A Faithful Friend

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers…”

- Ephesians 1:16

“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

- Luke 7:34

Jesus, friend of sinners
Loved me ere I knew him
Drew me with his cords of love
Tightly bound me to him
Round my heart still closely twined
The ties that none can sever
For I am his and he is mine
Forever and forever

Jesus, friend of sinners
A crown of thorns you wore for me
Bruised for my transgressions
Pierced for my iniquities
The wrath of God that I deserved
Was poured out on the innocent
He took my place, my soul to save
Now I am his forever

Jesus, friend of sinners
I love to tell the story
Redeeming love has been my theme
And will be when in glory
Not death nor life nor anything
Can ever separate me
O love that will not let me go
Yes, I am his forever

- Pat Sczebel, His Forever, Sovereign Grace Music

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

-Proverbs 17:17

“If we cover and obliterate a man’s faults, and consider the beauty and dignity of God’s image in him, then we shall be induced to love and embrace him.”

-John Calvin, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life, p. 35

Yesterday I had coffee with an old friend. We’ve known each other for 12 years or so and there are few things we don’t know about one another. We’ve not seen each other for some time, but the conversation picked right back up where we’d left off months ago. As I left our engagement I found myself thanking God for his friendship. He is a faithful man persevering in the grace of God in the face of much affliction, and I have the privilege of calling him my friend. Christian friends are an indisputable gift from God. We ought never to take them for granted. I have no doubt that this man would do anything he could for me. In fact, during a particularly difficult time in the life of our family he was making plans to help us, and this at great cost to himself. He has faithfully modeled the Savior to me by his example, he has called me to account, he has offered me wise counsel, he has loved me in spite of my many sins, he has faithfully loved the church, and he has put flesh to bones as he’s served as an example of forward-looking perseverance. Next week, in a typically inconspicuous fashion, he’ll take a meal to some folks who are quite ill, and no one will be the wiser. He serves under the radar and he prefers it that way.

In some analogical way I understand Paul’s love for the Ephesians. In the extravagant kindness of God the man I mentioned is not my only friend. God has graciously placed wonderful and godly friends around me in this church plant family. I consider myself rich beyond compare. Just this week I’ve heard of several incredible and sacrificial examples of Christian love and demonstrated friendship at Christ Our Redeemer Church; meals taken, tokens of love and appreciation sent, coffees together, time spent in conversation, encouragements, moving help, gifts given, financial needs met, meals together, warnings given, sins confessed, sincere prayer offered, rejoicing together, weeping for, labor performed, rides given, help offered, the gospel implored, and that’s just this week. These are the dear friends that I get to serve alongside of, and I get to call my church family. These are the wonderful folks that model the visible, sanctifying work of the gospel to me. By their demonstrated love and friendship Christ is shown, and not by some non-descript, disconnected and syrupy sentimental love, but by gospel-wrought, heart-changed, and Jesus-loving love.

Jesus is not ashamed to call us His friends. What was intended as a term of derision is a name He gladly assumes. And in an act of consummate condescension Jesus reconciles sinners to Himself by making His enemies His friends. Romans 5:8 says, “…God shows (demonstrates) his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” His friendship towards sinners is visible and verifiable. The Cross stands as the love of God placarded for the world to see. Here’s what the apex of God’s friendship to sinners looks like; it looks like the Creator of the universe being crucified naked and bleeding between two thieves on a Roman cross. It looks like the gospel being effected by the Holy Spirit in sin-mortified hearts so that the good news can be believed and embraced. It looks like folks beginning to resemble their Savior in love for one another, and it looks like lives lived in sacrificial, gospel-grounded friendship for one another. It looks like heaven on earth as the Kingdom, in the gracious rule of God, is brought to bear in the here and now.

I thank God for His mercy and friendship shown in and through you.

