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.

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."

An Open Letter To Mr. Grace-Loving Antinomian

A great post on Tullian Tchividjian's blog .... An Open Letter To Mr. Grace-Loving Antinomian

There seems to be a fear out there that the preaching of radical grace produces serial killers. Or, to put it in more theological terms, too much emphasis on the indicatives of the gospel leads to antinomianism (a lawless version of Christianity that believes the directives and commands of God don’t matter). My problem with this fear is that I’ve never actually met anyone who has been truly gripped by God’s amazing grace in the gospel who then doesn’t care about obeying him. As I have said before: antinomianism happens not when we think too much of grace. Just the opposite, actually. Antinomianism happens when we think too little of grace.

Wondering whether this common fear is valid, my dear friend Elyse Fitzpatrick (in C.S. Lewis fashion) writes an open letter to Mr. Grace-Loving Antinomian–a person she’s heard about for years but never met–asking him to please step forward and identify himself.

Enjoy…

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Dear Mr. Antinomian,

Forgive me for writing to you in such an open forum but I’ve been trying to meet you for years and we just never seem to connect. While it’s true that I live in a little corner of the States and while it’s true that I am, well, a woman, I did assume that I would meet you at some point in my decades old counseling practice. But alas, neither you nor any of your (must be) thousands of brothers and sisters have ever shown up for my help…So again, please do pardon my writing in such a public manner but, you see, I’ve got a few things to say to you and I think it’s time I got them off my chest.

I wonder if you know how hard you’re making it for those of us who love to brag about the gospel. You say that you love the gospel and grace too, but I wonder how that can be possible since it’s been continuously reported to me that you live like such a slug. I’ve even heard that you are lazy and don’t work at obeying God at all…Rather you sit around munching on cigars and Twinkies, brewing beer and watching porn on your computer. Mr. A, really! Can this be true?

So many of my friends and acquaintances are simply up in arms about the way you act and they tell me it’s because you talk too much about grace. They suggest (and I’m almosttempted to agree) that what you need is more and more rules to live by. In fact, I’m very tempted to tell you that you need to get up off your lazy chair, pour your beer down the drain, turn off your computer and get about the business of the Kingdom.

I admit that I’m absolutely flummoxed, though, which is why I’m writing as I am. You puzzle me. How can you think about all that Christ has done for you, about your Father’s steadfast, immeasurable, extravagantly generous love and still live the way you do? Have you never considered the incarnation, about the Son leaving ineffable light to be consigned first to the darkness of Mary’s womb and then the darkness of this world? Have you never considered how He labored day-after-day in His home, obeying His parents, loving His brothers and sisters so that you could be counted righteous in the sight of His Father? Have you forgotten the bloody disgrace of the cross you deserve? Don’t you know that in the resurrection He demolished sin’s power over you? Aren’t you moved to loving action knowing that He’s now your ascended Lord Who prays for you and daily bears you on His heart? Has your heart of stone never been warmed and transformed by the Spirit? Does this grace really not impel zealous obedience? Hello…Are you there?

Honestly, even though my friends talk about you as though you were just everywhere in every church, always talking about justification but living like the devil, frankly I wonder if you even exist. I suppose you must because everyone is so afraid that talking about grace will produce more of you. So that’s why I’m writing: Will you please come forward? Will you please stand up in front of all of us and tell us that your heart has been captivated so deeply by grace that it makes you want to watch the Playboy channel?

Again, please do forgive me for calling you out like this. I really would like to meet you. I am,

Trusting in Grace Alone,

Elyse

Absent in body and in spirit?

"For though I am absent in body, 

yet I am with you in spirit, 

rejoicing to see your good order 

and the firmness of your faith in Christ."

Colossians 2:5

A quick observation about this passage. Throughout Paul's letter to the Colossians, he expresses his deep pastoral concern for them. Earlier in the chapter Paul mentions how he has gladly suffered for the sake of the Colossians and how he struggles for them. He even says he struggles and suffers for those whom he has never even met! He is deeply connected to these people. Looking at the verse at hand, we again see Paul's deep connectedness to his people. Even though he is not there physically, his heart and thoughts are with them. He is with them in spirit. 

