People on the isolated South Pacific island of Tanna, in the
country of Vanuatu, have long put their faith in John Frum, a
figure they insist is a former American GI during World War II
who will someday emerge from the volcano and shower his believers
with wealth and knowledge. Frum has been described as a combination
of John the Baptist, Uncle Sam, and Santa Claus.
Yet members of the cult quickly forego their volcano “god” after
viewing the JESUS film. Among the
10,000 islanders who formerly adhered to the volcano cult, more
than 4,666 people from Tanna have converted to Christianity,
according to Wes Brenneman, director of Campus Crusade for Christ
in the Pacific Islands.
God’s anger is not capricious or unjust.Instead His anger is purposeful, resulting in a thoughtful plan and process to reconcile all injustice. In short, it’s good.God’s ultimate aim in displaying His anger is the demonstration of the glory of His justice.He delights in being a righteous and just God.Through and through God is fully righteous, thus any unrighteousness provokes his wrath.However, that is not all God is.God is love and God’s love also demands His wrath. As David Powlison has put it, “You can’t understand God’s love if you don’t understand his anger.”[2]
Understanding God’s anger inevitably leads us to the cross where God’s justice and mercy meet in perfect, soul-wrenching, Christ-crushing, sin-forgiving, life-giving harmony.The anger of God against our unrighteousness was mercifully diverted from us onto His beloved Son.As a result, God preserved and promoted both His justice and humanity’s joy through the cross.Thus, God’s penultimate aim in His anger is the good of the elect, revealing the two-sided purpose of his wrath, His glory and our good.Briefly put, the purpose of God’s anger is to display the depth and character of his eternal justice and love.
The plan for the outworking of God’s wrath results in two main ends, salvation or condemnation.For those who hope in Christ for the forgiveness of their transgressions, salvation waits; but for those who hope in the world, the self, or other plans, only condemnation awaits.The only plan that fuels God’s purpose to glorify His justice and satisfy our need for love is the Gospel.The plan began at creation, finding redemptive expression through new creation and culmination in His consummation of all things.This plan operates through the process of cultivation, the cultivation of sinners made new, day by day, demonstrating that God is for us, not against us.
But what of our anger?What is the difference between God-imitating, righteous anger and self-glorifying sinful anger?Is anger just violent outbursts and wife-beating or can it take more subtle forms?How are we to be made new in the battle against anger?
Cutting edge organizations often take hits. The Acts 29 Church Planting network is no exception. As a church planter affiliated with Acts 29, I am compelled to post a summary of their recent posting regarding seven common misrepresentations of the network:
1. That we are affiliated with the Emergent church 2. That we advocate alcohol use
3. That we view women as inferior because they do not serve as elders
4. That we receive money from our member churches
5. That we are a threat to the Southern Baptist Convention
6. That we are Liberal
7. That we are independent of other networks
See the very helpful and winsome explanations here.
Richard Lovelace had a very significant impact on my thinking while in seminary. I was fortunate enough to take his course, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, his magnum opus which is essentially a holistic vision of renewal, rooted in the theology of Jonathan Edwards. Lovelace outlines preconditions, primary and secondary elements, for living life in a constant state of spiritual renewal. His grasp of the dyanmics of spiritual life throughout church history and in discipleship was so impacting that I made up a song to reflect his primary elements of renewal (justification, sanctification, the power of the Spirit, and authority in spiritual warfare), which my wife and I still sing.
Jimmy Davis has nicely summarized some of Lovelace’s contributions by reviewing his Renewal As a Way of Life. Read teh article here. Better yet buy the book. Last time I talked to Lovelace he was reading the paper in the mornings Luther’s commentary on Galations during the day, and working on his memoirs in the evenings. Above all, Lovelace embodied his teachings with passion, humility, and a ferocious love for Christ and his kingdom coming on earth.
