One of the major obstacles to growth evangelical Christians face in our current culture is that we watch and listen more than we read. If you were given the choice today to listen or watch someone give a series of lectures or teaching sessions on a particular subject would you choose that over reading a book on the same subject? Most of our reading today is in bits and bites. We read an excerpt from a book or an article and we do it quickly because we have to move on to our next experience in our fast paced existence before it passes us by and we miss something.
In this article I want to not only suggest you take up reading but I want to suggest some books to read that will assist you in your growth as a child of God. When I encounter a person is not reading at all I will suggest that they begin with a small bit of time each day. If a person will set aside twenty minutes per day five days a week they will read around sixty pages a week and could therefore finish a 240 page book in one month. That is only twenty minutes out of twenty four hours each day. And even if you are a slower reader only reading eight to ten pages in twenty minutes you can still read the average book in a month. Just think that gives you the potential to read ten to twelve books a year. But it is not the number of books a year that is the goal. The goal is to grow up into maturity in Christ as a Christian reader. I think Christians should be reading all kinds of good and great books. But in this article I am focusing on books that will particularly assist you as a disciple of Christ in learning how to think biblically about the Christian life.
I first recommend the Bible. I would suggest getting an ESV Study Bible or the Geneva Study Bible in ESV. These two Bibles are helpful not only in there accurate translation of the original texts from which we have the Bible today. But they are also helpful in the use of their study helps. There are many different methods for reading the Bible but I would choose one that allows you to read through the Bible in a year. Use this practice privately and engage your family in it publically. The Bible is the Word of God breathed out to us that we may know him, his salvation and his will for our lives. Make it a regular practice of reading the Scriptures before you read any other book about the Scriptures. “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”
Second there are many books that are helpful in understanding the gospel and the Christian life. I would recommend “The Christian Life” by Sinclair Ferguson. In this book Dr. Ferguson covers in a succinct manner the major doctrines of the Christian life. John Stott’s book, “Basic Christianity” is a very helpful book for understanding the gospel. I would also recommend his work, “The Cross of Christ”. There are not many books written as clearly on the centrality of the cross to all of life as this one. C.J. Mahaney has written a short book that is very helpful entitled, “Living the Cross Centered Life”. In this book he helps the reader live with an understanding of our need for the grace of God through the cross of Christ in all things. Two books that God has used in helping me understand the Christian life as an everyday disciple of Christ are John Piper’s “Desiring God” and “When I Don’t Desire God” . Three classic works that I would mention in understanding the Christian life would be, Jonathan Edwards “Religious Affections”, Richard Sibbes “The Bruised Reed” and Jeremiah Burrows “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.”
Third there are several books I would recommend with more emphasis in theology and history. There are three important books by R.C. Sproul, “The Holiness of God”, “Knowing Scripture” and “Chosen by God”. An important book in understanding God’s work of salvation in our lives is John Murray’s “Redemption, Accomplished and Applied.” This book assist you in seeing the order of God’s salvific work in our lives. The Westminster Confession of Faith and John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion” are helpful in a systematic approach to theology as well as a more contemporary work, “Systematic Theology” by Wayne Grudem. A simple but helpful book on doctrine and theology is “Know the Truth” by Bruce Milne. Two books on church history I would recommend are “Sketches in Church History” by Houghton and “The Story of Christianity” by Gonzalaz.
This is a brief list of some books I think will be helpful as you seek to grow into maturity as a Christian. I hope that we will soon have a page on our church website that is dedicated to recommended books and book reviews. C.S. Lewis said, “We read to know we are not alone.” God has given to his church a community of saints to build her up into maturity in Christ and when we listen to the voices and thoughts of his community we grow into maturity in the context of knowing you are not alone. You can stand on the shoulders of others to be helped in understanding more of the glory God has revealed about himself. Tolle lege. Take up and read.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Vow Church
"Go where you are sent, stay where you're put, and do what you're asked." Major Ian Thomas
I stood facing my wife 21 years ago with her hands in my hands promising “to love and to cherish her till death do us part.” I was taking a vow to love my wife as Christ loved the church (Eph.5:25), and that vow before God and man was to be expressed in a daily life of the activity of love to Noelle. Now I have the privilege of standing before God and man to lead them through the taking of vows into meaningful loving relationships in the covenant of marriage. But I also have the same privilege in leading those professing faith in Christ through vows into the covenant of church membership.
As those who have professed faith in Christ come before the congregation of saints in the particular church at Redeemer Presbyterian they are charged to assent to the following vows acknowledging that they are making declarations and promises in a solemn covenant before God and his church:
1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?
4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?
5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?
