle, “Looking Unto Jesus”

(HT: Thoughts on the Way)

“The fact that Jesus was raised in the middle of human history, and not at the very end of it, means that God has not abandoned this world. He intends to overhaul it; His purpose is to make all things new.

The resurrection of the dead does not mean that this world will be burnt to a cinder, and then God will create another one to replace it. No, God will restore this created order. This world is groaning, longing for the day of our resurrection. Just as the Lord’s body glorified was the same body that was crucified, so your body will one day be laid to rest in the ground and will be the same body that rises. In the same way, this world, these oceans, the starry host above us, will all be made over, glorified, and we will dwell here forever.

The intermediate state, the place where believers will go if they die before the general resurrection, will be Christ. It will be blessed. It will be glorious. But it is still just a way station. It is rest before the final consummation. And the final consummation will be here, and you will be here, and all your loved ones in Christ will be here, and we cannot begin to comprehend how glorious it will be.”

- Douglas Wilson, “Restoring from Within”

“God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Therefore God is concerned not only for the salvation of souls but also for the relief of poverty, hunger, and injustice.

The gospel opens our eyes to the fact that all our wealth (even wealth for which we worked hard) is ultimately an unmerited gift from God. Therefore the person who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust.

Christ wins our salvation through losing, achieves power through weakness and service, and comes to wealth through giving all away. Those who receive his salvation are not the strong and accomplished but those who admit they are weak and lost. We cannot look at the poor and the oppressed and callously call them to pull themselves out of their own difficulty. Jesus did not treat us that way.”

- The Gospel Coalition’s “Theological Vision for Ministry” (2007), Section 5e

“Today Jesus is alive and well, seated on a throne at the right hand of God the Father being worshiped as God by angels and departed saints.

Today Jesus alone rules and reigns in exalted glory as Lord over man and beast, male and female, gays and straights, young and old, rich and poor, black and white, simple and wise, powerful and powerless, Republicans and Democrats, married and single, chaste and unchaste, modern and postmodern, Christians and non-Christians, angels and demons, the living and the dead, every religion, every spirituality, every philosophy, every thought, every word, every deed, every dollar, and every inch of creation, which he claims as his possession under his throne that is over all.”

- Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Vintage Jesus, 158-159

“To speak of sin by itself, to speak of it apart from the realities of creation and grace, is to forget the resolve of God. God wants shalom and will pay any price to get it back. Human sin is stubborn, but not as stubborn as the grace of God and not half so persistent, not half so ready to suffer to win its way.

Moreover, to speak of sin by itself is to misunderstand its nature: sin is only a parasite, a vandal, a spoiler. Sinful life is a partly depressing, partly ludicrous caricature of genuine human life. To concentrate on our rebellion, defection and folly — to say to the world, ‘I have some bad news and I have some bad news’ — is to forget that the center of the Christian religion is not our sin but our Savior.

To speak of sin without grace is to minimize the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, and the hope of shalom.”

- Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, 199

“The apostles were conscious of standing at the consummation of the ages and were vividly aware that the events that precipitated this watershed in history were the incarnation, obedience, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth. The coming Messiah fulfilled ancient promises and age-old longings for deep redemption and an eternal Ruler who would reign in holy justice and in mercy. It filled up and filled in previous patterns and shadows in Israel’s communion with her covenant Lord, and this filling process also entailed a transformation of ancient institutions into new forms better suited to more intimate interactions between the King and his joyful subjects.”

Dennis E. Johnson, Him We Proclaim (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2007), 16-17.