A Paean to Life

"You shall not murder.”
- Exodus 20:13

“In our case, murder being once and for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb….”
- Tertullian (ca. 160-235AD), quoted by Michael Gorman in, Abortion and the Early Church, p. 55

“I hate abortion.”
- C.J. Mahaney, Humility, p. 33

Question - What are the duties required in the sixth commandment?
Answer - The duties required in the sixth commandment are, ….protecting and defending the innocent.
- Westminster Larger Catechism 1:135

“…Christians should not be embarrassed when their opposition to abortion is described as ‘religious.’ It is, of course, precisely that.”
-John Frame, Medical Ethics, p. 86

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
-Theodore Geisel (Dr. Suess)

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
- Jesus in John 10:10


1977, 1979, 1980, 1993, and 1996. These are the years my 5 children were born, and all after that terrible day on January 22nd, 1973. Anyone born after that date should be doubly thankful for God’s mercies. Since that date legalized abortion has taken the lives of about 50 million children in the United States. To put it into perspective 50 million is roughly 1/6th of the current US population, or the roughly the combined populations of Canada and the Netherlands. The entire State of California has a population of about 37 million. The number of legalized US abortions is far more than Hitler’s holocaust of 11-14 million, or Stalin’s purges of 10-20 million. Why is the church relatively unaffected by these numbers? I fear that we’ve imbibed a culture that embraces convenience in exchange for life. As of yesterday we’re 35 years after Roe v. Wade and the demise of abortion seems an impossible reality. At times it seems like we’re not even trying. Where is the church’s insistence that life must be preserved? Why do pregnancy resource centers often suffer from lack of funding and their staffs often suffer from overwork? Why is adoption not more seriously considered by Christian families? Why are we reluctant to get involved with and care for unwed mothers? From the very beginnings of the church there was a commitment to life, and specifically a commitment to the unborn and the unwanted infant. While the unbelievers turned their unwanted children out to be exposed to the elements, the Christians would gather them and adopt them as their own.

Sitting at my work bench at a machine shop in Portland, Oregon in the late 70’s something happened. I read a tract that was written by Melody Green and produced by Last Days Ministries. The tract was about abortion and it changed my life. Up to that point I knew abortion was wrong, but this time I wept bitter tears for my apathy. I pleaded and asked God for mercy and after that I knew I could no longer remain ambivalent. Over the next few years I wrote letters, marched with signs, got shouted down and got called names, and even got arrested for protesting outside a clinic. And while we lived in Eugene one of my older daughters was interviewed for the evening news because of her very young and out-spoken concern for life. As I look back now much of it seems pretty radical, but I think back then I realized that abortion is for keeps. There is something profoundly and defiantly anti-God in 1.4 million abortions per year. How will this culture be overturned? It will take more than a legal decision and it will take more than an arrest. It will take the power of the gospel, and not just for the unbeliever. It will take the power of the gospel in our lives to awake us from our slumber and enable us to love life the way God does. When the church embraces life as God embraces life and she placards herself as a God-saturated, life-loving people an unbelieving world will take notice. They may not agree, but the apologetic will be compelling.

In 2007 the dear saints at Christ Our Redeemer Church embraced the Savior and embraced life. By their sacrifice and demonstrable love for Jesus Christ the Bowens were able to adopt Jack. What a story! In the unmistakable providence of God and the overwhelming and generous commitment of these folks a handsome little boy is now in a Christian home. Not only has the church been a means of grace for the Bowens, but Jack has been a means of grace to us. Through him God has given us the opportunity to demonstrate our love for Jesus Christ and our love for life.

Thank you COR family for loving the Savior and unequivocally standing for life.

Discipline, Grace, Endurance and the Assurance of Adoption

“The highest perfection of the godly in this life is an earnest desire to make progress.”

– John Calvin, quoted in Calvin’s Wisdom, p. 243

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

– Matthew 24:13

“…perseverance is the only path to the prize of final glory, and …what perseverance requires is a sustained effort day in and day out – a single-minded, whole-hearted, self-denying, flat-out commitment to praising the Father through the Son as long as life lasts.”

- J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness, p. 242

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

- Hebrews 12:7

“And, indeed, it is the nature of true grace to grow up with difficulties.”

