on The Gospel Order of Understanding Who We Are and What We Do

I just finished listening to a three part series, How Grace Changes Men, taught by Bryan Chapell at the Grace & Men Conference which was hosted in Orlando, FL back in 2009, and I want to share this with those of you who follow this blog.  I began listening to these messages on my way home form preaching on Sunday morning.  My heart was deeply affected.  I so needed to hear these messages!  I grew up in the Christian Church but for the longest time, I understood all of this backwards. I still get it backwards from time to time (or better, very often).

This brief transcript is form Bryan Chapell's introduction to the third message in the series. It will provide you with a sense of the direction of this message, but I recommend that you listen to the entire message. He draws this truth out in greater detail with exposition and illustration that was very helpful to me. Here's how Chapell explains the gospel order of understanding who we are in Christ.

What we're trying to do is to fill people with hope so that the living out of the gospel is a natural (supernatural) response of their lives. It normally flows when they have understood how great is God's love for them.

And, if you flip that around; if what you end up saying is, "You need to do these things" (those are the imperatives of the Christian life)━"You need to do these things and then you'll know the joy of the gospel, God will love you, and you will feel his embrace.

If you ever follow that order, making the imperatives the foundation of their relationship with God (not just eternally, but even daily), then people will be burdened and battered.  There is an order to the gospel.  It is this: the imperatives are based on the indicatives (indicatives are what we are by the work of Christ).  The imperatives are based on the indicatives; and the order is not reversible. …

That's always the message. Always, God is saying, "Yes, there are things to do, but it's based on who your are.  Who you are is not based on what you do.  Sometimes people say it this way, "We just confuse our who and our do."  We think who we are is based on what we do; but the fact of the matter is, what we do is based on who we are.  And if you capture that it will change absolutely everything in your life.

This audio series has been made available at www.thegospelman.com/audio/index.html.

One other message that I would urge you to listen to is How Grace Informs the Devotional Life of a Man by Joe Novenson from 2008!!!

See also http://howgracechangesmen.com/.

on The Gospel Order of Understanding Who We Are and What We Do

Flavel's Introduction to Keeping the Heart

"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."—Proverbs 4:23

The heart of man is his worst part before it is regenerated, and the best afterward; it is the seat of principles, and the fountain of actions.  The eye of God is, and the eye of the Christian ought to be, principally fixed upon it.

The greatest difficulty in conversion, is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God.  Here lies the very force and stress of religion; here is that which makes the way to life a narrow way, and the gate of heaven a strait gate.

...though the expression, Keep thy heart, seems to put it upon us as our work, yet it does not imply a sufficiency in us to do it. We are as able to stop the sun in its course, or to make the rivers run backward, as by our own skill and power to rule and order our hearts. We may as well be our own saviors as our own keepers; and yet Solomon speaks properly enough when he says, Keep thy heart, because the duty is ours, though the power is of God; what power we have depends upon the exciting and assisting strength of Christ. Grace within us is beholden to grace without us. "Without me ye can do nothing" [Jn. 15:5].

(John Flavel, On Keeping the Heart. New York: American Tract Society, n.d., p. 5)

The Works of John Flavel, 6 volumes.

Flavel's Introduction to Keeping the Heart

Resetting Your Affections upon the Cross of Christ

We guard most closely what we most treasure.

Solomon, out of his painful experience, pleaded with his children,

Above all else, guard your heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.

(Proverbs 4:23)

What is it you most protect? Your reputation? Your investments? Your family? Of all you guard, says Solomon, guard nothing with the care and strength you guard your affections.  Once your heart latches onto something, you will not be able to stop your will from consenting to it.

...Fix your affections on God himself, in his beauty and glory.  Fix your heart on the Lord Christ, the fairest of ten thousand, the desired of the nations.  Get worked up about the mystery of the gospel, all the wisdom and love of God displayed in Christ, and all the blessings he delivers to your soul.  If you're going to revel in and relish something, be like Paul:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

Let the sorrows of your Savior on the cross move you.  Imagine his cries and groans in your behalf, till your heart breaks.  Daydream about how much love he showed you as he hung naked in your place.  And see if the baits and lures of the flesh don't grow ugly and repulsive.  Will you give your hours to fantasizing about and dwelling on and longing for the vile things that nailed the Lover of your soul to the cursed tree?

(Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within: Straight Talk about the Power and Defeat of Sin. P&R Publishing, 1998, pp. 96-97)

This little book has been a sharp and timely challenge to me. I recommend it to you!

Resetting Your Affections upon the Cross of Christ

The Church at Its Worst and Best

"I just can't believe it, Dad.  Those people loved me for no other reason than that I needed to be loved."

"It's the church," I responded. I told her that when the church is functioning at its best, there is simply no community on earth that can rival it.  But when the church is functioning at its worst, there is no community on earth that can do as much damage.  History itself proves the point.  The church has served untold millions, as is evidenced by the number of churches, hospitals, orphanages, schools and relief agencies that Christians have founded and operated.  But the church has brutalized untold millions, too, as the medieval inquisition and the religious wars of the seventeenth century demonstrate. (p. 14)

 The problem is that we are often more like the world than like Christ.

The church is called to function as a body, as if it were a kind of incarnation of Christ in the world.  "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:13)....  Christ was the incarnation of God in the wold; the church is the incarnation of Christ. (p. 16)

Where do we begin to correct the problem?

The quality of relationships among Christians makes the church an effective witness for the gospel, for it creates the kind of community into which others are naturally drawn. (p. 17)

The New Testament issues a series of commands to show us how to develop these healthy relationships.  Called "mutuality commands" because they use the phrase "one another," these commands translate love into action, mitigate the tensions that inevitably surface among Christians, and mollify the differences among believers so that, instead of suspicion, conflict and division the church models trust, harmony and unity.  They enable the church to become a community of love. (p. 20)

Gerald Sittser, Love One Another: Becoming the Church Jesus Longs For (2nd ed., IVP, 2008).

The Church at Its Worst and Best

Book Suggestion: Life Within the Christian Community

Over the past few days I have been looking for a book to suggest to our Bible Study group that deals with the topic of community or getting along within the body of Christ.  As I searched my own bookshelves, various Christian websites, blogs that I follow, and online bookstores I found many titles that address the topic of the church's role in society.  The main thrust of these books seems to be how the church community ought to respond to and impact the surrounding culture.  Many of these books address the church's responsibility to the weak, the poor, and the outcasts of our communities.  Well, that's not exactly what I am looking for at this point.  Rather, I am seeking a book that looks inward first.  How are we to interact with one another within the church?

Yesterday evening my lovely wife was helping me look for titles and she found a book on my shelf that I received some time back from IVP as a review copy.  It is Love One Another: Becoming the Church Jesus Longs For by Gerald Sittser (2nd ed., IVP, 2008). I did not have the time to read and review this book although I remember that I did read the first few pages and skim through the Table of Contents.  In Love One Another, Sittser discusses the Christian community's "one-another" ministry.  As children of God we are commanded to love on another, forgive one another, bear with one another, encourage one another, comfort one another, and much more. These are the topics Sittser explores in this engaging and easy to comprehend book.  He also includes a discussion guide which makes this immediately useful for a small-group study.  Here is the Table of Contents:

Preface to the New Edition
1. The New Commandment
2. Welcome One Another
3. Be Subject to One Another
4. Forbear One Another
5. Forgive One Another
6. Confess Sin to and Pray for One Another
7. Serve One Another
8. Encourage One Another
9. Comfort One Another
10. Bear One Another’s Burdens
11. Stir Up One Another
12. Admonish One Another
Epilogue
Discussion Guide

Here's an excerpt, and here's a link to the endorsements.  Check it out. 



I just read through the first chapter and it is excellent!  Sittser even cites Bonhoeffer's Life Together a couple of times to support his argument for the centrality of Christ in Christian community. Bonhoeffer tackles the topic well, but I do have my reservations about some of his theology.  I'm disappointed that I could not find a review of Sittser's book on the internet.  Maybe this will be a start and I'll report back with more after I've read further.

Book Suggestion: Life Within the Christian Community

Personal & Family Devotional Resources (James Grant)

James Grant, who blogs at In Light of the Gospel (I recommend that you follow either via RSS or email subscription), has posted a very good list of resources for personal and/or family worship.  His list covers the following areas:

• Resources for Family Worship & Discipline
• Resources for Family Devotions
• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
• Prayer and the Christian Life

If I could be so bold as to suggest a few other titles (and I'm sure James did not expect his list to be exhaustive), I would recommend the following additions to this list.