God by his providence has placed each person and family in this particular congregation of saints, and through these vows is calling them to live in the daily activity of love. It is as though God is saying, “Do you promise to love and cherish my church in the daily activity of your life as I have placed you here by my sovereign will and pleasure?” In the taking of these vows the church member is not merely promising to show up each week to be entertained or soothed by familiar relationships, but to live in the activity of love toward God’s church.
Living as a vow keeping church is our privilege. God has gifted each of his children with money, natural and spiritual gifts, relationships, time, possessions and prayer. It is through all of these that we can actively plan to love his church in the keeping of vows. Jesus teaches us to give. He says, “When you give” (Mt.6:2) not “If you give.” He has ascended into heaven and given gifts to men that the church through the loving use of those gifts we may become mature in Christ (Eph.4:10-16). He has given us one another that we may live in a “one anothering” manner in love. This love may be expressed in encouragement, exhortation, example, correction, rebuke, restoration and confrontation. We are to love in wisdom making the best use of the time (Eph.5:16). We can love with what he has given us through hospitality even when our homes are a mess or our children are young. And we are to love through praying for one another and the church and her ministries. The church is not a mall where there is something for everyone. It is not a theater with 10 different movies showing where we seek our own particular choice of entertainment. The church is the visible body of Christ and his treasured possession expressing love in the keeping of vows. Therefore the church is a visible picture of the cross of Christ. It is at the cross that God demonstrates his love to us while we were sinners justly deserving his wrath and displeasure. It is at the cross that we see God’s covenant keeping love secured and exercised toward all those for whom Christ died. Therefore the church takes her vows before God in the shadow of the cross where they promise to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters in love in the avenues of worship and work for the glory of God in his church.
The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.” (Eccl.5:4) The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and the fool says in his heart there is no God (Pr.1:7; Ps.14:1). Therefore those who take vows must do so before God, with the right knowledge of God and the vow they take lest they be fools in whom God takes no pleasure. A vow keeping church goes where she is sent in his providence, stays where she is put to keep those vows and does what she is asked in a life of love to God and his church.
I stood facing my wife 21 years ago with her hands in my hands promising “to love and to cherish her till death do us part.” I was taking a vow to love my wife as Christ loved the church (Eph.5:25), and that vow before God and man was to be expressed in a daily life of the activity of love to Noelle. Now I have the privilege of standing before God and man to lead them through the taking of vows into meaningful loving relationships in the covenant of marriage. But I also have the same privilege in leading those professing faith in Christ through vows into the covenant of church membership.
As those who have professed faith in Christ come before the congregation of saints in the particular church at Redeemer Presbyterian they are charged to assent to the following vows acknowledging that they are making declarations and promises in a solemn covenant before God and his church:
1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?
4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?
5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?
God by his providence has placed each person and family in this particular congregation of saints, and through these vows is calling them to live in the daily activity of love. It is as though God is saying, “Do you promise to love and cherish my church in the daily activity of your life as I have placed you here by my sovereign will and pleasure?” In the taking of these vows the church member is not merely promising to show up each week to be entertained or soothed by familiar relationships, but to live in the activity of love toward God’s church.
Living as a vow keeping church is our privilege. God has gifted each of his children with money, natural and spiritual gifts, relationships, time, possessions and prayer. It is through all of these that we can actively plan to love his church in the keeping of vows. Jesus teaches us to give. He says, “When you give” (Mt.6:2) not “If you give.” He has ascended into heaven and given gifts to men that the church through the loving use of those gifts we may become mature in Christ (Eph.4:10-16). He has given us one another that we may live in a “one anothering” manner in love. This love may be expressed in encouragement, exhortation, example, correction, rebuke, restoration and confrontation. We are to love in wisdom making the best use of the time (Eph.5:16). We can love with what he has given us through hospitality even when our homes are a mess or our children are young. And we are to love through praying for one another and the church and her ministries. The church is not a mall where there is something for everyone. It is not a theater with 10 different movies showing where we seek our own particular choice of entertainment. The church is the visible body of Christ and his treasured possession expressing love in the keeping of vows. Therefore the church is a visible picture of the cross of Christ. It is at the cross that God demonstrates his love to us while we were sinners justly deserving his wrath and displeasure. It is at the cross that we see God’s covenant keeping love secured and exercised toward all those for whom Christ died. Therefore the church takes her vows before God in the shadow of the cross where they promise to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters in love in the avenues of worship and work for the glory of God in his church.
