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."

Delight as Motivation for Obedience

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15

I'm struck by how often the Bible appeals to our delight as one of the many reasons we should obey Christ. In this verse, Jesus is essentially telling us that we should obey out of the love we have for him. Because we delight in our Savior, we should freely and joyfully obey. Obedience doesn't need to be a painstaking duty. Rather, when we see all that we have in Christ, and are grounded in his unfailing love for us, it starts to become the beat of our heart. I'm praying for more obedience out of genuine joy. 

A Fish Out Of Water

"When a fish leaves the water, which he was built for, he is not free, but dead."--Tim Keller

As humans, we all seek freedom. We seek true life. The Bible's is God's Word to us, that this inner longing we have for true life and true freedom exists because we were created by God, to know God. True life and true freedom are only found when we are found in him. It is what we are made for. That is why the idols of this world, (power, success, respect, fame, wealth, security, comfort, love), never REALLY satisfy. We seek them, in hopes of gaining freedom and life, yet they always disappoint. All those things point us to the only thing which can truly satisfy our hearts. Just as Keller says, when we seek freedom in these other things, we think they will give us just that, freedom, but rather, they lead to death. 

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. 

Francis Schaeffer on the Heart of Rebellion

From Francis Schaeffer's, 'True Spirituality',

"The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart. They did not have proper, thankful hearts-seeing themselves as creatures before the Creator and being bowed not only on their knees but in their stubborn hearts. The rebellion is a deliberate refusal to be the creature before the Creator, to the extent of being thankful."

More so, as God's creatures, we have every reason to bow down before Him and give Him thanks. Our Creator is not a cruel taskmaster to whom it would be a dreadful duty to give thanks. No. Rather, He is a compassionate, gracious and loving Father. He is almighty, yet He humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross, so that we may know and serve him joyfully. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. This is the Creator I want to bow before and give thanks to. 

Jesus Our Benefactor

From 'Valley of Vision'.

My dear Lord,

I depend wholly on thee,

wean from me all other dependencies.

Though are my all, thou dost overrule all and delight in me.

Thou art the foundation of goodness,

how can I distrust thee?

how be anxious about what happens to me?

In the light of thy preciousness the world

and all its enjoyments are infinitely poor:

I value the favor of men no more than pebbles.

Amid the blessings I receive from thee

may I never lose the heart of a stranger. 

May I love thee, my benefactor, in all my benefits,

not forgetting that my greatest danger arises from all my advantages.

Produce in me self-despair that will make Jesus precious to me,

delightful in all his offices,

pleasurable in all his ways,

and may I love his commands as well as his promises.

Help me to discern between true and false love, 

the one consisting of supreme love to thee, the other not,

the former uniting thy glory and man's happiness

that they may become a common interest,

the latter disjointing and separating them both,

seeking the latter with neglect of the former.

Teach me that genuine love is different in kind 

from that wrought by rational arguments or the motive of self-interest,

that such love is a pleasing passion affording joy to the mind where it is.

Grant me grace to distinguish between the genuine and the false,

and to rest in thee who are all love. 

A great prayer for this morning. That we would lean more wholly upon Christ and trust in His benefits and that Jesus would be increasingly precious to us. 

The Authentic Happy Life

"Far be it from me, Lord, far from the heart of your servant who is making confession to you, far be it from me to think myself happy, whatever the joy in which I take my delight. There is a delight which is given not to the wicked (Isaiah 28:22), but to those who worship you for no reward save the joy that you yourself are to them. That is the authentic happy life, to set one's joy on you, grounded in you and caused by you. That is the real thing, and there is no other. Those who think that the happy life is found elsewhere, pursue another joy and not the true one. Nevertheless, their will remains drawn towards some image of the true joy."

Saint Augustine, Confessions, page 198-199

The Delight of Eternity

"But, as it is written,

'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined, 

what God has prepared for those who love him.'"