The following titles deviate slightly from the type James has recommended under the heading "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life," but I think that they are excellent for encouraging spiritual growth:

• Paul David Tripp's Broken Down House: Living Productively in a World Gone Bad (Shepherd Press, 2009).  This is a simple, yet sound and foundational introduction to living the Christian life.  I read this through very quickly last summer just after it was released and was greatly humbled.  I gave a copy to a friend and recommended it to my dad who, in turn, has given away a handful of copies to others.  Last fall, our Bible study group chose this book for next group study.  Just before Christmas we finished working through Part One (Knowing).  Brent, one of our teachers, put together an excellent summary of Part One.  You are welcome to view/download it here.  This book has made for a wonderful group study.  I believe that we all have grown together as we have adjusted our view of God, ourselves, and living in this broken world with both humility and confidence.  Part Two is filled with practical and pointed application.  We just began our journeyt through this section this week. 

• C. J. Mahaney's The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing (Multnomah, 2002) is a short, excellent challenge to those of us who have been tempted to think that the Christian life begins with the Gospel but then moves on to something else.  Mahaney clearly shows us that the gospel (the cross-work and resurrection of Jesus Christ) not only introduces us to life in Christ, but that it also guides us and sustains us throughout life.  In 2006, Mahaney followed up with a second book titled, Living the Corss-Centered Life which also comes highly recommended.

• Tullian Tchividjian's Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different (Multnohmah, 2009) is likewise excellent.  Tchividgian's challenge to the Church is to offer a Christian counter-culture to the world rather than conforming to the world's culture.  Tchividjian believes that people, especially estranged children of Christian families, are looking to the Church for something different, rather than the same thing they get everywhere else. The heart of this little book is a call to apply Ephesians 4-5 to our lives.  This book would make for an excellent starting point for a small group discussion, for personal study or for a family study (particularly for those families that have teenagers).

• Finally, I would add John Piper's Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (revised & expanded, Multnomah, 2003).  This surely is a modern classic.

 Under the heading "Prayer and the Christian Life" I would include the following:

• John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer (reprint, paperback edition, Fireside, 1996).  This is absolutely fantastic.  I have been using it throughout this past year and plan to continue doing so.  It is also excellent for helping you teach your children how to pray.  I recommend you search for a hardcover edition.  It will be more durable for frequent use.  Printing this in paperback was a foolish idea.
• Andrew Murray's classic With Christ in the School of Prayer (reprint, Hendrickson, 2007). This is an excellent exposition of key passages in the NT related to Jesus praying or teaching his disciples to pray. Passages from the epistles are also included. In all, there are 31 short chapters, perfect for reading devotionaly throughout a month.
• Bill Hybels' Too Busy Not to Pray (20 Anv Rev edition, IVP, 2008).  I found this book at the local library and checked it out not knowing what to expect. It turns out that his handling of the subject was very helpful. I appreciated his pastoral approach which supplied a more theological and expositional foundation to the subject of prayer. I didn't get to finish the book, but I was helped by the portions I read. Hybels aim was to convince Christians of the necessity and joy of praying to a God who hears. He offers an introduction to the ACTS system of praying (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication), although he readily admits that one program will not fit all persons. This is one of many helpful tools for pray-ers.
  
• Leonard Allen's compilation The Contemporaries Meet the Classics on Prayer (Howard Publishing, 2003). This is another book that I found at the local library. It gathers together under 10 headings the best passages on prayer from classic works to contemporary works. Selections are included from John Bunyan, George Muller, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Andrew Murray, E. M. Bounds, C. S. Lewis, Simon Chan, Thomas Merton, Bill Hybels, Joni Eareckson Tada, Eugene Peterson , Walter Brueggemann, Richard Foster, and more. It is a fantastic volume to add to your library. The broad range of authors in one book is a treasure. This is a fantastic entry-point into the literature on prayer.

Personal & Family Devotional Resources (James Grant)

Review: A Proverbs Driven Life by Anthony Selvaggio

The following review was submitted to me by Don Palmer, Sr. Pastor of Forest Brook Community Church, just east of Toronto, Canada. I am very grateful for Don's perspective and help with reviewing some of the books sent to us. I have already enjoyed discussing this review with Don. He represents a slightly different perspective on the issue of biblical manhood and womanhood than I do, but having the opportunity to discuss issues like this with brethren is in keeping with the aim of this website.

