Relationship=Obedience

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you in holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

1 Peter 1: 14-19

In this passage, Peter is calling his readers to godly obedience and holy living. He sets the bar pretty high, calling his readers to a holiness that parallels that of God. This leaves me wondering, "how in the heck could I ever be that obedient and that holy?" If you know yourself, you will know that being obedient to God's perfect standard is more than difficult. 

I love this passage because it sets this radical call to be holy in context. What is the means by which we are able to be holy and obey God? How do we break away from our sinful patterns in which we once lived? Peter starts the passage off by saying, "As obedient children". We obey because we are children. Our identity shift from spiritual orphans to beloved children of God. 

My college football coach used to always say, "Rules without relationship equals rebellion. Rules with relationship equals results."I think there is a lot of truth to that. Without a proper relationship with God, our default will always be rebellion. In the gospel, we are able to obey because of our new relationship with God. We obey, because,as God's children, He loves us. In fact, he couldn't possibly love us, or be more delighted in us that he already is. The reason is because we were ransomed in Christ. Not only did this act of ransom (Jesus dying on the cross as the ransom penalty for our sins) demonstrate God's love towards us, it also connects us and brings us into a relationship with him. It secures our place as his children. We now have the right to adopted as God's children. Further, the same way the Father views the Son (Jesus), he now views us. 

So, this is why Peter starts by saying, "As obedient children." It's as if he is saying, "because you have been made God's children, because you are united to Him, because God is your perfect Father who loves you, because Christ has ransomed you, go and obey. Because you are in God's family, you are now able to resemble the holiness of your Father."

This is good news for someone like me who constantly falls on my face. This is good news for someone who tends to view my obedience before God as a try out to be on God's team. The truth is, I'm already God's child. I already made the team. And me making the team wasn't contingent upon my performance, but because Jesus picked me and ransomed me so that I could be participate. 

Piper and Keller on Justification, Sanctification, and the Dynamics of Faith

Great stuff from two guys who have had a huge influence on my life. This was originally posted on Desiring God.

Meditating on the Law

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the LORD, 

and on his law he meditates day and night"

Psalm 1:1-2

Why would someone delight in the law of the LORD? And Why would someone meditate on the law day and night? When I first read verses like this, my initial thoughts are usually that this seems like legalism. Good people try really hard to meditate on the law, while the sinners/scoffers are those who don't do the law. The law can't justify me, so why in the world would I meditate on it?

Let me say that I think this is a misunderstanding of the law and why the psalmist would write these things. Here are a few random thoughts on meditating on God's law and what it means for us. 

First, the law was a gift given to Israel. It wasn't originally intended to be a punishment or form of condemnation. Rather, it was given to Israel so that they would know more about the God who brought them out of Egypt. God's law is a written inscription of his character. It gives us a glimpse of his holiness and his character. Therefore, we are able to know more of who God is when we meditate on this law. 

Second, the law was given as a gift that showed Israel how to live life as it was intended to be. The law was given after the Fall, because before the Fall, there was no need for correction. Since the Fall, everything got jacked up. Our relationship with God was shattered, our relationships with each other were broken, and our relationship with creation was marred. The law was an agent to bring things back to the way they were supposed to be. The law was God's instructions and guidelines to live as his holy people. This was not a form of supression intended to hold Israel down with these intense rules. Rather, it was a form of love, showing Israel the best way to live. It was for Israel's good. 

These are a couple reasons why a psalmist might be so excited about the law! He (unlike us) didn't view it as a burdensome legalism. Rather, the law painted a portrait of the awesome God he served. The law was a gracious gift from the Creator. The law shows us what life should be like. Meditating on the law makes sense then, because by meditating on it, we are able to see God and understand him more. 

Lastly, as it relates to us, should be meditate on the law day and night? My only thought here, is that we should meditate on the law as well. We should meditate on God and all his excellencies. Only, for us it may look a little different. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment and embodiment of the law. He was the exact image of God, and the perfect living representation of everything in the law. It is through Jesus that we know God and his character most clearly, and it is through Jesus that we see what life was supposed to be like. 