1 Corinthians 2:9

"The conversation led us towards the conclusion that the pleasure of the bodily senses, however delightful in the radiant light of this physical world, is seen by comparison with the life of eternity to be not even worth considering."

Saint Augustine, Confessions, page 171. 

The Essence of all Delight

John Flavel:

Christ [is] the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is congregation or  meeting-place of all  waters in the world: so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet. . . .

His excellencies are pure and unmixed; he is a sea of sweetness without one drop of gall.

—The Method of Grace, from Sermon XII.

Philippians 3:12-16 (part 2)

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold true to what we have attained." Philippians 3:12-16

Besides forgetting what lies behind, the Apostle Paul also says he presses on by straining forward to what lies ahead.

What is it that lies ahead? The Apostle tells us in verse 14, writing, 'I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.' and also in verses 10 and 11, 'that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.....that I am attain the resurrection from the dead'. Paul's goal is to be in perfect fellowship with Jesus. He presses on to attain this resurrection, in which he will be perfect fellowship with His God. Now that Paul has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness, and is now a citizen of heaven (Colossians 1:13), he presses on towards the marvelous inheritance that awaits him.

Furthermore, why is Paul so willing to fervently strain forward to this. What is it about the end prize that motivates Paul to speak so strongly about it. In verse 8, Paul writes, 'Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.' (Phil. 3:8). I talked last post about how this is the reason why Paul was able to forget his past. Well, it is also the reason why he so passionately presses forward. Because knowing Jesus is infinitely more valuable to Paul than anything else in his past, present of future, he makes it his one desire. Paul can echo the words of King David in Psalm 63, "Your steadfast love is better than life" (Psalm 63:3). For Paul, being found in Christ is more precious that anything.

Think about it. We chase what is most precious to us. We will pursue what we ultimatley value. If it is money, we will work long and hard for it. If it is security, we will arrange our life to achieve it. If it is respect, we will demand it at all costs. For Paul, it was Jesus. That is why he counts everything as loss, forsaking his past, straining forward towards the prize, knowing nothing but Jesus. Do we value Jesus like Paul did? Do we treasure Christ above all else? Is he precious to us?

Jesus told a metaphor that illustrates what Paul is saying. In Matthew's account of the Gospel, Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matthew 13:44).

When we are captivated by the treasure that Christ is, our response will be nothing less than Paul's. We will strain forward to what lies ahead. When we catch a glimpse of even a fraction of how beautiful Christ is, we won't be able to take our eyes off of Him. They will be fixed on Him, as we press on.

It is also important to realize the reason why Paul was so captivated and gripped by Christ. It's not some intellectual conclusion Paul reached, or something he attained by His own strength. Rather, Paul writes, "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own" (Phil. 3:12). We are able to press on to Christ, because Jesus pressed on to make us His own. This is the Gospel; that God has relentlessly pursued rebels and made them His own. The whole Bible tells 1 big story of God pursuing sinners. From Adam, til now. Israel was called to be God's people, yet time and time again they turn their backs on God. Despite all the mighty works God did on their behalf, they went their own way. Yet, God remained faithful. In fact, He saw from the beginning that this would happen, and out of love, had a better plan. He sent Jesus. Jesus would be the fulfillment of everything Israel should have been. Jesus would come and reverse the effects of Adam's fall. Jesus would make a way for God's people to be brought back to Him, once and for all.

The reason Paul strains forward with such an intense focus, is because he knows what he was, and he knows what he is. He knows he is nothing but a poor, rebellious, hopeless, self-loving, God hating sinner by nature. He would have never sought God. Yet God, being rich in mercy, out of sheer grace, pursued Paul. This is love. Paul has tasted of this love. He has tasted the excellence of this grace. There is nothing better. There is no greater joy. When a sinner is called by God and made His own, there is no other response than to worshipfully follow him. Paul's been made God's own and he presses on in absolute delight. Everything else pales in comparison. How could he chase after anything else? If we've been made God's own, how can we chase anything else?