I hope that you have heard of this fairly new book and/or already own a copy. If not, I recommend it to you.

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Selvaggio, Anthony. A Proverbs Driven Life: Timeless Wisdom for Your Words, Work, Wealth, and Relationships. Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2008. Paperback, 201 pp.

Preview Chapter 1 - Proverbs: For a Life of Wisdom

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Teaching from Proverbs that Points to Christ.

Many Christians today view guidance as something mysterious or even hidden. By way of contrast, however, God does not leave us to grope in the dark when it comes to knowing how to live as He intended us to live. He has given us his Word for our protection and instruction. But too many times we choose to follow our own wisdom. In A Proverbs Driven Life, Anthony Selvaggio explores what the Bible teaches regarding six common issues.

Part One: Foundations
A Proverbs driven Life values wise living and wise speech as essential and inseparable.

Part Two: Work
A Proverbs driven Life practices a faithful work ethic and faithful ethics at work.

Part Three: Wealth
A Proverbs driven Life understands the place and purpose of material wealth.

Part Four: Friends
A Proverbs driven Life knows that friendship is intended to be redemptive.

Part Five: Marriage
A Proverbs driven Life embraces marriage as the most significant of relationships and guards it jealously.

Part Six: Children
A Proverbs driven Life accepts the calling to raise children as a task delegated and directed by God.

Based on the title, one may expect that A Proverbs Driven Life teaches a person how to live his life and make decisions based on several specific proverbs that speak to his current dilemma. That is not what Selvaggio encourages. I will not go into the details of each chapter, but an understanding of the foundations of Selvaggio’s book will provide a general idea for the organization of each chapter. In "Foundations," Selvaggio explains that there is a right way and a wrong way to read Proverbs.

Proverbs is not a collection of simplistic formulas for guaranteed success. Nor is it intended as a means to back-test and explain difficulties or moral failures. Rather, Proverbs offers us future-oriented wisdom and guidance so we can make wise decisions and live in ways that please and exalt God…Perhaps the most common error when studying a proverb is to read into it more than it is actually saying. (p. 17)

To avoid reading too much into a proverb, Selvaggio suggests that the reader use basic logic, not read any proverb in isolation, do not put God on your timetable, and do make God the goal of your obedience. Finally, Selvaggio encourages believers to read God’s Word with a desire “to uncover the many connections to Christ” (p. 20). He marks four connections in Proverbs: Jesus lived wisdom, Jesus is wisdom, Jesus is the way of wisdom, and Jesus supplies wisdom.

In each chapter, Selvaggio employs the aforementioned principles as he teaches how our words, wealth, work, friendships, marriage, and parenting can become Proverbs driven for the glory of God. For each topic he references several relevant scriptures from both testaments. I appreciated this aspect of the book because Selvaggio pulled together scriptures that I had not considered side-by-side. Because he always relates the proverb back to Jesus, each chapter is intended to encourage and remind the reader of God’s abundant mercy and grace. I found it enlightening and fun to read.

Selvaggio points out early on that memorizing a few Proverbs for specific situations will not achieve the goal of living a life that pleases God. He writes,

Proverbs is not a reference book to pull off the shelf when you are stumped by life’s difficulties. It is not a set of pat answers to cookie-cutter challenges. Instead, it guides and empowers us to discover answers for ourselves by virtue of having gained wisdom through diligent application. (p. 24)

The practical points for applying wisdom to everyday life are invaluable for more reasons than just because they are right. Learning to walk according to the wisdom of God will result in deeper intimacy with God and eternal blessings. Indeed, “the end of wisdom is God himself.”

Because it is fun and easy to read, I think this is an ideal book to share with any young couples who have started to be parents or Christian believers who are relatively young in the faith. However, I can also recommend this book for anyone wishing to understand better how to read and apply biblical wisdom.

My only critique would be that is tends towards a very conservative view on husband-wife relationships, with a very strong sense of the man as the "head" and the wife as the "follower". The author is a Reformed Presbyterian pastor and hence quotes often from older Puritan writers. This can be okay to a point, if he balances it out with more modern authors. However, one thing the reader cannot complain about is he is very biblical and seeks to root all of his advice on texts of Scripture.

Don Palmer lives in Toronto, is the Sr. Pastor of Forest Brook Community Church, and is completing MDiv studies through Tyndale College & Seminary.

