Marks of Authentic Faith

In Ps. 40, we see the faith of David in action.  Amid his trials and tribulations, set before our eyes are two essential ingredients of genuine faith: (1) patient waiting; and (2) confident trust.  These are even two checks to discern whether or not there is true faith in our hearts amid our trials and tribulations.  Oftentimes we think, speak, and act as though faith is just intellectual assent.  It's not less than that, of course; but it's so much more.  And without that more, there is no saving, gracious faith.

Now David's faith in Ps. 40.  First, look at verse 1: "I waited patiently for YHWH; he inclined to me and heard my cry."  Here is patient waiting for the Lord's deliverence amid evils beyond number encompassing David, amid iniquities overtaking him so he could not see (v. 12).  True faith.  This is what it looks like.  How long David waited, we're not sure.  But he had to wait.  Deliverence was not immediate.  Fill in the blank with your evils-encompassing-you-beyond-number, with your iniquities-overtaking-you-so-you-cannot-see.  And then wait patiently for the Lord's deliverence.  It will come.  Count on it.

Second, note the confidence of verse 11:  "As for you, O YHWH, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!"  David knows his God, has tasted his ways and seen his heart, and so looks boldy for God to act in accordance with his revealed character and works.  He will do it again, David says to himself, this faithful, covenant-keeping God of steadfast love and mercy.  So as you wait patiently for the Lord's deliverance in your "pit of destruction," your "miry bog," remember who your God is and how he acts toward his own.  Consider and count on the grace, mercy, and love of God in Christ.  He'll put your feet on a rock, making your steps secure! (v. 2).  Do not doubt that!  He is faithful; he will bring it to pass.

So there it is: patient waiting, and confident trust.  The stuff of real faith.  May God be pleased to grant an increase of genuine faith in our churches.  And why do I pray this?  For the same reason David experienced deliverence in Ps. 40: that God's great deliverences might be told and sung in our congregations (vv. 9 and 10).

Cause or Result in Psychiatric Disorders?

From the introduction of The Harvard Guide to Psychiatry, 3rd edition, Armand Nicholi, MD, says this about the state of psychiatry:

Progress in psychiatry continues in many directions.  More rigorously controlled studies have replaced the relatively unsophisticated research of the past.  Investigators have focused on establishing the neurological substrates of psychiatric disorders--that is, on ascertaining the specific parts of the brain associated with the disturbed thinking, feeling, and behavior of these disorders.  They continue to search for structural, metabolic, and physiological abnormalities that may be clues to the cure of particular illnesses.  And they do so with the full realization that even the identification of such abnormalities will leave unanswered the question of whether they are the cause or the result of the disorder. 

Italics mine.  This last sentence is worth filing away.  Again and again you will be told that specific, identifiable abormalities anatomically or physiologically, say, as seen on an imaging study, give us the cause of this or that condition.  But it just doesn't necessarily follow.

The Life and Soul of All Our Comforts

Owen on the ministry of the Spirit (from On Communion with God):

The life and soul of all our comforts lie treasured up in the promises of Christ.  They are the breasts of all our consolation.  Who knows not how powerless they are in the bare letter, even when improved to the uttermost by our considerations of them, and meditation on them?  As also how unnexpectedly they sometimes break upon the soul with a conquering, endearing life and vigor?  Here faith deals peculiarly with the Holy Ghost.  It considers the promises themselves; looks up to him, waits for him, considers his appearances in the word depended upon--owns him in his work and efficacy.  No sooner does the soul begin to feel the life of a promise warming his heart, relieving, cherishing, supporting, delivering from fear, entanglements, or troubles, but it may, it ought, to know that the Holy Ghost is there; which will add to his joy and lead him into fellowship with him.

Now this is the heart of all my joy, comfort, peace, and life in this mad hatter world.