The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.” (Eccl.5:4) The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and the fool says in his heart there is no God (Pr.1:7; Ps.14:1). Therefore those who take vows must do so before God, with the right knowledge of God and the vow they take lest they be fools in whom God takes no pleasure. A vow keeping church goes where she is sent in his providence, stays where she is put to keep those vows and does what she is asked in a life of love to God and his church.
Word Church
"Go where you are sent, stay where you're put, and do what you're asked." Major Ian Thomas
We often do not stay where we are put and do what we are asked because of the trials we face where we are sent. We tend to think that we are meant for more glory in the present than the trials allow and we must go searching until we find that glory or escape the trials that are keeping us from a realized glory in the present. Like Israel we groan to be free from slavery in Egypt and after we are set free into trials we groan for the glory of leeks and melons that were found back in bondage. And yet there is nothing wrong with a yearning for glory. It is the reality of being an image bearer of the all glorious God who is himself the essence of glory. But as broken image bearers we are confused how that glory we long for is actually fulfilled to us.
In Deuteronomy 8:3 we are taught that man does not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul tells us that the Word of God is his breathed out word. Therefore that which we are meant to live upon is the Scriptures. But what we often miss in the Deuteronomy passage is what God tells his people precedes finding out that the Word of God is the true food. He tells us there that he humbled them bringing trials upon them so that they would know that we do not live on bread alone. It is the trials that lead God’s people to his Word where they find that in the midst of unattained glory in trial God is the all satisfying and sufficient God who reveals himself to his people as the true food. Therefore trials bring us to God’s means of giving himself to us in all his glory through his word. The glory we long for as the image bearers of God is really the glory of our Creator and Redeemer and he reveals himself to us in his Word in the midst of trials. Therefore if where we are sent and put brings us into trials it is so that we may learn to do what is asked, holding fast to the Word of God and finding the all glorious God feeding us through the means of his Word. But in these days of modernity where relativism and experiencing God through self fulfilled means rules the day we need to be reminded of why we can stay put on the Scriptures.
Steven Lawson addressed this issue at this years Ligonier Conference in Orlando by giving ten reason why he as an evangelical Christian is persuaded the Bible is the Word of God. Here the following ten reasons: The Bible’s Direct Claims, Perfect Unity, Reliable Transmission, Historical Accuracy, Scientific Accuracy, Fulfilled Prophecies, Jesus Christ’s Testimony to the Bible, Amazing Indestructibility, Ethical Superiority, and the Bibles Supernatural Power. You can listen to his excellent message online at ligonier.org.
The Bible is God’s sole source of authority in the life of the church. Christ rules over us through his Word and by the Spirit. Therefore we must hold fast to the Scriptures alone in the midst of the trials of this life as he brings us through a life of redemption until we are glorified with him. Learn to read, study and memorize God’s Word. Prayerfully hear it preached and taught as you draw near to God by faith as he speaks to you in His Word. This is our foundation for going where we are sent, staying where we are put and doing what we are asked. I pray we will be a church of the Word.
We often do not stay where we are put and do what we are asked because of the trials we face where we are sent. We tend to think that we are meant for more glory in the present than the trials allow and we must go searching until we find that glory or escape the trials that are keeping us from a realized glory in the present. Like Israel we groan to be free from slavery in Egypt and after we are set free into trials we groan for the glory of leeks and melons that were found back in bondage. And yet there is nothing wrong with a yearning for glory. It is the reality of being an image bearer of the all glorious God who is himself the essence of glory. But as broken image bearers we are confused how that glory we long for is actually fulfilled to us.
In Deuteronomy 8:3 we are taught that man does not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul tells us that the Word of God is his breathed out word. Therefore that which we are meant to live upon is the Scriptures. But what we often miss in the Deuteronomy passage is what God tells his people precedes finding out that the Word of God is the true food. He tells us there that he humbled them bringing trials upon them so that they would know that we do not live on bread alone. It is the trials that lead God’s people to his Word where they find that in the midst of unattained glory in trial God is the all satisfying and sufficient God who reveals himself to his people as the true food. Therefore trials bring us to God’s means of giving himself to us in all his glory through his word. The glory we long for as the image bearers of God is really the glory of our Creator and Redeemer and he reveals himself to us in his Word in the midst of trials. Therefore if where we are sent and put brings us into trials it is so that we may learn to do what is asked, holding fast to the Word of God and finding the all glorious God feeding us through the means of his Word. But in these days of modernity where relativism and experiencing God through self fulfilled means rules the day we need to be reminded of why we can stay put on the Scriptures.