Review: A Proverbs Driven Life by Anthony Selvaggio

Michael Bird on Paul's Eschatology

Craig Blomberg's review of Michael Bird's Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message (IVP, 2008) highlights Bird's cautious understanding of Paul's view of Christ's millennial reign. In light of recent posts and discussions of eschatology and the local church around the blogosphere, I was curious to read this particular section for myself in Introducing Paul. I would like to point out a few portions from chapter 7, The Return of the King.

First, Bird admits the difficulty of the task of ironing out the details of eschatology.

Trying to understand Paul's eschatology can be a bit mind-boggling at times, even more so if you try to correlate it with events, language and descriptions from the book of Revelation. It is tempting for us to resort to being 'pan-millennial', the belief that it will all pan out at the end. Then again, we should not ignore the seriousness of Paul's eschatological teaching, which involves defending the gospel (1 Cor. 15) and providing hope to those in distress (1 Thess. 4). While Paul does not want believers to become 'eschatomaniacs', end-times fruitcakes or a doomsday cult, he still urges them 'not to be uninformed' of the doctrine of the last things (1 Thess. 4:13). So, I suggest, get excited about Paul's eschatology, take it seriously, but avoid becoming fixated on dates and timetables. (116-17)

From here, Bird introduces Paul's view of "suffering, temptation and tribulation to come." In short, Bird argues that Paul held a post-tribulational perspective. Bird applies this perspective by calling on Western churches to fervently uphold the persecuted church in prayer. He also issues a corrective call, saying,

Our churches, some American ones in particular, need to spend less time telling non-Christians that to know Christ means to have fellowship with his sufferings and to be conformed to his death (Phil. 3:10)! For one day the prosperity bubble will burst and the lawless one will be revealed. (118)

Finally, I'd like to say that I appreciated Bird's hesitancy with regard to his exegesis of 1 Cor. 15:23-25. He writes,

What is perhaps more controversial (and I propose this view with a degree of hesitation) is that Paul also implies a messianic or millennial reign of Christ upon the earth.... An interval is implied between Christ's resurrection and his parousia, and another interval between Christ's parousia and his subjugation of all authorities at the 'end'. The explanatory clause 'for' (gar) of verse 25 appears to make the reign of Christ temporally prior to the 'end' (telos) in verse 24. In other words, before the 'end' or the consummation is the reign of Christ over all authorities. I wouldn't bet my house on this one, but it is plausible, it fits the text and the idea comports with the millennial imagery we have in Revelation 20:1-10. (121)

This chapter on Paul's eschatology is an excellent example of theological charity on non-essentials. Bird places greater emphasis on the essentials and lesser emphasis on the negotiables. Truly, my favorite portion of this short chapter is his dealing with Romans 8, which concludes with the words,

It is the hope for resurrection and new creation that sustains believers, and they wait for it patiently and prayerfully as led by God's Spirit (Rom. 8:22-27). (122)

This is a very helpful introductory book, suitable for students and lay-persons alike. I recommend it. I also recommend you read the following review:

• Craig Blomberg, Review of Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message. Denver Seminary, July 9, 2009.

I also recommend that you listen to Andy Naselli's discussion with Kevin Bolin on the topic, Are Millennial Views Essential.

Michael Bird on Paul's Eschatology

Dever on Doctrines that Should Not Divide Us

A. J. Gibson (at Gratia et Veritas) posted an excellent excerpt from Mark Dever's sermon on Revelation 20 in which Dever with clarity and scriptural confidence declares that “It’s a Sin to Sever Cooperation with Other Believers over Eschatological Issues.”

I don't do this often on the blog, but permit me to share some of my musings on this issue:

As much as sin and schism grieves the Holy Spirit and weakens the Church it amazes me that God can and does bring glory to himself through our failures.

Through division and dispersion, God's people have historically been spread out for the sake of the advancement of the Gospel. Through conflict and disagreement, believers have been afforded an opportunity to evaluate and discuss what is most essential and what is not. Not that we should be content with disunity and disagreement. However, praise the Lord, the story does not end with us! He will heal all our wounds. He will restore all of our brokenness. He will do all of this "in Christ" "by the Holy Spirit" "to the praise of his glory."

