Light and Darkness

'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.'
-Genesis 1:3

'In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.'
-John 1:4-5

'Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."'
- John 8:12

'For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'
- 2 Cor. 4:6

Cold blackness, a night that’s felt
Aloneness, like Leviathan’s fate
Hope has died, now faith removed
Opress’d at the spell of ebony weight

A clock ticks, each second pounds
Calm belies the gathering storm
Haunting memories take on flesh
An apparition now a darkened form

The talon’d grip holds fast and firm
Has grace forgot that ancient pledge?
Can one be lost, cast far away?
Is mercy left for foulest dredge?

Lazarus' stench, alive but dead
Eyes drawn tight from Eden's stain
One word uttered, death has stuttered
Can these graveclothes dance again?

Declare your word, a whisper’d voice
A lightning flash from mercy’s arc
A Cross suspended, a world upended
Begone! that devil of the dark

Darkness mine, now His became
Exchanged brightness for deepest night
Imputation and transformation
Death became the brightest light
-Dan Morse, Dark, 2009

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

The Bible portrays the Christian life as a startling contrast to the non-Christian life. New life is radical and pervasive. It leaves no stone unturned. It is as alarming as being born all over again. It is as different as day is from night. It is like a resurrection from the dead. No, it is a resurrection from the dead. It is shocking, alarming, and absolute. The gospel does not come to us to make slight improvements, it comes to make us new. Like Lazarus, without resurrection we always carry with us the odor of death. We are like dead men walking. But when God changes us it is like a transport from death to life, from darkness to light. In this new birth we are made new, a new creation has begun, and old things have passed away.

May God give us a true sense of the radical nature of the new birth and may God let us never settle for anything less.

Pastor Dan

Grieving the Spirit

'The mark of Jesus is love, costly love, and it does not come naturally or easily.'
- Timothy George and John Woodbridge, The Mark of Jesus, p. 92

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
-Matthew 22:36-40

'We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.'-1 John 3:14

'Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.'
- Ephesians 4:29-32


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

It seems easy to forget the personhood of the Holy Spirit. It is much easier to remember personhood of the other members of the Trinity, but there seems to be a mysteriousness to the Holy Spirit that doesn't as easily lend itself to the definition of personality. That is why I think it is very important to pay attention when we read the biblical references to Trinitarian personality, especially the Holy Spirit. The things that grieve the Spirit are the things that grieve God and vice versa. Lately I've been thinking about those things that grieve the Holy Spirit. How can the immutable God be grieved? In itself this is mysterious. Paul's words to the Ephesians are instructive, but why is this statement in the middle of an excursus about how we treat one another? Astoundingly, according to Paul's comments, grieving the Spirit often happens in our interactions with and about others. He lists them...corrupting talk, unedifying conversation, bitterness, wrath, anger, strife, slander, and malice, and even as I type this I'm convicted. The way we talk with and about others matters. It not only reveals our own heart, it grieves the Holy Spirit. He is the One who has sealed us in Christ for redemption. When we grieve Him by our actions and conversations we are not affirming our redemption, instead, we are living like the unredeemed, like those outside of Christ. The evidences of the Spirit's work and pleasure are conversely demonstrated in kindness, being tenderhearted, and showing forgiveness, because this has been God's redeeming grace demonstrated to us. We most resemble our redeemed nature when these characterize our lives, and we grieve the Spirit when they don't. May God give us much grace to live for His glory and pleasure in our relationships with others, and may grieving the Spirit be kept far from us.

Pastor Dan

Love Matters

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

‘The church’s manifestation in time of the glories that are yet to come is not accomplished in the gift of tongues, nor even in prophecy, giving, teaching. It is accomplished in love…. The greatest evidence that heaven has invaded our sphere, that the Spirit has been poured out upon us, that we are citizens of a kingdom not yet consummated, is Christian love.’
- D.A. Carson, Showing the Spirit, p. 76

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
- 1 Cor. 13:1-3

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. -1 John 4:21


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

To love, and love well, is not difficult…it is impossible. We may have an inclination of affections or grand feelings of inducements towards others, but to love well must come from outside of ourselves. We cannot love well without example, or without demonstration toward us. To love well is to apprehend, if even in a small way, love demonstrated to us. Luke tells a story in chapter 7 about a woman who loved well. She was a woman with a tarnished reputation...a woman who was known by her great sin. Luke doesn't fill in all of the blanks, but we can safely say that her notoriety was common knowledge. Her transformation from a great sinner to one who loved well was nothing short of miraculous. Simon missed the point, but she got it. She loved well, because she experienced gospel love first hand. Forgiveness came to her...she was loved...and out of love demonstrated to her she then loved well. Mark this my friends, when gospel love apprehends the sinner's heart a transformation takes place. Loving others well is the inevitable by-product of being loved by demonstrated gospel love.