The Spirit: The Third Person of the Triune God

Recently, in God's good providence, I've gotten to know fairly well a man who is a Jehovah's Witness.  And after speaking with him regularly for a number of weeks about Christianity, I'm more attuned to seeing crucial things in crucial passages of Scripture.  I'm noting awesome realities in my regular reading with greater sensitivity, things so easy to pass over.  Here's one from this morning's devotions:

"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as he wills" (1 Cor. 12:11).  Remembering, not forgetting (as always), the context, we read here of the grace-gifts that the Spirit apportions to believers.  And how does he do this?  He does this "just as he wills" or "even as he desires."  The personality of the Spirit is obviously in view.  Only persons exercise volition.  And as John Owen points out on this text, only a person can exercise the choice and judgement and freedom requisite for distributing variously to individuals according to good pleasure.  The Spirit's deity is also in view, for only one who is divine may distribute supernatural gifts sovereignly, that is, as he pleases.  So here, in one, short little text, we have the deity and personality of the Spirit, seated in a broader context that affirms that there is one God (8:6).  In the more immediate context, the deity of the Spirit and the unity of God are affirmed: it is "the same God who works all things in all" (12:6).  So unitarianism is out.  Tritheism is out.  Modalism is out.  And ten thousand other heresies. 

And since theology is indubitably for doxology: All praise be to the three-in-one and one-in-three God, Father, Son, and Spirit, who lives and reigns forever, one God, world without end. Amen!

I love the Bible.  It's so clear, so bright.  Hold fast to its plain teachings, and you'll never be led astray.

Lord of the Conscience

The Westminster Confession of Faith was produced in 1647.  Em and I have been reading it at dinner for a number of weeks now.  Chapter XX On Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience is one of my favorite chapters.  Section 2 begins with this marvelous clause: "God alone is Lord of the conscience. . . ."  We would do well always to take heed of this.  O sweet liberty!  Man would rule over the conscience, but he may not do so.  It's not his prerogative.  "God alone is Lord of the conscience."

No Cross, No Crown

Last Sunday's sermon at New Covenant Church was a call to a cruciform life.  Really, it was about basic discipleship, what it means to follow Jesus, what it means to be a Christian.  Pastor Doug O'Donnell is the preacher; the title is "No Cross, No Crown."  This is no-nonsense pulpit ministry, because (as Doug said in the sermon) the Bible is a no-nonsense book.

As a personal aside, I have been wrestling this week with why on earth I am studying Hebrew in an intensive class at Wheaton College, not least because I have to work two days a week during part of this (days off for the others; yes, self-pity is a daily temptation).  I realized that vain ambition can get me through a lot, but not Hebrew.  I'd sooner take my ease and enjoy the summer.  The cross alone has the power to kill my desires for ease and comfort and pleasure.  Only because I believe that the Lord Jesus has called me to embrace this am I afflicting myself with intensive Hebrew.  O blessed cross!  There I was crucified to the world of summer ease, and there the world of summer ease was crucified to me.  And Pastor O'Donnell's sermon has been a timely call for me to deny myself for the sake of handling God's holy Word with still greater care and fidelity.  Thank you, Lord, for the preached Word that calls me to die daily--for Messiah's sake!  The cross is all!

What is Calvinism?

Now here is a description of Calvinism with which I heartily agree:

It would not be correct simply to equate Calvinism with the 'five points'. . . .  Calvinism is something much broader than the 'five points' indicate.  Calvinism is a whole world-view, stemming from a clear vision of God as the whole world's Maker and King.  Calvinism is the consistent endeavor to acknowledge the Creator as the Lord, working all things after the counsel of his will.  Calvinism is a theocentric way of thinking about all life under the direction and control of God's own word.  Calvinism, in other words, is the theology of the Bible viewed from the perspective of the Bible--the God-centered outlook which sees the Creator as the source, and means, and end, of everything that is, both in nature and in grace.  Calvinism is thus theism (belief in God as the ground of all things), religion (dependence on God as the giver of all things), and evangelicalism (trust in God through Christ for all things), all in their purest and most highly developed form.  And Calvinism is a unified philosophy of history which sees the whole diversity of processes and events that take place in God's world as no more, and no less, than the outworking of his great preordained plan for his creatures and his church.  The five points assert no more than that God is sovereign in saving the individual, but Calvinism, as such, is concerned with the much broader assertion that he is sovereign everywhere.

J. I. Packer is the name, and theological packing it in is his game.  This one is from A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life.  And in this section of the book, Packer goes on to explain even further why the "five points" are inadequate in describing what Calvinism is.  Good stuff.  Do take up and read.

Christology and Soteriology Determine Ecclesiology

In the controversy between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, there are theological assumptions driving everything that are not often stated baldly.  In a recent sermon by Pastor Doug O'Donnell, he said something that encouraged some things that I've been pondering of late.  He stated something like this: Christology and soteriology precede and produce ecclesiology (not an exact quotation, but I think I have the substance right). 