Steven Lawson addressed this issue at this years Ligonier Conference in Orlando by giving ten reason why he as an evangelical Christian is persuaded the Bible is the Word of God. Here the following ten reasons: The Bible’s Direct Claims, Perfect Unity, Reliable Transmission, Historical Accuracy, Scientific Accuracy, Fulfilled Prophecies, Jesus Christ’s Testimony to the Bible, Amazing Indestructibility, Ethical Superiority, and the Bibles Supernatural Power. You can listen to his excellent message online at ligonier.org.
The Bible is God’s sole source of authority in the life of the church. Christ rules over us through his Word and by the Spirit. Therefore we must hold fast to the Scriptures alone in the midst of the trials of this life as he brings us through a life of redemption until we are glorified with him. Learn to read, study and memorize God’s Word. Prayerfully hear it preached and taught as you draw near to God by faith as he speaks to you in His Word. This is our foundation for going where we are sent, staying where we are put and doing what we are asked. I pray we will be a church of the Word.
Community Church
"Go where you are sent, stay where you're put, and do what you're asked." Major Ian Thomas
Pastor Alistair Begg was last year preaching in Peru at a Wycliff Bible Translators conference where he heard a gentleman speak who was retiring after spending 56 years in the jungles and mountains of Peru translating the Scriptures for Peruvian tribal peoples. Alistair sought him out to glean what he could from him and it was during this time that this enduring member of God’s kingdom gave him this bit of wisdom that Major Ian Thomas had shared with him many years ago, “Go where you are sent, stay where you’re put, and do what you’re asked.”
I heard this a week ago and have already shared it on numerous occasions with a number of people. It is a truth that needs to resound in the ears of a transient culture that is always looking for more or the next thing that is going to bring more significance to their own personal lives. I would like to use this truth over the next several weeks as it applies to the church in several important areas.
The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to his own as the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and forms them as a particular community. He is the Shepherd who speaks to his sheep and they hear his voice and follow him being kept safe from the enemy. These words come to the Israelites in John 10 and relate to them the relationship of the Father and the Son and the relationship then that they have as his covenant people called into a loving and protected community as his own. And in the midst of these words to Israel he speaks of the Gentiles also saying, “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn.10:16). Here his covenant reach goes beyond Israel to the nations, peoples, and tongues outside of Judah and Galilee and he promises they will hear his voice and come and be one with him. The reach goes out and draws in to make one people as he and the Father are one. His reach is one that forms community. His reach goes out to his treasured possession, a people of his own choosing whom he makes his own royal priesthood and holy nation from Jew and Gentile, slave and free, man and woman, child and adult from all kinds of people. His choosing, his call, his redemption, his keeping is to make for himself one people from many who live in covenant with himself through his triune nature and in community with one another.
The church’s community is a reflection of the nature and character of the Godhead as she learns to live in the reality of redemption toward restoration in relationships of love. The church will manifest that she belongs to the good shepherd when she, as adults and their children, do not lay claim to their own rights, but love one another as we have been and are being loved in Christ Jesus. In community will be a welcoming and unifying love around God’s truth and exercised in the fruits of the Spirit toward one another where we are all being built up and reaching toward the unity and maturity of faith in Christ Jesus.
But where does this occur? This occurs where we are sent and put to do what God asks us to do. If you are presently at RPC God has sent you here and put you here to do what he has asked of you, live in community reflecting his glory in the earth through love. This summer there are a number of ways this kind of community is fostered at RPC. Each Sunday there is Sunday School at 9:00 am. There are classes for children up to 12 years of age and there is one multigenerational class for all others. Following Sunday School is morning worship and evening worship at 10:15 and 5:15. Community is fostered here as we seek to worship God in Spirit and in truth together as his body and not as individuals seeking to be entertained by the music or wowed by a slick communicator. The third Sunday of June, July and August will be a time for us to gather together around a meal following morning worship. After having participated in the bread and wine of communion we will then break bread around the tables together as we seek to love one another in community. Wednesday nights is another time for us to build community this summer. Each Wednesday night you either have the opportunity to join your shepherding group in ministering at Fairhaven Assisted Living Home or in preparing a meal for our Wednesday Night Supper and Bible Study at the church.
All of these are excellent opportunities to participate in the community and the building of community at RPC. I encourage you to go where you are sent, stay where you are put and do what you are asked. If you cave into the culture of individuality where the church is a part of your life to satisfy self and do not participate in the community that you have been sent and put into then the inevitable result will be your own discord, division and disunity with the body at RPC. Therefore you have been sent to RPC and put at RPC and you are being asked by God to live in love in Christ as the community of the triune God at RPC. What a joy to share together as those who are broken in the redemptive and restorative work of grace that takes place through the body of Christ as we love one another. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1Jn.4:7).