We were created in the image of God, and were intended to live in that. However, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, that image, like a broken mirror was shattered. What remains is a broken picture. The law gave us an inscription of what it looks like to live as a restored image bearing human. But, as we all know, we fail to do this. Jesus on the other hand, is himself, the perfect image bearer. He not only gives us an example of what it looks like to live in the image of God, he himself has the power to restore us to our image bearing humanity. 

So, yes, meditate on the law, but do so in the context that Jesus is the perfect embodiment and fulfillment of the law. Jesus did what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do. Jesus saved us from the condemnation that the law brought, and he gives us power to once again live as true humans made in the image of God. He restores life to what it was meant to be. The law was powerless to do this. So yes, delight in Jesus, the perfect fulfillment of the law!

More, Not Less

Great reminder from Tullian Tchividjian's blog on the Gospel Coalition.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

However deep and wide you think the freedom offered to sinners in the gospel is–it’s more, not less. As my friend Dane Ortlund says, “It’s time to blow aside the hazy cloud of condemnation that hangs over us throughout the day with the strong wind of gospel grace.”

Robert Capon expounds on this:

Saint Paul has not said to you, “Think how it would be if there were no condemnation”; he has said, “There istherefore now none.” He has made an unconditional statement, not a conditional one–a flat assertion, not a parabolic one. He has not said, “God has done this and that and the other thing; and if by dint of imagination you can manage to pull it all together, you may be able to experience a little solace in the prison of your days.” No. He has simply said, “You are free. Your services are no longer required. The salt mine has been closed. You have fallen under the ultimate statute of limitation. You are out from under everything: Shame, Guilt, Blame. It all rolls off your back like rain off a tombstone.”

It is essential that you see this clearly. The Apostle is saying that you and I have been sprung. Right now; not next week or at the end of the world. And unconditionally, with no probation officer to report to. But that means that we have finally come face to face with the one question we have scrupulously ducked every time it got within a mile of us: You are free. What do you plan to do? One of the problems with any authentic pronouncement of the gospel is that it introduces us to freedom.

So, what are you going to do now that you don’t have to do anything? The secret of worship is that it’s only when you deeply grapple with the pride-smashing fact that you can’t do anything for Jesus, you begin wanting to do everything for Jesus. True discipleship happens when you come to terms with the fact that you are so unconditionally loved, forgiven, pardoned, and free that you say “yes” to whatever God wants.

Why Preach the Gospel to Yourself?

According to 2 Corinthians.....

1. The gospel is how we change

          2 Corinthians 3:18 "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."

2. The gospel is what empowers me to serve

          2 Corinthians 3:5  "It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God."

3. The gospel is where I meet God

          2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ."

The Only Antidote For Sin

"The only antidote to sin is the gospel"--Tullian Tchividjian


OK-this seems easy enough. The gospel, the Son of God becoming man, dying on the cross and resurrecting, was God's way of taking care of our sin problem. It is easy for me to recognize my need for the gospel in terms of my conversion.

But what about the sin in our everyday lives. A Christian is a justified sinner, so sin doesn't completely go away this side of heaven. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). Therefore, we are in need of the gospel through the entire process of our salvation. We not only are saved by the gospel in our justification, but we also need to look to the gospel in our sanctification. The gospel is the objective remedy to our sin past sin problem, and it is the way we are supposed to deal with sin now. As Tullian puts it, the Christian life isn't moving past the gospel, it is moving more deeply into it. 

Are You So Foolish?

"Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit,

are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

Galatians 3:3

A great, simple reminder this morning that both our justification and sanctification (growing in holiness) are by grace, not law. For many, our attitude is that God saves us (grace), but then it is up to us to try really really hard to grow. We tend to think growing in holiness depends on our human efforts and religious duties. Nope! Paul calls this foolish, to think that once you are saved, you then continue by works of the law. Are we living by the Spirit? Are we growing in God's grace, realizing our own weakness/inadequacy to change in our own strength, thus causing us to further cast ourselves upon the Spirit of God? The Christian life starts with the power of God, and the Christian life continues with the power of God. 