– Richard Sibbes, Works, vol. 2, p. 122


Judy and I had lunch with a dear friend this week. Though a Christian for many years, it’s only been recently that this woman has come to an understanding of God’s sovereignty in her own life. For years her circumstances seemed to be the arbitrary vacillations of cruel fate. God may have been good, but He was constrained by forces beyond Himself to stand by wringing His hands in impotence. With a life of ease that may be tolerable, but for years her life has been characterized by severe affliction. Recently something has changed, and not with her circumstances, but with the posture of her heart towards God. As we listened to her talk of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness in her being pressed from every direction there was a sweet disposition towards the Savior. She could have become angry and bitter. After all, if God is sovereign; couldn’t He have put an end to all of this senseless suffering? Is this any way for God to treat one of His own? Rather than affliction producing the bitter fruit of anger toward God for her circumstances, she instead exuded the sweet fragrance of love for the Savior and gospel-oriented perseverance. She had apprehended the fact that Christ had died for her sins in totality, and whatever trial came her way was simply God sovereignly confirming and affirming His love for her in the crucible of affliction. To paraphrase the writer of Hebrews; affliction has become the validation and confirmation of her birthright. God was confirming His adoption of her as His daughter in the most severe difficulty. Would she trade circumstances? Not on your life. She is committed to persevering in this trial and glorifying God. She is planning on finishing the race well. The words of the Psalmist has confirmed her experience, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”(63:8). In the midst of these ‘light and momentary’ afflictions she has determined to glorify God. When I checked my email this morning there was a note written by her early this morning, thanking me for something I’d done (which was actually done by someone else!), and asking for new and creative ways that she might serve the church. In her affliction she is looking for ways to serve others! Amazing! This is nothing short of the grace of God evident in this sister’s life. This is nothing short of the adoptive love of the Father being confirmed in the bearing of good fruit. This is nothing short of gospel perseverance coupled with fragrance of love for the Savior and love for the church. I found myself encouraged and challenged by our interaction. I found myself provoked to rejoice in my (much less significant) afflictions, more determined to persevere in whatever God ordains, more thankful for God’s sustaining hand in trial, and a desire to look for increased ways to love and serve others. I’m blessed by her humble example of modeling gospel perseverance in affliction.

I'm grateful for the grace of God in the lives of those at COR.

The Gospel, Missions, and Portland's Martyred Son

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

- Paul, The Epistle to the Romans

“When we take the gospel to the world, we proclaim “the grandest of all his works,” the single message God desires all nations to hear. Without the gospel as heart, goal, and message, there is no biblical missiology.”

- Dave Harvey, Missiology

“Evangelism has its roots in eternity.”

- R.B. Kuiper, God-Centred Evangelism

“In the Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the book of Acts, the theme of mission is of profound importance. So significant is this motif that Luke’s two-volume work ‘may be the clearest presentation of the church’s universal mission in all of the New Testament’”

- Kostenberger/O’Brien, Salvation to the Ends of the Earth

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

– Jim Elliot

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church"

–Tertullian, Apologeticus

He was born in Portland, Oregon and attended Benson Polytechnic High School, majoring in architectural drafting. He played football, helped with the school newspaper, and was known as an excellent orator. He went on to Wheaton College and eventually married Elisabeth Howard. Together they would have only one daughter, Valerie. He devoted his short life to missions. At 28 years old, and 52 years ago this week, he and 4 other missionaries died at the hands of Huaorani tribesman in an Ecuadorian riverbed. Jim Elliot was Portland’s martyred son.