I would encourage you to spend 20 – 30 minuets this week reading and studying the Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 26 Of the Communion of Saints. This is a tested doctrinal explanation of what it means to live as God’s church toward one another in community. As you read pray that God would cause his church to live by his Spirit in this way and use this to examine your own heart in regard to how you may need to apply this truth to your own life as you live by faith in Christ through his grace.
Pastor Alistair Begg was last year preaching in Peru at a Wycliff Bible Translators conference where he heard a gentleman speak who was retiring after spending 56 years in the jungles and mountains of Peru translating the Scriptures for Peruvian tribal peoples. Alistair sought him out to glean what he could from him and it was during this time that this enduring member of God’s kingdom gave him this bit of wisdom that Major Ian Thomas had shared with him many years ago, “Go where you are sent, stay where you’re put, and do what you’re asked.”
I heard this a week ago and have already shared it on numerous occasions with a number of people. It is a truth that needs to resound in the ears of a transient culture that is always looking for more or the next thing that is going to bring more significance to their own personal lives. I would like to use this truth over the next several weeks as it applies to the church in several important areas.
The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to his own as the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and forms them as a particular community. He is the Shepherd who speaks to his sheep and they hear his voice and follow him being kept safe from the enemy. These words come to the Israelites in John 10 and relate to them the relationship of the Father and the Son and the relationship then that they have as his covenant people called into a loving and protected community as his own. And in the midst of these words to Israel he speaks of the Gentiles also saying, “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn.10:16). Here his covenant reach goes beyond Israel to the nations, peoples, and tongues outside of Judah and Galilee and he promises they will hear his voice and come and be one with him. The reach goes out and draws in to make one people as he and the Father are one. His reach is one that forms community. His reach goes out to his treasured possession, a people of his own choosing whom he makes his own royal priesthood and holy nation from Jew and Gentile, slave and free, man and woman, child and adult from all kinds of people. His choosing, his call, his redemption, his keeping is to make for himself one people from many who live in covenant with himself through his triune nature and in community with one another.
The church’s community is a reflection of the nature and character of the Godhead as she learns to live in the reality of redemption toward restoration in relationships of love. The church will manifest that she belongs to the good shepherd when she, as adults and their children, do not lay claim to their own rights, but love one another as we have been and are being loved in Christ Jesus. In community will be a welcoming and unifying love around God’s truth and exercised in the fruits of the Spirit toward one another where we are all being built up and reaching toward the unity and maturity of faith in Christ Jesus.
But where does this occur? This occurs where we are sent and put to do what God asks us to do. If you are presently at RPC God has sent you here and put you here to do what he has asked of you, live in community reflecting his glory in the earth through love. This summer there are a number of ways this kind of community is fostered at RPC. Each Sunday there is Sunday School at 9:00 am. There are classes for children up to 12 years of age and there is one multigenerational class for all others. Following Sunday School is morning worship and evening worship at 10:15 and 5:15. Community is fostered here as we seek to worship God in Spirit and in truth together as his body and not as individuals seeking to be entertained by the music or wowed by a slick communicator. The third Sunday of June, July and August will be a time for us to gather together around a meal following morning worship. After having participated in the bread and wine of communion we will then break bread around the tables together as we seek to love one another in community. Wednesday nights is another time for us to build community this summer. Each Wednesday night you either have the opportunity to join your shepherding group in ministering at Fairhaven Assisted Living Home or in preparing a meal for our Wednesday Night Supper and Bible Study at the church.
All of these are excellent opportunities to participate in the community and the building of community at RPC. I encourage you to go where you are sent, stay where you are put and do what you are asked. If you cave into the culture of individuality where the church is a part of your life to satisfy self and do not participate in the community that you have been sent and put into then the inevitable result will be your own discord, division and disunity with the body at RPC. Therefore you have been sent to RPC and put at RPC and you are being asked by God to live in love in Christ as the community of the triune God at RPC. What a joy to share together as those who are broken in the redemptive and restorative work of grace that takes place through the body of Christ as we love one another. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1Jn.4:7).
I would encourage you to spend 20 – 30 minuets this week reading and studying the Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 26 Of the Communion of Saints. This is a tested doctrinal explanation of what it means to live as God’s church toward one another in community. As you read pray that God would cause his church to live by his Spirit in this way and use this to examine your own heart in regard to how you may need to apply this truth to your own life as you live by faith in Christ through his grace.