The Power of a New Affection

A quote from Thomas Chalmer's, 'The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.'

"The way that we diminish love for sin is by displacing it with love for God stimulated by greater understanding of his grace through Christ."

How Men Change

The following is by Ray Ortlund, Pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, from a recent small group setting a few weeks ago. Attending Immanuel this summer has been so transforming in my understanding of "how we change in light of the gospel". Thanks, Ray.

....

"What steps do we men often walk through to get out of the shadows and into the light?

1. Keeping up appearances successfully, even unconsciously.
2. Failure, followed by brokenness. 'Brokenness' is not dysfunction, but a willingness to be real at the foot of the cross. Unbroken men MUST look good. Broken men need a Savior too urgently to care any more about appearances. The walls fall down. The need comes out.
3. Confession. The proof that our confession before God is sincere is that we are candor about our own sins with one another. Real confession is not general and vague, but detailed and up-to-date.
4. Prayer, forgiveness and cleansing. The biblical response to one another's confession is not therapy, but prayer for healing. All the promises of the gospel converge on the sinner who repents and confesses before God and others.
5. Refreshment, joy, and witness. Whenever people hear fresh stories of God's real mercy to real sinners, they marvel, they are drawn in, and the light spreads."

....

1 John 1: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

....

Jesus is in the light. Jesus is the light. We can have forgiveness, healing and life by running to the light (openness and confession with God and others), as we fix our eyes, and throw our lives onto Jesus.

Good Discussion

Per Kevin DeYoung's blog on the TGC website and Tullian Tchividjian's blog on the TGC website. This are a couple of articles in a very insightful discussion by guys that are much smarter than I am, and guys who love Jesus. I love discussion and learning. Each of these articles has caused me to think about the two wonderful doctrines of justification and sanctification, and of God's incredible grace toward sinners!

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?

Philippians 3:12-16 (part 1)

"¹²Not 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"

In Paul's letter to the Philippians, he encourages his readers to press on in this Christian life using himself as a personal example. This idea of progress or growth in the Christian life can seem a bit overbearing. For some, it brings conviction as to our lack of growth. We've been stuck in the same spot now for some time. For others, it may make us cringe at the idea of having to 'do' something. It may create a legalistic burden. Isn't salvation by grace alone? Either way, the Apostle exhorts us to press on in this Christian life in the same manner he has (vs. 15). But how has Paul pressed on? Specifically, Paul says he presses on by forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead, and by holding true to what he has attained. But why does Paul press on? And, how are we to press on?

In verse 12, Paul spells out the two very connected reasons why he presses on. First, Paul knows he has not yet arrived. He has not obtained his inheritance. He is not perfect. Therefore, he must continue towards the end goal. Moreover, Paul's foundation for pressing on, for growing in this Christian life is the indicative truth that he has been made God's own. The only reason Paul is able to go forth, fervently pressing on, is because he has been gripped by God. He is in the hands of His redeemer. He can run the course because he has been set on the course by God himself.

Continuing, the first way the Apostle says that he presses on is by forgetting what lies behind. In verses 4-9, we see Paul give a testimonial account of what it means to forget what lies behind. In this account, Paul considers his past life of righteousness, cataloguing his past successes and obedience. He then compares this to the righteousness he's received from Christ himself. His conclusion.....

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing

worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered

the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order

that I may gain Christ and be found in him" (vs. 8-9)

To forget what lies behind is to repent of all but Christ. It is to count ALL your past as loss compared to being found in Christ. It means forsaking both our past acts of righteousness and our sin stained past. Paul described himself as blameless according to the law. He followed all the rules. If we compared our lives compared to Paul's, they don't even come close. Our obedience is pathetic compared to his. Yet, he willingly forgets what lies behind. Our past obedience and personal righteousness does not serve us going forward. Our self-righteousness does not lead to knowing Christ. A runner who is constantly looking behind him to see how great he's doing is quickly passed up. When thinking of forgetting our past, our instinct is forget our past failures that weigh us down. This is true. But we also must realize that our past acts of righteousness can prevent us from pressing on from knowing Christ just as much. We must take Paul's example. In this Christian life, to press on, to grow, to know Christ, is to forsake our past righteousness and to cling to Christ, whose worth surpasses everything.