So It Was Thought

"Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,"

Luke 3:23

Who was Jesus? The second chapter of Matthew's Gospel ends with Jesus growing up in Nazareth. Nazareth was known as a town from which nothing good could come. In fact, the word 'Nazarene' may actually have been a nickname or slang meaning for something that was insignificant.

So what does Luke 3:23 tell us about who Jesus was/is. The phrase 'so it was thought' reveals that to human eyes, Jesus was the son of an unimportant carpenter from insignificant Nazareth. His human resume was not one to boast in. Yet, in reality, Jesus was the beloved Son of God, in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

"This is my Son, whom I love, the one in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" Colossians 1:19

In God's sight, Jesus was the Beloved Son. This was His true identity. In the same way, our human resume is nothing to boast about. There is nothing great about us. Our identity in ourselves is rather insignificant in the big picture. Yet, when we are in Christ, the reality of our identity is radically different. In God's sight, we are beloved children with whom He is well pleased. This is our true identity.

What Do You Rejoice In?

"What you rejoice in is the thing that is your central sweetness and consolation in life. To rejoice is to treasure a thing, to assess its value to you, to reflect on its beauty and importance until your heart rests in it and tastes the sweetness of it."

Tim Keller

What do you rejoice in? The Bible says we are to 'rejoice' and 'delight' in God. Sometimes I wonder why it often so hard for me to do this. It is far easier for me to get excited, and treasure watching my favorites athlete (Derrick Rose) take over a game in the 4th quarter and lead his team to victory. I have no problem delighting in earning good grades, or having a good time with friends. This sunday, I will be quick to rejoice when the Bears score. But why is it so hard for me to delight in God? Why is reading the Bible more like pulling teeth than it is a joyful delight. Why am I more drawn and enamored with stuff instead of God and His Word. Why do I often times delight in trivial 'things' more than God.

At a fundamental level, it is because I do not fully believe the Gospel. I think Tim Keller's quote hits the nail on the head. We delight in something because it is valuable to us, because we have assessed it's beauty and treasure it. If this is true, the reason I don't delight in God is that I have failed to properly assess God's value and the true treasure that He is. I have failed to see the beauty of the Gospel. In my few moments of Gospel sanity, when for a moment, I taste the overwhelming goodness of the Father expressed through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on my behalf, in those moments, I am apt to delight in God. During those glimpses of grace (shout out Erik Most), I experience the fullness of joy that is in Christ.

However, in order to do this, we must properly assess the value of the Gospel. Tim Keller defines the Gospel as the fact that we are far worse, and far more hopeless than we could ever imagine, yet, in Christ, we are more loved and accepted than we could ever hope. In order to assess the value of the Gospel, we must understand both sides. If we don't see ourselves as utterly sinful, naked, blind, poor, lost, miserable souls, who if it weren't for the sheer grace of God, would be justly consumed by His wrath, the Gospel will never be valuable to us. It will never be good news. There is a reason Jesus said, "He who is forgiven little, loves little. But he who is forgiven much, loves much". Grace won't be amazing to us unless we realize what we've been saved from. A shackled slave who is redeemed rejoices. A beggar who has been adopted by the King and made into a Son rejoices. Someone who thinks they are a generally good person and deserves salvation on their merit does not rejoice.

More so, we will only be able to rightly rejoice in God when we realize God's absolute benevolence towards His children. If you are in Christ, you are beloved. You are more loved than you can imagine. Christians should rejoice in God because they have been saved from their utter state of sin and brought into the glorious light. We were unlovely, but we have been loved by the most lovely. Love to the loveless shown, that we might lovely be. When I dwell on this, I treasure God above all else. Knowing both ends, that we are utterly sinful and hopeless, yet completely loved and secure in Christ's finished work, will cause us to rightly assess the Gospel's value, to rightly treasure it, and to see its pure beauty. And when this happens, we will rejoice and delight in God.

I pray God will continue to illuminate my heart to the true treasure that Christ is, and the absolute beauty of the Gospel; that God saves messed up sinners.

Timothy Brindle - The Excellency of Christ

This song is unreal....