I bring this up because we live in a culture where most people are often absent both physically and in spirit. In this digital era, our attention is more likely to be grasped by a screen than by people. Even when we are with people physically, we really aren't 'all there'. We might be with people, but our spirit is absent. We are with our cell phones, and laptops, and TV's. Our 'physical' presence is more likely to take the form of text messaging, or facebook than it is a deep spiritual connectedness. Even when Paul wasn't physically there, he was still deeply connected in spirit. In our culture, we lack to be present in both. We lack physical presence in each others lives. Parents get divorced. Kid's don't spend time with their families. People spend more time watching TV than connecting with people. Everything is privatized. And like I said, even when we are 'with people' half the time we are usually texting someone else who isn't even there. We are absent both physically and spiritually. We are all guilty of this. 

So how do we get back to this deep connectedness that Paul seemed to have? It all starts with the Gospel. The Gospel gives us a deep connectedness to God. In turn, we then will have a deeper connectedness to people, because we are united in Christ. The Gospel unites us as believers as we share in the same Spirit. Also, the Gospel gives us the only real motivation to reach out and connect and love people in a deep way, the way in which Paul did. The motivation is this. When we were disconnected, Christ reached out in the ultimate way to re-connect us to the Father. The Son reached out by coming to earth, taking on human flesh, living the perfect life, dying the death that we deserved for our disconnection, and then resurrected, so that our original connectedness that we had in the beginning (Adam and Eve) can be restored. When we were far off and disconnected, God died for us to connect us. To bring us back in. That is beautiful. That is why the Gospel transforms community in a radical way. That is why the Apostle Paul has such a deep connectedness to the Colossians. This verse is an encouragement for me to pursue real relationships. To be deeply connected to people, not facebook. Legitimate connection is found and motivated only in the Gospel. In the words of Jim Elliot, 

"Where ever you are, be all there"

The True Motivation for Justice

Tim Keller in his new book, 'Generous Justice', talking about the Gospel being the ultimate motivation for justice.

"I believe, however, when justice for the poor is connected not to guilt, but to grace and to the gospel, this 'pushes the button' down deep in believers' souls, and they begin to wake up. Here is an example of the kind of argument that accomplishes this. It comes from a sermon by a young Scottish minister early in the nineteenth century, preaching on the text, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35):

'Now, dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true Vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving....'Though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.'

Objection 1. 'My money is my own.' Answer: Christ might have said, 'My blood is my own, my life is my own'....then where should we have been?

Objection 2. 'The poor are undeserving.' Answer: Christ might have said, 'they are wicked rebels, shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels.' But no, Christ left the 99 and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving.

Objection 3. 'The poor may abuse it.' Answer: Christ might have said the same; yea with far greater truth. Christ knew thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood. Oh, my dear Christians! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'"

Glorious Grace

The last paragraph from a sermon by Jonathan Edwards,

Let those who have been made partakers of this free and glorious grace of God, spend their lives much in praises and hallelujahs to God, for the wonders of his mercy in their redemption. To you, O redeemed of the Lord, cloth this doctrine most directly apply itself; you are those who have been made partakers of all this glorious grace of which you have now heard. 'Tis you that God entertained thoughts of restoring after your miserable fall into dreadful depravity and corruption, and into danger of the dreadful misery that unavoidably follows upon it; 'tis for you in particular that God gave his Son, yea, his only Son, and sent him into the world; 'tis for you that the Son of God so freely gave himself; 'tis for you that he was born, died, rose again and ascended, and intercedes; 'tis to you that there the free application of the fruit of these things is made: all this is done perfectly and altogether freely, without any of your desert, without any of your righteousness or strength; wherefore, let your life be spent in praises to God. When you praise him in prayer, let it not be with coldness and indifferency; when you praise him in your closet, let your whole soul be active therein; when you praise him in singing, don't barely make a noise, without any stirring of affection in the heart, without any internal melody. Surely, you have reason to shout, cry, "Grace, grace, be the topstone of the temple!" Certainly, you don't want mercy and bounty to praise God; you only want a heart and lively affections to praise him with.

Run John Run

A poem by John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim's Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners)

"Run, John, run, the law commands

But gives us neither feet nor hands,

Far better news the Gospel brings;

It bids us fly and gives us wings"

The Only Adequate Resource

"There, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith"

What does it mean for us to run the race set before us, the Christian faith, by looking to Jesus. I think our temptation is to attempt to run the race on an endurance produced by our own spiritual acumen. Our temptation is to run the race in our own strength. We depend on our gifts to help us complete this task. We depend on our own ability to cast of entangling sin and to produce the endurance necessary to continue.