What makes a man (or woman) give up ease, comfort, and ultimately life itself for the cause of the gospel? What must the Christian think about the spread of the gospel and the planting of churches? As we’ve been working our way through the Gospel of Luke I’ve been struck by the ever-broadening reach of the gospel and the themes of Gentile inclusion into the covenantal promise. The comprehensive work of the Son’s redemption will make the nations glad (Psalm 67). I suspect that Jim Elliot had an incomparable view of the Savior, and everything else paled in comparison. Recently Art Azurdia gave a message at Christ Our Redeemer and said, "... young people are not leaving [the church] today because the music isn't contemporary enough, because the youth group isn't cool enough, because the technology isn't sophisticated enough. They're leaving in unprecedented proportions because our portrait of Jesus Christ is not compelling enough - because we have failed to set him before people in all his glory and majesty." Here’s the rub - We have failed in our mission as a church if our portrait of the Savior is not compelling to the point that we’re willing to leave all to pursue Him. We have failed in our mission if our portrait of the Savior is less than glorious in our desire to make the gospel known to the nations. We have failed in our mission if the gospel we preach is powerless to forgive real sinners and change real lives. We have failed in our mission if the gospel of free grace leaves us unmoved in our affections and commitments to Christ’s church.

As I think through these things I’m convicted by Jim Elliot’s example of love for the Savior and his love for the lost. And as I think about the future of COR my prayer is that we become Christ-saturated to the point that our proclamation of the glorious Savior permeates everything we do.

Christ is our hope and the hope of the nations.

All Hail the Conqu'ring King

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
– Philippians 2:12-13

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp'd town to'another due, Labor to'admit you, but oh, to no end; Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly'I love you, and would be lov'd fain, But am betroth'd unto your enemy; Divorce me,'untie or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you'enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

-John Donne (1572-1631)

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,Till released from flesh and sin,

Yet from what I do inherit, Here Thy praises I'll begin;

Here I raise my Ebenezer; Here by Thy great help I’ve come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,Interposed His precious blood;

How His kindness yet pursues me, Mortal tongue can never tell,

Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me, I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face;

Clothed then in blood washed linen, How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,Take my ransomed soul away;

Send thine angels now to carryMe to realms of endless day.

- Robert Robinson (c. 1758)

“Sin stands in contrariety to God. It is rebellion against his sovereignty, an opposition to his holiness, a provocation to his justice, a rejection of his yoke, a casting off, what lies in the sinner, of that dependence which a creature hath on its Creator. That God then should have pity and compassion upon sinners, in every one of whose sins there is all this evil, and inconceivably more than we can comprehend, it argues an infinitely gracious, good, and loving heart and nature in him; for God doth nothing but suitably to the properties of his nature and from them. All the acts of his will are the effects of his nature.”

- John Owen (1616-1683), Works, Vol. 6, Temptation and Sin, The True Nature of Gospel Forgiveness, p. 399

How grateful I am for the persistent and effective work of the Holy Spirit. He can do what none other can do. He can (and determines to) change me into something other than I am by nature. The Holy Spirit is the glad and willing accomplice in effectually applying the work of redemption to my heart and life, and without the work of the Spirit there is no hope of ever being changed. In other words, without the aid of the Holy Spirit this leopard cannot change his spots (Jer. 13:23). Without His work I would ever and always be carried along on a perpetual merry-go-round of destructive fleshly appetites and disparaging besetting sins. To be sure there is a battle to be engaged, but I am profoundly grateful for the enemy’s sure vanquishing by the Conqu’ring King. If this process were left up to me alone I would be in deep weeds. The cross and the resurrection are the signum (seal) that this battle has ultimately been won. Christ is victor. The immediate and real ‘death to life’ regeneration of the Christian and the gradual sanctifying change from the ways of death to the ways of life is the special provenance of the Third Person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit effectually applies the work of Christ by transforming us from darkness to light. What an amazing and glorious Triune God! Think of this - the character of particular love that sent the Savior to the Cross for our sins is the same character of the Holy Spirit in assuredly changing us from one degree of glory to another. God is committed to ultimate salvation wrought for His people that will be thoroughgoing, pervasive, and complete. Emmanuel will save His people from their sins.

The gospel is the good news that Christ is the Conqu’ring King and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. This gives us great hope as we look to 2008 and beyond.

"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” – Revelation 11:17

A glad subject together with you under the rule of the Conqu’ring King.