In Roman Catholocism, ecclesiology (and specifically the offices of the Church) has priority and defines everything else. 

In Protestantism,  Christology and soteriology (the person and work of Christ) have priority and define everything else.

Which follows the biblical pattern?  Which is more foundational?  Oftentimes the debate proceeds as though historical theology and exegeting individual texts (particularly those that relate to the doctrine of the nature of the Church) alone can solve the controversy.  While exegesis is important, even essential and indispensible, of course, one must ask whether an appropriate method has been used, whether an apostolic way of proceeding has been undertaken.  Do the apostles themselves start with the Church in their thinking about Christianity?  Or do they and others think about the Church on account of Christ's person and work?

The same kind of question asked of the canon is relevent here.  Did the Church produce the canon, or did the canon produce the Church?  Answer: The canon produced the Church, of course.  Well, now, does the Gospel precede and produce the Church, or does the Church precede and produce the Gospel?  The answer should be obvious, and doubtless Rome would agree.  And the point then is that this is significant methodologically as the Church thinks about all doctrines, not least those of ecclesiology.  So if one gets the Gospel muddled, as Rome most certainly does, then necessarily ecclesiology will be muddled as well.

Christ Alone Gives the Spirit and All Grace

"Believers Look to Christ as the Dispenser of the Spirit and of All Grace."  This is the heading of a marvelous section in Owen's On Communion with God that addresses communion with the Son Jesus Christ.  Almost a definition of what it means to be a saint, here is what the saints do: they look upon Christ as the only dispenser of the Spirit and all grace for sanctification.  

Based upon a threefold lack, the risen Christ gives to his own the Spirit to dwell in them (as a pledge of the inheritance of the children of God); he imparts life to them in the Spirit (which habitually inclines to holiness); and he gives to them actual aid by the Spirit for every duty to which they are called (seasonable grace to help in time of need).  Then Owen asserts: 

In vain is help looked for from other mountains; in vain do men spend their strength in following after righteousness. . . .  Fix your soul here. . . . This is the way, the only way, to obtain full, effectual manifestations of the Spirit's dwelling in us; to have our hearts purified, our consciences purged, our sins mortified, our graces increased, our souls made humble, holy, zealous, believing--like to him; to have our lives fruitful, our deaths comfortable.  Let us herein abide, eyeing Christ by faith, to attain that measure of conformity to him that is allotted to us in this world, that when we shall see him as he is, we shall be like unto him.

Once again Owen provides the stuff of faith.  Evangelical holiness is what the Puritans called it.  Which I like a lot.  May the risen Lord Jesus be pleased to pour forth more of his Spirit upon his blood-bought bride, as we look to him in faith as the only source of the Spirit and of all grace.

Dancing in the Minefields

Em and I have really enjoyed this music video, especially the last portion where the old, married couples who've gone the distance are dancing.  (The fruit and joys of covenant commitment!)  It's called Dancing in the Minefields by Andrew Peterson.   I love it's biblical realism.  We live in a fallen, broken world, and we suffer from indwelling sin.  But it also seems a bit more pessimistic than is warranted by the Gospel and Scripture regarding sanctification possibilities, not least in a marriage. 

Em and I have been married almost three years now, and we wouldn't say that our marriage is a minefield.  We wouldn't quite put it that way.  The Word and Wisdom of God have kept us from the explosive folly of our own ways.  (Mind you, the Lord has not given us children yet.)  But each realizes that the other is a sinner in need of a Savior.  And with the Savior directing us in grace, we dance.  Oh how we're dancing together to the tune of the free grace of God.  Blessed be his great name!

Bible-Driven Calvinism

The evangelical wing of the Church in which I came to Christ--for which I never cease blessing God--by and large embraces Calvinism's soteriology.  But much of the evangelicalism with which I am familiar does not openly teach a full-orbed view of God's sovereignty with far-reaching scope. There are numerous exceptions.  For instance, Bethlehem Baptist Church, to name one.  Christ Church in Moscow Idaho also comes to mind.