The more obvious application of forgetting what lies behind, is to forget our sin-stained past that weighs us down in this life. While Paul was mainly listing his past acts of righteousness in verses 4-9, he mentions that he was a persecutor of the church. Think about it. Here is Paul, a leader in the church. Wrote 13 letters in the New Testament. Planted churches throughout Asia and Europe. Yet, it wasn't too long ago that Paul murdered Christians for a living. People he know calls brothers and sisters, he once murdered their friends. He had an atrocious past. Imagine the shame of such crimes. Yet, Paul did not let this hinder him from the life God had called him to. He was resolved to forget his past righteousness, but also his past life of shame. I imagine it was hard for Paul to forget this shame. I imagine there were times where he thought that there was NO WAY he could be a minister of the Gospel to the gentiles after the horrible things he had done. But this is a prime example of how, if we are to press on, we must forget what lies in our past. This raises the question, how and why are we able to forget what lies in our past?

As Christians, we forget what lies behind because Jesus died for our past, both our past sin and past righteousness. Jesus lived the perfect life we should have lived. He was perfectly obedient. So we no longer have to hold on to our past obedience, as if it might earn us something. Rather, belonging to God, we possess his perfect righteousness. And, this perfect righteousness makes everything else look like rubbish. More so, Christ died for our sin stained past. Most of us, to some degree, live with the burden of past failures. In the deepest, darkest parts of our souls, we hold on the to shame. And this is the exact thing that weighs us down on this journey. This is what prevents us from pressing on. Past failures leave us paralyzed in fear, unable to get up and move. However, most of us go through our days with the appearance of progress. We put on a facade of 'doing well'. We wear a mask. But, we know the truth. We are sinking. We aren't pressing on. We are just getting by. We're dying inside. It could be the shame of failure in relationships. Failure in being a good husband, wife, son, daughter, friend. It could be the deep-seeded pain of addiction. Or the condemnation from sexual sin or sexual abuse, leaving us feeling perpetually dirty. Whatever it is, every person on this earth has a messy past and deep down is broken in sin....regardless of external appearance.

But, this is not living in light of the Gospel. This is failing to trust in what Jesus accomplished. The Gospel tells us that there is NO MORE SHAME. Christ has taken our guilt. He has taken our condemnation. He died for the secret, hidden shame that no one knows about. At the cross, Jesus carried our sin and shame. He took the curse upon himself so that our brokenness can be restored. This allows us to take off our masks, to shine radiantly as God's beloved children, forgetting our past failures and successes and to press on.

So, Paul's first lesson in pressing on is forgetting what lies behind. This means to repent of all but Christ. And, we are able to do this only because we belong to God. Because of what Jesus did, we can forget what lies behind.

Whiter than Snow: Sin is a Relationship

"The desire to be God rather than to serve God lies at the bottom of every sin that anyone has ever committed. Sin isn't first rooted in a philosophical debate of the appropriateness or healthiness of a certain ethic. No, sin is rooted in my unwillingness to find joy in living my life under the authority of, and for the glory of, Another. Sin is rooted in my desire to live for me. It's driven by my propensity to indulge my every feeling, satisfy my every desire, and meet my every need...Because sin is about the breaking of relationship, restoration of relationship is the only hope for us in our struggle with sin. It's only because God is willing to love us in our struggle with sin. It's only because God is willing to love us in a way that we refuse to love him that we have any hope of defeating sin. It's through the gift of adoption into relationship with him that we find what we need to gain power over sin. And what do we need? A greater love for him than we have for ourselves. His love is the only thing that has the power to produce in us that kind of love for him."

- Pastor Paul Tripp, Whiter than Snow

Indicatives and Imperatives

Per a blog titled Glimpses of Grace
It is awesome. It is written by a close friend named Erik Most. Thanks Erik.

....