Pride, A Public Enemy
In my current studies in 1 Corinthians I am in the middle of dealing with the first problem Paul addresses in the church at Corinth, division in the body of Christ. In wrestling with the text I believe that the root of the division that Paul is addressing is found in spiritual pride. And it appears that this issue of pride is the root that runs throughout the various problems that the church faces. Without appearing to simplistic I am speaking simplistically in appealing to the present church that spiritual pride is a great enemy to the church founded upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The first and worst cause of errors that abound in our day and age is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.”
Pride was the first enemy to enter the garden and it will be the last enemy to be put under the feet of Jesus. Therefore the remedy to such pride is at the cross of Christ. Pride is displayed as a public enemy at the cross of Christ, and pride is put to death at the cross of Christ. The church sees at the cross our pride on display in the horrific death of Christ as he became a substitutionary atoning sacrifice crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?.” For all his own who would live in pride before the living God Christ became sin for them that they may be redeemed by his blood As the writer of Proverbs says, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (Prov. 16:5). Therefore what do we see at the cross but the punishment of God upon our dying Savior in the place of prideful sinners. For the “apes of Satan” (Thomas Brooks) who follow him as the prince of the power of the air who is at work in the sons of disobedience Jesus bled and died. It is at the cross where we see the horrors of pride. But it is at the cross where all spiritual pride is laid in the dust. Because there in the gospel of God at the cross we find all boasting is laid at his throne where our salvation from him rests in our union with Christ, as Paul tells the Corinthian church, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31) The church is meant for boasting but the boasting is in God who is for them everything they need in Christ Jesus. And it is this certainty that should lay all spiritual pride in the church to rest.
We must beware of all spiritual pride that will destroy the church of God. We must be sensitive to it’s symptoms and quick to remedy it before it’s spreading influence contaminates the whole body. I suggest you follow this link (http://www.bibleteacher.org/jedw_19.htm) to an article from Jonathan Edwards as an important bit of reading on this subject. May God grant us the grace to see spiritual pride being put to death daily in the church at Redeemer and all our boasting to be in God who is everything for us in Jesus Christ.
Pride was the first enemy to enter the garden and it will be the last enemy to be put under the feet of Jesus. Therefore the remedy to such pride is at the cross of Christ. Pride is displayed as a public enemy at the cross of Christ, and pride is put to death at the cross of Christ. The church sees at the cross our pride on display in the horrific death of Christ as he became a substitutionary atoning sacrifice crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?.” For all his own who would live in pride before the living God Christ became sin for them that they may be redeemed by his blood As the writer of Proverbs says, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (Prov. 16:5). Therefore what do we see at the cross but the punishment of God upon our dying Savior in the place of prideful sinners. For the “apes of Satan” (Thomas Brooks) who follow him as the prince of the power of the air who is at work in the sons of disobedience Jesus bled and died. It is at the cross where we see the horrors of pride. But it is at the cross where all spiritual pride is laid in the dust. Because there in the gospel of God at the cross we find all boasting is laid at his throne where our salvation from him rests in our union with Christ, as Paul tells the Corinthian church, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31) The church is meant for boasting but the boasting is in God who is for them everything they need in Christ Jesus. And it is this certainty that should lay all spiritual pride in the church to rest.
We must beware of all spiritual pride that will destroy the church of God. We must be sensitive to it’s symptoms and quick to remedy it before it’s spreading influence contaminates the whole body. I suggest you follow this link (http://www.bibleteacher.org/jedw_19.htm) to an article from Jonathan Edwards as an important bit of reading on this subject. May God grant us the grace to see spiritual pride being put to death daily in the church at Redeemer and all our boasting to be in God who is everything for us in Jesus Christ.
Humility, An Unnoticed Neighbor
“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” - 1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31
The person who thinks himself humble is the model of pride, and the person that others say of, “He is humble” is the man full of pride wanting to be thought of as humble. The person who is humble is the one who is not thinking of himself at all and therefore not causing you to think of him either unless by envy. The humble person is free for the enjoyment of God and the happiness of his creatures. He sees his life as drop of water flowing from a long mountain spring. He knows apart from that spring he is nothing and the direction of his life is originated and carried by the spring. However he is only an insignificant drop in the stream to reflect the spring’s glory. Those who experience the refreshment of the stream, who see beauty reflected in its properties, who benefit from it abundance, power or gentleness, do not notice or acknowledge the drop or even enjoy the drop. And the drop is okay with that. “Humility is of the essence of the "new creature." (Thomas Brooks)
The way to humility is through the doorway that leads to a house of mirrors where we acknowledge that we really are proud. When we are lead through that doorway and look in the mirrors and only see others sins then we are delusional. But where the grace and mercy of God is given the horrors of our pride are seen in our lives and the effects our prideful hearts have had on others. “We learn humility by a deep discovery of what we are; by an opening up of the corruption, the weakness, the wickedness, of our fallen nature.” (J.C. Philpot) But in his grace he does not leave his own just inside the doorway in a horrific room of mirrors. He leads us beyond the mirrors to the cross, the place of humiliation and our path of humility. Jesus went the way of humility to the place of exaltation that we may go with him in the way of the cross to the realm of glorification. At the cross we see our sin being punished horrifically in the body of Christ as he suffers the wrath of God. And at that cross is made the promise to all who trust in him as a sin bearing Savior, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Yet we remain, put into Christ and he has become to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and glorification that we may take up our cross and follow him as he leads us to paradise. And all our excellencies are in Christ and belong to Christ and so we boast in Christ and him crucified for he has rescued us from the horrors of pride and misery and death. And his mind has become our mind because we are in union with him and have fellowship with him through the Spirit, and the fruit he bears in us is humility. In this we live for the love of God and his creatures as drops in a stream flowing from the Spring.
