Tag: coming of Christ

Everything Being Renewed Will Be Entirely New

“God works organically in our lives. Organic growth has integrity. God works step-by-step. He walks with you. He’s always interested in how you take your very next step. Walking through life with him feels right. You’re going somewhere. The day of “completion” will not arrive until the day when Jesus Christ arrives (Phil. 1:6). When we see him, then we will be like him (1 John 3:2). Only when God lives visibly in our midst will all tears be past (Rev. 21:3–4). Someday, not today, everything being renewed will be entirely new (Rev. 21:5). Much of the failure to fight well, befriend well, pastor well, and counsel well arises because we don’t really understand and work well with this long truth.”

—David Powlison, Making All Things New: Restoring Joy to the Sexually Broken (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 59

The World Holds Us In Its Thrall

“Still, it is not enough to recognize that life is short and fleeting, that our course will soon be done and that therefore we need not faint. We must also look to the hope to which we are called. Why? The reason we are not keen to dedicate ourselves to God is that we see no benefit for ourselves, no tangible gain. If only God were there to cheer us on! Now God does not wait for us to serve him first before he blesses us. Nevertheless he does not want to make life in this world so easy for us that we risk falling asleep. We remember that he said that those who are interested only in present things have already received their reward (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16). Our Lord on the other hand bids us fix our sights on the kingdom of heaven. This life is full of many anxieties and troubles which surround us on every side. All the sufferings which we endure are so many jabs of the spur by which God goads us, in order to draw us to himself, to turn our thoughts to heavenly things and to withdraw us from this world.

That is why Paul speaks particularly here of hope. What he suggests is that we should not be surprised if men are more than cool when it comes to serving God. That is because their eyes are fixed on earthly things which are their sole concern. Instead of contemplating the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we turn away; the world holds us in its thrall, dazzles us with its seductions and robs us of all sense. Let us learn, then, that the one true way to serve God is to pass swiftly through this world, conscious that God has placed us on earth on the condition that we journey as strangers and do not make our nest here. And although he may grant us periods of rest we must continue on, as we look to him and to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is certain that until we reach that goal, however grand we may appear to be, all within us is simply vanity.

The first rule of a well-ordered life is to understand that God has not arranged for us to lodge here forever; he wants us to reach out to him in the certainty of the blessed coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus to the word ‘hope’ Paul adds ‘the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ’. Paul appears to say: ‘My friend, we are not meant to aim as if by chance at the kingdom of heaven, in the vague hope that we may reach it. We know who has made this promise to us. God is trustworthy, so let us rely on his faithfulness’.”

—John Calvin, trans. Robert White, Sermons on Titus (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 212-213. Calvin said this while preaching on Titus 2:11-14.