"Most people think that Christianity is spelled DO: they look at the Bible or the life of Christ, and they simply try hard to live like Jesus. Christianity is really spelled DONE: it is what Christ has done that enables us to live a life of obedience.
Our problem is that we confuse the order of the indicative (what is true) and the imperative (what to do). As Bryan Chapell often says 'We put our do's before our who's'. The indicative is what is true about us in Christ. We are loved and accepted because of what Christ has done on our behalf. The imperative is what we do in obedience out of love for Christ. The key to the Christian life is to live out of the reality of who we are so that we can do what God has revealed in Scripture."

--Darrin Patrick quoted in Church Planter

Further Thoughts on Sanctification and Union with Christ

From Richard Lovelace's Dynamics of Spiritual Life

"Believers should first be assured that sanctification, like justification, is grounded in union with Christ. The power of sin to rule their lives has been destroyed in the Cross of Christ; we have died with Christ, and have been raised up together with Him in newness of life. Therefore we are not to set the estimates of our power to conquer sin according to past experience of our will power, but are to fix our attention on Christ and the power of His risen life in which we participate; for we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. This power is accessible in our experience through faith, not through simple striving of the will."

Therefore, we grow in holiness by tapping into the grace and power of Christ made available to us through our union with Him, which we have by faith.

random journal thoughts on sanctification

First, I think of spiritual formation and the process of sanctification as synonymous. I believe process is the right word for sanctification. Catholics would say that justification and sanctification are fused as one, and together we would progress in our justification and sanctification through God's INHERENT grace in us. The Protestant gospel says, the event of justification was a one-time deal 2000 some odd years ago, where Christ IMPUTED his righteousness to us in justification on the cross, and sanctification is occurring in and through us currently by the work of the spirit. Due to my plagued nature and Satan's temptation, it's very easy to convince myself that 'God was the actor in justification, and we are the actors in our sanctification'. I think that is a very prevalent misconception, and heresy, because it does not fully encapsulate the incredible grace of Christ, who rescued us, and has sent his spirit to work in and through us now as his children. Bottom line, I believe God was the actor in justification, and to the same extent, is the actor in sanctification, as it is a complete result of His grace we can make choices to change and pursue holiness. Here is quote by Bryan Chappel, President of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis from his book "Holiness by Grace"...


"Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own. Our soul delights in his service as love for him and thanksgiving for his mercy make us long to honor him. True grace produces joy and promotes godliness."

...

In short, it's not about doing stuff that makes us more holy. The wonderful gospel story of our justification in essence should fuel our sanctification. It is out of complete thankfulness and joy due to grace of Christ's finished work that we should move one ounce of flesh to godliness. It is still the working of the spirit that leads us to these actions. As we are now in Christ, if we truly are, our actions, our labor, our fruit, should point to the root of what Christ has done. It will always be about that, and never about our what we are doing.

One more thing, is that I do believe sanctification is cooperative. You have all know these verse, but as Paul writes in Philippians 2: 12-13...

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

...As it states, Paul commands us to work it out. It's not easy, and it does take something on our part. But I don't believe goal #1 is eliminating sin, as I know I often think. It's impossible, and discouraging to have it that way. That cannot be the standard by which we measure our sanctification, because it is an inconceivable scale. It is dealing with sin that is on the scale of infinity, and playing a game of balance in our minds and functionally in our actions only promotes pervasive, but well hidden pride. I believe our goal in pursuing holiness should be to align our affections with those of Christ Jesus. Eliminating sin is an obvious result of becoming more holy, but it can't be the focus. Practically, we should be moved to dive into scripture to learn it, as we are now in Christ, we are one of his people, and should know what our King commands. If we are going to identify with him in our rescue, we should also identify with him in everything else...we should come eager to the Lord in prayer and ask for his grace and forgiveness and strength...we should seek actively to serve our brothers. However, I know this stuff is not easy to want to do. Many times I don't want to do it and choose not to. I think as we go through those periods in our lives, probably daily, we should constantly be preaching the gospel to ourselves and asking God to reveal to us more fully the beauty of his grace and the power of his work on the cross. I truly believe it is through hearing the word of God, the gospel more, we will become so much more moved to action.