In the course of my ordinary, daily Bible reading over the last ten years or so, repeatedly I've been shocked by text after text that boldy speaks of God's absolute sovereignty.  The texts are literally everywhere, and one notices them particularly in Old Testament narrative, where they are starkly set in daily life.  This one is from a recent assigned reading:

Judg. 9:23: "And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech. . . ."  Read the rest of the chapter, and note the strife, wreckage, and bloodshed that follow.  Of course God himself does not sin; don't be silly, we should say, and read the rest of the Bible.  But his sovereignty is absolute, and it embraces "evil" as well.

Among evangelicals who call themselves Calvinists, there is oftentimes a truncated view of God's sovereignty, which focuses chiefly on God's sovereignty in salvation, not everywhere.  And it's not so much that God's sovereignty is denied explicity.  It's denied functionally, from lack.  In a day of rampant functional deism, it would be salutary, in my estimation, for the full-orbed, robust, biblical atomosphere of God's total control to be set forth.  As for me and my house, in any case, God's absolute rule is beyond dispute, beyond precious.

The Israel of God

After my conversion about a dozen years ago, I read the Bible voraciously.  After graduating from college, I think I typically read carefully about 10-20 chapters a day for a number of years, initially getting up at 4:30 or so in the morning to fit it all in before starting work at 8:00.  As a newborn believer, I was reared in what could be called moderate dispensationalism, heavily influenced by John MacArthur (especially, I think, the earlier, less Calvinistic, John MacArthur). 

Well, to get to the point, in the course of my regular Bible reading over the first six or seven years or so, I continued bumping up against texts that rocked my world and jarred the inherited system.  My wife and I read some verses this morning that were part of the shaping and shifting that began some years ago.  I don't think I'll ever get over being stunned by these texts.  Here are just a couple from this morning, with brief commentary, from amid the dozens of similar texts strewn across the revelation of God.

Gal. 3:29:  "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise."  Those who belong to Jesus, and they alone, are the true children of Abraham and inherit God's promises to him.  National Israel and Jews detached from Jesus have no portion in this inheritance.  Apart from union with Christ, they remain children of the devil, as Christ himself taught, lost and dead in tresspasses and sins.

Death in His Grave

I recently purchased John Mark McMillan's new album The Medicine.  I really like the song "Death in His Grave."  Have a look and listen. Over at Justin Taylor's website some days ago it was posted with a high recommendation.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

William Cowper produced in 1774 what is probably my favorite hymn: God Moves in a Mysterious Way. It expresses the mysteries and glories of Providence, learned through real-life experience of God's all-wise Word and ways.

Cowper battled depression and despair almost all life long. He even spent considerable time in a mental institution. Believing while afflicted of soul, he wrote a number of poems and hymns, one of which has powerfully touched my soul.

So here I reproduce Cowper's hymn that surely is matter for mediation, that surely is the raw material of counseling. No one could go wrong getting it by heart. 

God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform;
he plants his footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
of never failing skill
he treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
the clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
but trust him for his grace,
behind a frowning providence
he hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding ev'ry hour;
the bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flow'r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
and he will make it plain.

Faced with suffering and loss, these words and others like them are what I want to hear again and again. My wife and I love the doctrine of providence. And we are learning to love and trust the infinitely trustworthy God who reigns supreme still more and more with each passing day as we stand in grace and exult in hope of the glory of God.

God is so wise, so good, so just. We eat and drink ten thousand providential mercies every day. There is no place we'd rather be than in the hands of this sovereign Lord, our heavenly Father, who never errs as he governs all things wisely and well—for his glory and our good. Bless his holy name.

The Power and Pleasure of the Word in the Local Church

Something a bit unusual occurred last Sunday.  At New Covenant Church in Naperville, since our senior pastor Doug O'Donnell fell ill, and was therefore unable to preach, we shifted and did something that we've never done before.  Pastor Andrew Fulton led our corporate time ordinarily reserved for a sermon by reading 2 Peter right through and then opening up a time for impromptu congregational insights and applications (since no one who had a voice had prepared a sermon). 

It seems the Word simply read, pondered, and straightaway applied was felt powerfully and movingly by God's people.  A rich and sweet time!  Many rank and file believers spoke feelingly and stirringly in response to Peter's second epistle.  I confess that what many said greatly encouraged my faith, not least because it came from about a dozen brothers and sisters who ordinarily don't publicly encourage the body.  May that good Word, and the good words in response to it, continue to bear fruit and multiply among us--for the sake of the Name in our midst, in Naperville, and to the ends of the earth!