Because of love shown, desiring to love well,

Pastor Dan

If you are interested in thinking more about these things here is something I found helpful http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2008/2686_The_New_Birth_Produces_Love/

Wearing Mercy as a Garment

'Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?'
- Micah 6:8

'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.'
- Matthew 5:7

'Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.'
- 1 Peter 2:10

'Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.'
- Luke 6:36

'Most of us have not come to grips with the clear directive of Scripture that all Christians must have their own ministries of mercy.'
- Tim Keller, Ministries of Mercy, p. 43

Lead on, O King eternal,
till sin's fierce war shall cease,
and holiness shall whisper
the sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords' loud clashing
or roll of stirring drums
with deeds of love and mercy
the heavenly kingdom comes.
- Lead On O King Eternal, The Psalter Hymnal, verse 2


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

Christians, above all others, should be living examples of received mercy. The mercies we display should be reflective of the mercies we've been shown. We were the objects of deserved wrath. We were guilty, vile, helpless, and thoroughgoing enemies of God, but now through Christ we have been shown mercy. And, I dare say for many of us this mercy is scarcely comprehended. Christians who are not merciful are dull and do not understand the mercy they've been shown. We have committed treason of cosmic proportion, and yet God has shown us a treasurehouse of mercy. We deserved wrath…we received mercy. His dealings with His people are merciful, derived from His unfathomable love for Christ and for us in Christ. An awareness of mercy received begets mercy in the one shown it, because, truth be known, we cannot long comprehend God's mercies toward us without it effecting a resembling mercy in our own lives and demonstrated in mercy towards others.

It is our privilege and joy to wear mercy like a garment on display for others to see and experience, because we have been shown great mercy. May this church and all around us be filled with visible demonstrations of mercy received.

Pastor Dan

Loving What Christ Loves

"Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb."
- Revelation 21:9

'The New Testament is clear - to love Christ is to love the church.'
- R. Albert Mohler, preface to Why We Love the Church

'Imagine how much it means to his heart as we, his betrothed bride, look forward to even now to that great wedding day to come, as we look to him in love, and as we live our lives to the praise of his name.'- Richard Phillips, The Church, One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, p. 132

'The church is not an incidental part of God's plan. Jesus didn’t invite people to join an anitreligion, antidoctrine, anti-institutional bandwagon of love, harmony, and reintegration. To be sure, He showed people how to live. But He also called them to repent, called them to faith, called them out of the world, and called them into the church.'- Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We Love the Church, p. 226


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

It is interesting to see the reaction of some Christians when you mention the church. Often there is an uncomfortable pause or an awkward glance. Love for the church has fallen upon hard times and curiously this is the case among many Christians. I'm under no illusion that the church can be a difficult thing to love at times, however, make no mistake, the church is loved by Christ. And as Christians we must love what Christ loves. Christ loves His betrothed bride. He has given His life for her and He continues to give Himself for her. His love for her is effectual, undiminished, unbreakable, strong, and eternal. To some Christians the church is an embarassment, an unfortunate and outlived appendage of a bygone era. To some the church only impedes true spirituality rather than fostering it. The reality is that true spirituality comes out of life within the church. The church is demonstrably loved by Christ. She may not be beautiful in the eyes of many, but for Christ He only has eyes for her.

May we truly love what Christ loves.

Pastor Dan

Union with Christ Reprise

'My beloved is mine, and I am his….'
-Song of Solomon 2:16

'"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.'
- Ephesians 5:31-32

What is that union which the elect have with Christ?
A. The union which the elect have with Christ is the work of God's grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically, yet really and inseparably, joined to Christ as their head and husband; which is done in their effectual calling.
- Westminster Larger Catechism Q and A 66

'He who is not in Christ is not a Christian.'
-Saint Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John,
quoted in Life in Christ by Mark Garcia, p. 56


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

These things have been running around in my mind for months now and I can scarcely take it in...all those who profess saving faith in Jesus Christ have been irrevocably joined to Him. Christ has become our Living Head and Husband, to the degree that union with Christ is the reality and marriage is a reflection of the reality. The saving work of Christ joins the believer to Him by faith and the two are inseparably linked. Christ's life becomes our life. Christ's death becomes our death. Christ's resurrection becomes our resurrection. Every imaginable satisfaction for us has been found and supplied in Christ. There is no lack to be supplied by our pitiable efforts. His salvation is full, free, complete, and cannot be improved upon. His mercy to us is superabundant. We have been given untold riches in and through Christ.

There are depths of grace yet unfathomed. We have been joined to Christ.

Pastor Dan

Necessary Weakness

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
-1 Corinthians 12:22-26

“Within the body which is one, there is true diversity – a multiplicity of function which is necessary to its being a real body (1 Cor. 12:17-20). Each member with his particular function is necessary to the other member for the good of the body as a whole (vv. 17-21).”- P.T. O’Brien, The Church in the Bible and the World, p. 106


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

It has been said that a nation’s character can be assessed by the way it treats its weakest citizens. If that can be said for nations it is especially true for the church. How we relate to those who are weak is a reflection upon our maturity in Christian graces and the degree to which we understand the grace of God and the body of Christ. Christ’s body has weak members. When Paul addressed the Corinthians we are not sure what the weaker members looked like. They may have been those who were boisterous and unrestrained in their charismatic gifting. We do know, however, that their weakness was apparent and looked upon with a certain degree of disdain. We also know that they were indispensable. They were less ‘presentable’ but necessary. There was a tendency to keep them hidden and obscure and not to honor them as necessary and functionally important parts of the body. We tend to denigrate and disregard those who are different than us. So often, weakness is minimized and dishonored. If only the weak would get with the program, then we would have a strong church. Whatever the weakness, these people are a necessary part of the church, both generally and particularly. Christ Our Redeemer Church needs those who are weak to function properly. They have a vital part to play in our make up as a body. They are no less important than the strong and we must honor them as vital to the functioning of the body.

May God give us great grace to function together as both weak and strong in Christ’s body.

Pastor Dan