As we seek to grow in our faith, may we not look inwardly to ourselves, but outwardly to Jesus, and what he has done for us all by grace. May we refocus our vision from trying to improve our faith, to the object of our faith itself, Jesus Christ.

These are jumbled thoughts I wanted to get down before going back to class. I love you guys all so much, and am so thankful I have friends who want to talk about these things. I look up to you all (not just in the physical dimension..pun) and need your prayers. Can not wait to see you all next week, and to hear more about your thoughts on this topic. It is multifaceted, but I'm sure scripture is deep with wisdom.

Crucified With Christ

Tony Reinke reproduces a moving section from a Charles Spurgeon sermon (November 2, 1884):

The best preaching is, “We preach Christ crucified.”

The best living is, “We are crucified with Christ.”

The best man is a crucified man.

The more we live beholding our Lord’s unutterable griefs, and understanding how he has fully put away our sin, the more holiness shall we produce.

The more we dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard, where we can view heaven, and earth, and hell, all moved by his wondrous passion—the more noble will our lives become.

Nothing puts life into men like a dying Savior.

Get close to Christ, and carry the remembrance of him about you from day to day, and you will do right royal deeds.

Come, let us slay sin, for Christ was slain.

Come, let us bury all our pride, for Christ was buried.

Come, let us rise to newness of life, for Christ has risen.

Let us be united with our crucified Lord in his one great object—let us live and die with him, and then every action of our lives will be very beautiful.

O that Christians today—that I—would truly get this: Living in union with Christ is the key to holiness.

Motivation

Relating to my post from yesterday, here is a great interview with Darrin Patrick (Pastor of The Journey Church, which is part of the Acts 29 network) and Bryan Chapell (President of Covenant Theological Seminary). This stuff is gold.

Motivation: How grace leads to obedience. from Journey-Creative on Vimeo.

Grace and Duty

With regards to our sanctification, specifically in regards to our overcoming temptation and our duty to holiness, puritan John Owen wrote,

"Let us consider what regard we ought to have to our own duty and to the grace of God. Some would separate these things as inconsistent. If holiness be our duty, they would say, there is no room for grace; and if it be the result of grace there is no place for duty. But our duty and God's grace are nowhere opposed in the matter of sanctification; for one absolutely supposes the other. We cannot perform our duty without the grace of God; nor does God give his grace for any other purpose than that we may perform our duty"

Out of the Father's Goodness

The following excerpt comes from Bryan Chapell's 'Holiness by Grace'. I think he paints a wonderful picture of how even our best obedience, and our best 'goodness', does not merit the Father's acceptance. Rather, we are accepted out of His goodness.

"One of the things my father taught all his sons was how to use a cross-cut saw. His daddy and his daddy's daddy had taught their sons, and my father was not going to let this rite of passage for rural southern manhood end with him....One brisk fall morning, we began sawing on a log that we did not know had a rotten core. When we had sawed partially through the log, it split and fell off the sawing frame. The timber hit the ground so hard that a large piece was sheared off from the rotten log. In my childhood imagination, the unusual shape of the sheared piece looked like a horse head. It so captured my imagination and I took it home from the day of sawing.

For my father's birthday, I attached a length of two-by-four to the log, attached a rope tail and stuck on some sticks to act as legs. Then I halfway hammered in a dozen or so nails to the two-by-four body of the 'horse'. I wrapped the whole thing in paper and put a bow on it.

When I gave it to my dad, he took off the wrapping, he smiled and said, 'Thank you, it's wonderful....what is it?'

'It's a tie rack', Dad, I said. 'You can put your ties on those nails going down the side of the horse's body. My father smiled again and thanked me. For years he used it as a tie rack.

Now when I first gave my father that rotten log horse tie rack, I really thought it was good. In my childish mind this creation was a work of art ready for the Metropolitan Museum. But as I matured, I realized that my work was not nearly as good as I had once thought. In fact, I understood ultimately that my father had received and used my gift not because of its goodness, but out of his goodness. In a similar way, our heavenly father receives our gifts, not so much because they deserve his love, but because he is love"