Listen to John Flavel (1627 – 1691) the English Presbyterian minister as he brings us to humility through Christ, “All our excellencies are borrowed excellencies. Therefore there is no reason to be proud of any of them. What infallible insolence and vanity would it be for a man who wears the rich and costly robe of Christ’s righteousness, in which there is not one thread of his own spinning but all made by free grace and not by free will to jet proudly up and down the world in it, as if he himself had made it and he were beholden to none for it. O man thine excellencies whatever they are, are borrowed from Christ. They oblige thee to him that he can no more be obliged to him who wearest them than the sun is obliged to him that borrows its light or the fountain to him that draws its water for its use and benefit. Well then let the sense of your own emptiness by nature humble and oblige you the more to Christ.” (John Flavel 1627 – 1691). And the Apostle Peter as he commands humility, threatens the proud and encourages the humble, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5) May God grant us grace for the humility of Christ in his body at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
The person who thinks himself humble is the model of pride, and the person that others say of, “He is humble” is the man full of pride wanting to be thought of as humble. The person who is humble is the one who is not thinking of himself at all and therefore not causing you to think of him either unless by envy. The humble person is free for the enjoyment of God and the happiness of his creatures. He sees his life as drop of water flowing from a long mountain spring. He knows apart from that spring he is nothing and the direction of his life is originated and carried by the spring. However he is only an insignificant drop in the stream to reflect the spring’s glory. Those who experience the refreshment of the stream, who see beauty reflected in its properties, who benefit from it abundance, power or gentleness, do not notice or acknowledge the drop or even enjoy the drop. And the drop is okay with that. “Humility is of the essence of the "new creature." (Thomas Brooks)
The way to humility is through the doorway that leads to a house of mirrors where we acknowledge that we really are proud. When we are lead through that doorway and look in the mirrors and only see others sins then we are delusional. But where the grace and mercy of God is given the horrors of our pride are seen in our lives and the effects our prideful hearts have had on others. “We learn humility by a deep discovery of what we are; by an opening up of the corruption, the weakness, the wickedness, of our fallen nature.” (J.C. Philpot) But in his grace he does not leave his own just inside the doorway in a horrific room of mirrors. He leads us beyond the mirrors to the cross, the place of humiliation and our path of humility. Jesus went the way of humility to the place of exaltation that we may go with him in the way of the cross to the realm of glorification. At the cross we see our sin being punished horrifically in the body of Christ as he suffers the wrath of God. And at that cross is made the promise to all who trust in him as a sin bearing Savior, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Yet we remain, put into Christ and he has become to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and glorification that we may take up our cross and follow him as he leads us to paradise. And all our excellencies are in Christ and belong to Christ and so we boast in Christ and him crucified for he has rescued us from the horrors of pride and misery and death. And his mind has become our mind because we are in union with him and have fellowship with him through the Spirit, and the fruit he bears in us is humility. In this we live for the love of God and his creatures as drops in a stream flowing from the Spring.