As a caveat, this is not said at all (how can I stress this enough?) in deprecation of the preached Word by specially endowed ministers of that Word that is above all earthly powers.  Nothing can replace that.  Nothing.  Whatever.  Ever.  My view of preaching, and its indispensibility for the life and health of the local and global Church, is as high I hope as anyone's.  Preaching is the corporate high point of every week.  Nevertheless, it should be duly noted with gratitude: God was pleased, it seems, to bless the simple reading of his Word and our simple, untrained and unprepared response to it.  Bless his holy name!

Bible Meditation Amid Loose Women in the Checkout Aisle

At the last monthly New Covenant Church community chat, I spoke briefly about a men's ministry memorization effort that will shortly be underway.  The banner over the effort is Ps. 119:11: "Your Word, O LORD, have I treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against you!"  In order to motivate the men biblically, I gave four scriptural reasons why we should consider memorizing Scripture as a regular discipline.  All of these fall under the rubric of communion with God.  Briefly here they are in four Ds, along with some Scripture references: 

Delight  (Pss. 1:2; 19:10; 119:97; Jer. 15:6)
Desperation  (Psalms everywhere; e.g., Pss. 16:8; 130:1)
Dependence  (Jn. 15:5; Ps. 119:105)
Duty  (Mt. 28:18-20)

I spoke about how the men might go about the memory work, namely, by meditating as they go about their way each day--in the shower, while brushing teeth, on the treadmill, in the car, and so forth.  But I failed to mention another important time for meditating on the Word of God in the ordinary, ho-hum, humdrum, mundane of daily life: the checkout line.  I almost always do it there.  Of necessity.  (For all four reasons mentioned above.)  It's either that, pondering things above; or it's pondering things below, like loose women hanging out in magazine racks both sides of the aisle, breasts falling out of what I think is supposed to be clothing.

Spurgeon on God's Absolute Sovereingty

I first heard the quotation below on God's absolute sovereignty in a lecture that John Piper gave on C. H. Spurgeon in 1995 at Desiring God's Conference for Pastors: Charles Spurgeon: Preaching through Adversity.  It's one of my favorite Spurgeon quotes, and Justin Taylor recently reproduced it on his blog.  I record it here mainly for my own soul to return to again and again--because it's so good, so right, so true, so solid.

Charles Spurgeon on the absoluteness of God's sovereignty:

I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—
that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens—
that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses.
The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—
the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.

This is exactly what I believe.  And I believe, exactly what Scripture affirms.  Which is why I believe it.  For from him and through him and to him are all things--to him be the glory forever!  Amen! (Rom. 11:36).

Unholy Diversion

Section VIII of Pascal's Pensees, entitled "Diversion," includes these two profound sentences:

"Being unable to cure death, wretchedness and ignorance, men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things" (#133).

"I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room" (#136).

I poked around in this portion of the Pensees today, having recieved some stimulus over at Between Two Worlds to do so.  There is much in the Pensees to think about and heed for the modern American.  And I confess feeling much more at home with Pascal than with most Americans who are constantly worked into a dither about this and about that inconsequential distraction.  Perhaps you'll consider staying home in the quiet of your room to take up and meditate upon the Pensees by Pascal, especially the section on diversion.  But be prepared: to face your awful self, this awful world, and that awful world to come.

Faith and Obedience of a Piece

In chapter 2 of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, these two propositions are set forth: 1) "only he who believes is obedient," and 2) "only he who is obedient believes."  Bonhoffer then asserts what surely is in fact biblically the case:

It is quite unbiblical to hold the first proposition without the second.  We think we understand when we hear that obedience is possible only where there is faith.  Does not obedience follow faith as good fruit grows on a good tree?  First, faith, then obedience.  If by that we mean that it is faith which justifies, and not the act of obedience, all well and good, for that is the essential and unexeptionable presupposition of all that follows.  If, however, we make a chronological distinction between faith and obedience, and make obedience subsequent to faith, we are divorcing the one from the other--and then we get the practical question, when must obedience begin?  Obedience remains separated from faith.  From the point of view of justification it is necessary thus to separate them, but we must never lose sight of their essential unity.  For faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.