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21

Dever on Doctrines that Should Not Divide Us

Schreiner on Theological Negotiables and Non-Negotiables

Last week sometime, I found a link (HT: Ben @ PaleoEvangelical) to Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner's sermon on The Millennium (preached on 6/14/09 from Rev 20:1-15). Dr. Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY) and pastor of Clifton Baptist Church (Louisville, KY).

Today, on my lunch break, I began to listen to this sermon and was delighted to hear the following perspective on theological negotiables.

Everything in God's Word is important, isn't it? Still, good Christians have different views on the millennium. A month ago, and during the whole series, I would have said, "I'm an Amillennialist." But I've actually changed my mind as I studied this passage. So, I mean, how much trust are you going to put in me, tonight? Right? I'm not very stable on this issue.

You know, that's a good thing to be reminded of; that our confidence is not in a preacher, but in God's Word. It's in the truth of God's Word. That's what matters; not my opinion towards something.

I think we also learn from this to be charitable towards different views. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind, at least if you can be. We must distinguish between central issues of the faith and issues which aren't central. Some people have a hard time doing that. Everything for them is of equal importance in the Bible. But that's not true, is it? There are some things that are non-negotiable in our faith.

The Trinity is non-negotiable. The authority of Scripture is non-negotiable. The substitutionary atonement, justification by faith alone, the deity of Christ, and, of course, I could mention other things.

But there are less clear matters in the Bible as well; things like when the rapture will take place and what we're looking at today regarding the millennium.

We must beware of being divisive, and schismatic, and inflexible on matters that are less important. That really shows, I think, a character flaw in us--something that God wants to work on in us. And we need to be aware of being namby-pamby; don't we. That's another problem, isn't it? Not to hold strong convictions. We want to speak the truth of the gospel in love. That's what's crucial, isn't it?

We need balance. I need balance that comes from the Holy Spirit. We all need that. We need the Holy Spirit to be our teacher.

(Italics indicate words given verbal stress as I heard it.)

I appreciated this because I was once taught that churches cannot maintain unity if they do not hold to one eschatological view to the exclusion of all others. I have previously been a member in churches that hold so strongly to one particular view that membership required agreement with the position (or, at least, a commitment to not undermine the church's position on the matter). And at the same time, most of these churches attempted to affirm that eschatological views are, indeed, negotiable when it comes to the gospel. However, this sense of theological charity described by Schreiner was never advocated within the assembly.

I am now a member of a church that practices liberty in this matter. I have met and interacted with other members who hold to differing views on eschatology, yet our unity in Christ is not threatened. I have thus far found it to be a healthier situation. We are a confessional assembly, but there is no status quo in matters of negotiables. Rather, our motto is, In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty. Members are encouraged to be "convinced in their own minds" and to exercise charity with one another. This has been a healthy experience for us!

Schreiner on Theological Negotiables and Non-Negotiables

Mea Culpa: Calvin on Cheap Grace

Calvin admonished those who thought it was good enough to go to church and who thought that grace was cheap. Some seemed to think that if there was forgiveness, there was no need to concern oneself with living a careful life. "The people want to make a little pact with God. They think they are square with him if they simply say mea culpa." As Calvin saw it, such things had nothing to do with being a Christian. Apart from inward examination and the experience and confession of one's guilt and lost state, the Christian life had not even begun.

Herman J. Selderhuis, John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life (InterVarsity Press, March 2009), p. 164.

Purchase:

Read my introduction and recommendation here.

Book Excerpts

Introduction
1. Orphan (1509-1533)

Mea Culpa: Calvin on Cheap Grace

Thomas Smyth, A Gospel-Centered Pastor

Today marks the 201st anniversary of the birth of one of Charleston, South Carolina's notable pastors, Thomas Smyth (June 14, 1808 - August 20, 1873). I have already offered highlights of his life and ministry here, so I'll use this post to share an excerpt from his little book Why Do I Live? I just recently found this copy for sale and it is the first of his works that I have purchased. I have also recently downloaded most of the 10-volumes of his collected works from Google Books.

Upon receiving this book in the mail, I immediately sat down and began reading through it. I found it to be a breath of fresh, Gospel-saturated air. This excerpt shows Smyth's passion for calling Christians to live the life they have been freed to live in Christ (something woefully absent from many contemporary books). This is from Chapter VIII, The Living Christian Stimulated.

