Joy in Poverty of Spirit, not Performance

This can't get old.

Faith Will Become Sight

From the Epilogue of Jonathan Dodson's, "Gospel-Centered Discipleship." This was too good not to post.

"One day the fight will be over. Faith will become sight. Our image will be perfectly aligned with Christ's image. Our affection for Christ will be so strong that it will be chief among ten thousand. All competitors for his attention will bow before him, and we will recover a childish, yet mature delight that will never cease to thrill our souls. Every act will be a natural act of obedience sparked by joy. The warnings will fade and the promises will be fulfilled. Threats will no longer be necessary and rewards will abound. The Spirit will have full sway in our gladdened hearts as we live forever in Spirit-led worship. We will no longer lean toward performance or license. The gospel will be central forever. Our conversions will be complete, our community characterized by love, and our mission colored in worship. We will no longer know our sin, fight our sin, or struggle to trust our Savior. Until then, may God grant us his sovereign grace to fight the good fight of faith, for our joy, and for his eternal glory."

Waking Up To Christ

"When a man really gives up trying to make something of himself-a saint, or converted sinner, or a churchman, a righteous or unrighteous man,....when in the fullness of tasks, questions, success or ill-happenings, experiences or perplexities, a man throws himself into the arms of God...only then he wakes up to Christ"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

First, I have been pretty lax in posting this summer. I'm hoping that will change as I get into more of a routine with the school year. On another note, I love this line from Bonhoeffer and am thankful for such a great reminder this morning. So often, we turn the Christian life into making something of oneself. For me, being in seminary, and working in full time ministry, "making myself" in these capacities is often the criteria for which I determine my identity and life. This inevitably leads to a roller coaster of emotional and spiritual highs and lows. When I am doing well at these or am "making something of myself", I feel good. When circumstances aren't as favorable, I'm a wreck. It leaves me feeling like nothing I do is enough. It leaves me feeling like a spiritual orphan, who is tirelessly running on a treadmill in order to earn his Father's approval. My worth depends on my performance.

The gospel offers us rest from this tireless spiritual treadmill. The gospel offers us a peace that surpasses understanding. In the gospel, we have a secure identity as a child of God. We no longer have to earn approval, because in Christ, we are already approved. Our significance no longer depends on our performance, because Christ performed for us. This is freedom. Yet, I am not free to disobey, but am rather freed in order to delight in my Heavenly Father and serve him. This is true life! And as Bonhoeffer says, we only come awake to this life when we finally give up on trying to make something  of our self, and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the arms of God. 

The Gospel As Contra-Conditional

This week I'm enjoying taking a class with Scotty Smith called, 'Disciplines of Grace'. Yesterday we talked about the gospel being contra-conditional. This is opposed to the gospel being conditional or unconditional.


The gospel as conditional....If you obey me, I will love you

The gospel as unconditional....I love you without any conditions

The gospel as contra-conditional....I love you because I delight in my Son who graciously fulfilled ALL your conditions

As human beings, we primarily operate in a conditional mode. Think about it. Grades, sports, jobs; these are all based on performance. An A receives more praise than an F, being 1st string is more celebrated than being a bench warmer, and climbing the corporate ladder comes with a fatter pay-check. This doesn't go to mention that, even though we wouldn't want to admit it, to some capacity all our relationships are conditional. We like people because of similar interests, because of what they can give us, or because they make us feel good. To some extent, these are all conditions.

On the other end of the spectrum is unconditional. This claims that there are no conditions, and that God's love is accompanied by no character. This unconditional view ignores God's absolute holiness. God is all-glorious and perfectly right. Therefore, he desires to bring his creation into this 'rightness', or shall we say, 'righteousness'. If you think about it, this view really cheapens God's love, because, in it, God no longer rescues us and restores us from everything that is wrong with us and the world, but loves us in a way that says nothing is wrong with us in the first place.

On the contrary to both ends of this spectrum, the gospel is completely other. It is contra-conditional. There are conditions to God's love. He is perfect and holy. We willingly choose to disobey these conditions and live apart from our gracious Creator. Yet, the beauty of the gospel is that God did something amazing. He did something that still has people turning their heads today. God became man to  fulfill the conditions we failed to achieve. The good news is that Jesus came, lived the life I should have lived, and died the death I should have died. He did these COMPLETELY. That is why on the cross he cried out, "IT IS FINISHED". The gospel being contra-conditional is amazing because if Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the conditions, that means, once we are in Christ, once we put our faith in Him, we can't be any more loved. We are fully blessed. All the blessings Jesus achieved, we now have. This is amazing. David Powlison says this well,

"God has blessed me because His Son fulfilled the conditions I could never achieve. Contrary to what I deserve, he loves me. And now I can begin to change, not because I can earn his love, but because I've already received it."