This all seems to be biblically sound stuff, except that last bit about faith only becoming faith in the act of obedience.  That sounds like obedience creates faith.  I don't find this in Scripture.  With many of the reformers, I believe that faith does have the priority.  Obedience always flows from faith, theo-logically, actually, necessarily.  But the rest of this quotation is undoubtedly dead on. 

I'm realizing that as Bonhoeffer says many useful and stirring things, he often overstates his case and lacks biblical nuance.  Nevertheless, the first 50 pages or so of The Cost of Discipleship would be healthy compulsory reading for the membership class in a local church, lest we give assurance to would-be disciples too soon.  With the invitation to come to Christ should also come the words of Lk. 14:28: "count the cost."  Otherwise we may simply be multiplying the spurious conversions in our churches.  And there is already too much of that.

The Call of the Sovereign Christ: Total Response

When the call to discipleship goes forth from the sovereign Christ, why must the response be immediate?  In chapter 2 of Bonhoeffer's The Call to Discipleship, this question is posed.  The answer:

Why?  For the simple reason that the cause behind the immediate following of call by response is Jesus Christ himself.  It is Jesus who calls, and because it is Jesus, Levi follows at once.  This encounter is a testimony to the absolute, direct, and unaccountable authority of Jesus.  There is no need of any preliminaries, and no other consequences but obedience to the call.  Because Jessus is the Christ, he has the authority to call and to demand obedience to his word.  Jesus summons men to follow him not as a teacher or a pattern of the good life, but as the Christ, the Son of God.  In this short text [Mk. 2:14] Jesus Christ and his claim are proclaimed to men.  Not a word of praise is given to the disciple for his decision for Christ.  We are not expected to contemplate the disciple, but only him who calls, and his absolute authority.

Have you heard his call?  Are you holding anything back?  Jesus is Lord of all.  Follow him.  Follow him unswervingly with spiritual abandon.

The Anointing of the Spirit

In 1 Sam. 16:13, the prophet Samuel anoints David:  "And the Spirit of YHWH rushed upon David from that day forward."  Under the Old Covenant, we read of anointing with oil in connection with the Spirit coming upon a man.  In the books of Samuel, Kings Saul and David are anointed by the prophet Samuel.  The Spirit then rushes upon them. 

Under the New Covenant, who is the prophet who anoints people for particular roles and ministries in the kingdom?  It is the Lord Jesus himself.  God, the Holy One, anoints with the Spirit through the mediator--who is the Prophet, Priest, and King.  See, for example, 1 Jn. 2:20, 27 (see also Jn. 14-16 and Luke-Acts).  And in this new world transformed with the New Covenant, all of God's people are anointed, not just prophets, priests, kings, and an Oholiab or Bezalel.

Costly Grace Crucifies Cheap Grace

What follows is an excerpt from Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship.  I think it sums up what he's on about in the book.  He provides a healthy corrective for our sinful tendency to abuse and mutilate grace beyond recognition.  In this part of chapter 1, he is speaking about those who abuse and distort the grace of God and justification by faith alone and turn it all into licentiousness.

The Christian life comes to mean nothing more than living in the world and as the world, in being no different from the world, in fact, in being prohibited from being different from the world for the sake of grace.  The upshot of it all is that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven.  I need no longer try to follow Christ, for cheap grace, the bitterest foe of discipleship, which true discipleship must loathe and detest, has freed me from that.  Grace as the data for our calculations means grace at the cheapest price, but grace as the answer to the sum means costly grace.  It is terrifying to realize what use can be made of a genuine evangelical doctrine.

Terrifying indeed.  God help us from embracing and holding out cheap grace.

Patriotic Pizzazz and American Flair

This youtube video Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration is too good to pass up.  Enjoy.  Em and I were jammin' to this over the holiday.

As an aside, watching Benjamin Franklin rockin' and rollin' creates quite an odd sensation in that historical part of my brain so prone to compartmentalize.

HT: Justin Taylor

Church Anatomy 101: The Hand Is not a Mouth

Two texts have been on my mind as I think about church body life. They have wide scope, I believe, but I want to point them up in relation to a couple of issues on my mind since, by God's gracious appointment and calling, I'm joined to a church plant in Naperville: New Covenant Church. 

First, the texts:

"The members do not all have the same function" (Rom. 12:4b).