Listen to John Flavel (1627 – 1691) the English Presbyterian minister as he brings us to humility through Christ, “All our excellencies are borrowed excellencies. Therefore there is no reason to be proud of any of them. What infallible insolence and vanity would it be for a man who wears the rich and costly robe of Christ’s righteousness, in which there is not one thread of his own spinning but all made by free grace and not by free will to jet proudly up and down the world in it, as if he himself had made it and he were beholden to none for it. O man thine excellencies whatever they are, are borrowed from Christ. They oblige thee to him that he can no more be obliged to him who wearest them than the sun is obliged to him that borrows its light or the fountain to him that draws its water for its use and benefit. Well then let the sense of your own emptiness by nature humble and oblige you the more to Christ.” (John Flavel 1627 – 1691). And the Apostle Peter as he commands humility, threatens the proud and encourages the humble, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5) May God grant us grace for the humility of Christ in his body at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
It Takes Two: Justification & Sanctification
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, - 1Corinthians 1:30
There is often much confusion when talking about justification and sanctification. In this verse Paul is reminding the church at Corinth that there is no room for a self sufficient boasting as they have received in Christ Jesus both justification and sanctification. In telling them in Christ they have received righteousness he is reminding them that there acceptance before God is in the atoning death of Christ for sins and in his perfect righteous life imputed to them in Christ. But Paul goes on to tell them that Christ is their sanctification. He is reminding them that in themselves they are unholy but now in Christ they have been brought to life in the holiness of Jesus for a life of love to God. So often in the church we get these two doctrines, justification and sanctification, confused and begin to believe they are one or our acceptance before God rests in our holiness or because we are accepted by God through faith in Christ righteousness our holiness does not matter.
In thinking through this important matter I was reading John Calvin’s New Testament Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. The following comments he makes on this particular verse in discussing Paul’s calling Christ their sanctification. Beware because what he says in his third sentence is rather startling to those who believe with him that the church stands or falls on the doctrine of justification! Calvin says,
“Paul calls him our Sanctification. He means by that, that we, who are in ourselves unholy by nature, are born again by His Spirit into holiness, that we may serve God. From this we also gather that we cannot be justified freely by faith alone, if we do not at the same time live in holiness. For those gifts of grace go together as if tied by an inseparable bond, so that if any one tries to separate them, he is, in a sense, tearing Christ to pieces. Accordingly, let the man who aims at being justified by God’s free goodness through Christ take note that this cannot possibly be done, unless at the same time he lays hold of Him for sanctification; in other words he must be born anew by His Spirit to blamelessness and purity of life. Men find fault with us, because in preaching the free righteousness of faith, we seem to be calling men away from good works. But his passage clearly refutes them, by showing that faith lays hold of regeneration just as much as forgiveness of sins in Christ. On the other hand notice that while those offices of Christ are united, they are yet distinguishable from each other. Therefore we are not at liberty, indeed it would be wrong, to confuse what Paul expressly separates.”
Therefore let us come near to God by faith in Christ Jesus for his justifying grace, and may that faith work through love in the sanctifying grace of Jesus for his glory. It takes two, justification and sanctification, to walk with Jesus in his redemption.
There is often much confusion when talking about justification and sanctification. In this verse Paul is reminding the church at Corinth that there is no room for a self sufficient boasting as they have received in Christ Jesus both justification and sanctification. In telling them in Christ they have received righteousness he is reminding them that there acceptance before God is in the atoning death of Christ for sins and in his perfect righteous life imputed to them in Christ. But Paul goes on to tell them that Christ is their sanctification. He is reminding them that in themselves they are unholy but now in Christ they have been brought to life in the holiness of Jesus for a life of love to God. So often in the church we get these two doctrines, justification and sanctification, confused and begin to believe they are one or our acceptance before God rests in our holiness or because we are accepted by God through faith in Christ righteousness our holiness does not matter.
In thinking through this important matter I was reading John Calvin’s New Testament Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. The following comments he makes on this particular verse in discussing Paul’s calling Christ their sanctification. Beware because what he says in his third sentence is rather startling to those who believe with him that the church stands or falls on the doctrine of justification! Calvin says,
“Paul calls him our Sanctification. He means by that, that we, who are in ourselves unholy by nature, are born again by His Spirit into holiness, that we may serve God. From this we also gather that we cannot be justified freely by faith alone, if we do not at the same time live in holiness. For those gifts of grace go together as if tied by an inseparable bond, so that if any one tries to separate them, he is, in a sense, tearing Christ to pieces. Accordingly, let the man who aims at being justified by God’s free goodness through Christ take note that this cannot possibly be done, unless at the same time he lays hold of Him for sanctification; in other words he must be born anew by His Spirit to blamelessness and purity of life. Men find fault with us, because in preaching the free righteousness of faith, we seem to be calling men away from good works. But his passage clearly refutes them, by showing that faith lays hold of regeneration just as much as forgiveness of sins in Christ. On the other hand notice that while those offices of Christ are united, they are yet distinguishable from each other. Therefore we are not at liberty, indeed it would be wrong, to confuse what Paul expressly separates.”
Therefore let us come near to God by faith in Christ Jesus for his justifying grace, and may that faith work through love in the sanctifying grace of Jesus for his glory. It takes two, justification and sanctification, to walk with Jesus in his redemption.
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