The Slavery of Independence

"The world says the more independent you become, the freer and stronger you'll be; The gospel says the more dependent on God you become, the freer and stronger you'll be." --Tullian Tchividjian


I love these words from Tullian Tchividjian. This is so counter-intuitive to what we are led to believe and on the surface doesn't make much sense. Yet, this is the beautiful truth of the gospel.

Jesus frees us from ourselves. When we are independent, everything depends on us. Our security, identity, peace, rest, joy, it all depends on us. This is enslaving. This is why as humans we experience anxiety, bitterness, insecurity. No matter how strong we are, or how good we are, in our own independence, we will never know the true love that we are searching for. We always fall short. The gospel tells us that Jesus already earned all the freedom, joy, peace, rest, comfort, and security we could ever hope to have. Believing that we are given all these things sheerly by the mercy and grace of God frees us from the burden and slavery of self-performance. The gospel frees us from focusing on ourselves and looking to fulfill our needs within ourselves. Rather, we are able to find all that we are looking for and more in Jesus. This allows us to focus upward (God) and outward (other people) rather than focusing inward (ourselves).

Lending Generously

"I have been young, and now am old, 

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children begging for bread.

He is ever lending generously,

and his children become a blessing."

Psalm 37:25-26

Do I view God as a stingy task-master, who at my mistakes will withhold himself from me? Or, do I rightly view him as a loving Father, who is ever generous, and who delights to lavish his gifts upon his children out of sheer grace and benevolence? This is something that I daily struggle to understand. I tend to view God as an exacting judge, who views me based on my performance. When I'm doing well spiritually, he is happy. But when I am not doing well, he is disgusted. 

But the good news of Jesus Christ, is that Jesus lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died, so that if we trust in him, and are in him, God is well pleased with us. Period. If you are indeed, God now views you with the same satisfaction as he does his own Son, Jesus. God delights in you because of what Jesus did on your behalf. 

I pray God continues to give his children a deeper awareness that He is ever generous, and that he does not leave his children begging for bread, but that He graciously lavishes Himself upon his children. He loves them, not because of their performance, but because of the performance of His Son, Jesus, in whom His children are united to. 

A Prayer for Gospel Snobs and Scribes, Like Me

HT: Scotty Smith

A Prayer for Gospel Snobs and Scribes, Like Me

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:5-8

Dear Jesus, we tremble at the thought of you speaking these words to us. What could be more sobering and painful than to hear you say, “You talk about me a lot—using multiple Scriptures and well crafted theological language. You’re quick to recognize and correct false teaching, and you’re quite zealous to apply what you know to others. But your heart is far from me.”

It would be one thing to garner such a rebuke for mimicking the worse Pharisees and the Galatian Judaizers (Gal. 2:11-21)—putting people under the yoke of performance-based spirituality, and failing to acknowledge your work as the sole and sufficient basis for our salvation. But it would be an altogether different thing to be chided for being a gospel snob and scribe. Have mercy on us, Jesus, have mercy on me.

Forgive us when our love for the truth of the gospel and the doctrines of grace is more obvious than our love for you… as impossible as that may seem.

Forgive us when we enjoy exposing legalistic, pragmatic and moralistic teaching more than we crave spending time with you in fellowship and prayer.

Forgive us when we invest great energy in defending the imputation of your righteousness but have very little concern for the impartation of your transforming life.

Forgive us when we are quick to tell people what obedience is not, but fail to demonstrate what the obedience of faith actually is.

Forgive us when we call ourselves “recovering Pharisees” or “recovering legalists,” but in reality, we’re not really recovering from anything.

Forgive us when talk more about “getting the gospel” than we’re actually “gotten” by the gospel.

Forgive us for being just as arrogant about grace theology as we were obnoxious about legalistic theology.

Forgive us when our multiplied uses of the word “gospel” in our conversations does not translated into multiplied evidences of the power of the gospel in our lives.

Forgive us when we don’t use our gospel freedom to serve one another in love, but rather use it to put our consciences to sleep.

Forgive us for creating gospel-fraternities and gospel-posses which taste to outsiders like ingrown tribes or “clubish” elitism.

Forgive us for having a PhD in the indicatives yet only a kindergarten certificate in the imperatives of the gospel.

Forgive us when our passion for the gospel does not translate into a passion for holiness and world evangelism, and caring for widows and orphans.

Lord Jesus, with convicted and humbled hearts, we ask you to change us, by your grace and for your glory. So very Amen, we pray, in your magnificent and merciful name.