This seems right. I mean, the writer of Hebrews tells us to run with endurance and to run by casting off the sin the clings closely. But, will this last? The answer is no. The writer of Hebrews knows this, and after telling us to run with endurance and by casting off sin, he tells us that we are only able to do this by looking to Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith.

In our everyday moments, in this everyday race, there are going to be times when we are overwhelmed, when the race seems to be an impossibility. Whether school seems overbearing, the ministry is wearing us out, or we feel like failures in our roles as husbands, fathers, friends, churchmen, Jesus followers. It is in these times that we are tempted the most to try to dig ourselves out of this hole, to muster up more strength, and to keep running the race in our own endurance.

It is for this reason that we are told to direct our eyes to Jesus. We are pointed to Jesus for two reasons. He is the author of our faith, and He is the perfecter. At our points of failure, when we are overwhelmed, we must look to Jesus as author. He has started us on this race. He has brought us this far. His grace has carried us to this point. He has provided in the past. Moreover, He will perfect us. He not only has brought us this far, but his faithfulness in the past proves that He will be faithful in the future. He has brought us this far and He will bring us to the end. Some practical evidence of this is the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us. We should look to Jesus because He has brought everyone from this great cloud of witnesses unto the glorious finish. We should trust Him to bring us to the end because He has been faithful in the past.

Moreover, Jesus is the only adequate resource for us to run the race. The only way to stay on the race is to look to Jesus as author and perfecter. As source and provider. His fountain of living water is the limitless source of all necessary grace. In our moments of weakness, when we feel overwhelmed with entangling sin, with the over bearing weight of this life, we can't look to ourselves, but must look to Jesus who is the only adequate resource to keep us on pace.

Lastly, Jesus is only adequate resource because He has gone before us. He is the only one qualified to bring us unto completion. Jesus completed the ultimate race that His Father set before him. We must look to Jesus who joyfully endured the course of Calvary in order to clear the way for us. We must look to Him who bore the obstacles and weight of sin so that we may be free from its entanglement. We look to him who took on weakness, so that we may be strong in the race. We must look to Him who experienced overwhelming weariness so that we may not grow faint of heart. We must look to Christ, who has strengthened and sustained prior saints unto the glorious finish, who gives grace to both start and finish the race.

The Cause of Christian Piety

"For, properly speaking we cannot say that God is known where there is no religion or piety.....For this sense of the divine perfections is the proper master to teach us piety, out of which religion springs. By piety, I mean that the union of reverence and love to God which the knowledge of his benefits inspires."

John Calvin

Institutes of the Christian Religion: Book I, Chapter II

I pray that God would give us a deeper knowledge and understanding of the benefits that are in Christ, and that would in turn inspire us to serve Him in humility.

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.

Indicative ---> Imperative

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:32

In this verse, the Apostle Paul reminds of our reason and motivation for Christian living. Because we have been forgiven in Christ, we forgive others. Because we have been loved, we love others. Because we have been shown grace, we give grace to others. The indicative empowers the imperative. As we are gripped by the truths of the Gospel (the indicative), we will be compelled to live out the imperatives (Godly living). Our absolute confidence in God's acceptance in Christ must serve as the motivation and empowerment to holiness.

Most Christians (myself included) often fall into the trap of trying to earn, prove or legitimize their acceptance or security with God by trying really really hard to live a Godly life. If I keep doing the right thing, then God will love me. This produces radical spiritual insecurity and ultimately comes from a lack of belief in the sufficiency of Christ's work. Rather, we need to be rooted in grace. When we are confident in our union with Christ, that neither life nor death, nor any powers of this earth can separate us from Christ, and that we are fully justified in Him, that Christ has removed all of our dirt, guilt, shame and vileness, and has given his righteousness, loveliness and heavenly acceptance, only then, will we be compelled to forgive others. God's grace is the only lasting motivation. Human strength and discipline will last for a season, but real sanctification has its roots in our union with Christ. The motivation and empowerment for real sanctification comes from the indicative, that God is 100% for us.

Grace--> Discipleship

"Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship. Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word. For them the word of grace has proved a fount of mercy"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship pg. 56)