"We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us" (Rom. 12:6a). 

Now these texts are part of a flow of thought. I don't want to obscure that. So what is in view in large measure is how the local Roman church (or churches) should think of herself as she, by the mercies of God, offers her bodies (plural) as a living and holy sacrifice (singular). Body life is on Paul's instructional agenda.  And, like a competent clinician, he knows how to distinguish anatomical structures, how to identify healthy physiology, medial from lateral, caudal from cephalid—for instance, the ear from the foot, and how each should function.

The Purifying Efficacy of Jesus' Blood

Still moving through Owen's On Communion with God, I am in the midst of a rich section that speaks of communion with the Lord Jesus in the grace of sanctification.  Here Owen addresses how "believers look to the purifying efficacy of Christ's blood" on account of his fullness in reference to their condition.  He cites texts like 1 John 1:7: "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."

This word in particular moves me this morning:

"One moment's communion with Christ by faith herein is more effectual to the purging of the soul, to the increasing of grace, than the utmost self-endeavors of a thousand ages."

Surely this is the stuff of walking by faith.

Just Do It: A Word for Procrastinators

No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow.  It is only when they are behind and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant.

Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us.  Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion with God.

If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once.  The only way to get rid of it is to do it.

--Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), Scottish preacher

(I like this, not profoundly, but I like it.  Add Piper's APTAT to it, and it's complete advice.)

A Mother's Mission Field

I've mentioned before, and I'll never tire of saying it, that I believe that the calling of being a mother is the greatest and highest calling on earth.  Perhaps you'll recognize in this conviction the description that Lloyd-Jones gave to preaching: the greatest and highest calling.  I think he was almost right.

Well, I've come across this brief article by Jani Ortlund: For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt, and Seasons of Life.  It's full of sober wisdom (which evangelicalism needs amid the short supply these days).  It's biblically balanced (a rare virtue among us). 

So often women with small children feel guilty that they are not more involved in "ministry."  Whatever they mean by "ministry," it's obvious that they don't think their children are a significant part of this.  Shameful.  Tragic.  And I fear that evangelical leadership oftentimes unwittingly fosters this in two ways: first, by regularly encouraging mothers to be more involved in "ministry" (usually this means programs); second, by not regularly encouraging mothers in their primary, God-given task of discipling their children for the sake of the Name among the nations in the next generation.  Please note well that I did not say: spending lots of "quality" family time together bowing before American idols.  Regarding that there is only one word: repent!  Yes, that's a problem.  So we should call families to keep themselves from idols.  But it does not follow that because some are idolaters when it comes to family that others should forget how God actually calls families to do family: God and his Word at the center, governing all of life. 

The Lord Jesus purchased with his blood families from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.  They belong to him.  He is Lord of all.  Yes, all includes the family.  Since we are so thick on this point: all means all, including the family.  Jesus wants mothers to disciple their children as their primary, God-given responsibility.  And exalt in this high and holy calling! 

HT: Justin Taylor (I still do not know what HT means, but as this seems to be the convention, so I use it.  If someone would be so merciful as to illuminate my benighted condition, I'd greatly appreciate it.)

Communion with the Lord Jesus in Grace

"In the receiving of grace from God, we have not communion with Christ, who is yet the treasury and storehouse of it, unless we look upon it as his purchase" (John Owen, On Communion with God).

To put this in plain English, we do not have fellowship with Jesus when seeking grace from God unless we embrace grace as the special effect of the death of Christ.  In fact, there should be no expectation of grace apart from seeking it through Christ. So whatever grace we seek, whatever grace we enjoy, whatever growth there is in grace, all of it should be considered as the fruit of the purchase of the Lord Jesus.  As we fix our minds and hearts on the Lord Jesus when we are seeking still more grace to press on in the fight of faith, then—and only then—do we hold fellowship with the Son in grace.

Grace flowing directly from heaven apart from Christ's purchase and intercession is a chimera.  There is no such thing.  And sadly we Christians can act as though Christ's purchase and intercession are not necessary for God to give us more grace.  (Just listen to how we sometimes pray.)  But it isn't so.  We don't hold communion with the Lord Jesus in grace unless we embrace all the grace that comes our way as the fruit of his purchase and ongoing intercessory work.

So, all faith seeking grace should eye the Lord Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us, who ever lives to make intercession for us.