To be a Christian is a glorious privilege, and a divine honor. It is "a high calling, a royal priesthood." It is to be "a Son of God," "a joint-heir with Christ," and "a partaker of the divine nature." It is to be filled with heaven-borrowed thoughts of joys to come, and to walk the earth with inward glory crowned.

"Earth's fairest scenes the Christian calls his own;
He is a monarch, and his throne

Is built amid the skies."

But to be a Christian is to be more than a member of the church. That which makes any man a Christian is union to Christ, and conformity to him. The sum of religion, as even a heathen could express it, is to be like God whom thou worshipest. This then is Christianity, to believe in Christ as "God manifest in flesh," to come to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be in all things subject to Christ, to live in Christ, to live for Christ, and in all things, in all ways, and in all events to follow Christ. It is to become partakers in the benefits of Christ's obedience, sufferings, and death, that we may have fellowship with him also in his life and glory. It is to be crucified together with Christ, dead with Christ, buried with Christ, and risen with Christ. Oh, see to it that thy heart is sincerely Christ's. As this piety alone will meet acceptance at the inevitable day of heart-revealing, heart-approving, or heart-condemning, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Be very sure that your heart closes with Christ, and is fixed upon him, and living by faith on him.

Are you indeed a Christian? Then you have seen the plague of your own heart, felt the direful corruption of sin, and are most anxious for deliverance from it. You know how it defiles, like leprosy, our houses, the very walls and floors, our meat and our drink, and every thing we touch. Polluting when alone, and polluting in society, it leads to misery and death, burdens the whole creation, and "presses groans out of the very frame of the earth itself." You cannot but desire to have your soul purified from this foul and loathsome disease, that, elevated above all the mists and impurities of inordinate worldly affections, the light of divine grace may shine unobstructed into your heart and be reflected with power upon the observing hearts of those around you. Let it be thus seen that you are not a mere hearer of the word, but a doer of it; a partaker of Christ; one who feels his guilt and the greatness of that love which led Christ to die for him; one who has been washed and made clean in the fountain opened in Christ's blood for sin and uncleanness; one who constantly draws living waters from the wells of salvation, and one whose whole conduct savors of his secret and habitual converse with Christ in the recesses of his own heart.

Christ became like us, for the very purpose that we might thus become like him. Christ took upon him our nature that he might, by the mighty working of his Holy Spirit, make us alive unto God, new creatures, a peculiar people, zealous of good works, finding our meat and our drink in doing his will.

Yes, Christian, you are set for the rising or fall of those around you. You are an epistle of Christ, read either to the conviction and conversion, or to the condemnation of many. Your life is your testimony for or against Christ. By it you proclaim the truth or falsity of your own profession, and as far as your influence extends, even of the religion you profess. (pp. 67-68)

Thomas Smyth, A Gospel-Centered Pastor

Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung

I've been reading an edifying book on finding God's will for your life. I love its full title—Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will*******OR*******How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, Etc.

In this book author Kevin DeYoung tackles a problem we all face at some time or other: what to do when we have to make a decision on something the Bible doesn't specifically address. DeYoung advocates "walking the way of wisdom" in our decision-making through regular intake of Scripture just like our regular intake of food.

But the Bible is not a casebook. It doesn't give us explicit information about dating or careers or when to build a church or buy a house. We've all wished that the Bible was that kind of book, but it's not because God is interested in more than getting us to follow His to-do list; He wants transformation. God doesn't want us to merely give external obedience to His commands. He wants us to know Him so intimately that His thoughts become our thoughts, His ways our ways, His affections our affections. God wants us to drink so deeply of the Scriptures that our heads and hearts are transformed so that we love what He loves and hate what He hates. (pp. 91-92, emphasis added)

As we digest the Word of God over a period of time we gain insight into the character of God; we learn His likes and dislikes. We become more like Him and desire to glorify Him. This is walking in the fear of the Lord, which is wisdom. The wisdom we receive from God will guide us in tough decisions.

I hope to say more about this book in the near future. In the meantime check out the helpful reviews by Tim Challies and Dan Phillips.

DeYoung, Kevin. Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009) paperback, 128 pages.

Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung

Thomas Smyth on "The Christian in the World"

It is the Christian who truly recognizes the paramount claims of Christ, and who lives in loving obedience to him in his own heart, that will also think and feel and pray and labor and give most for the city, the state, the country, and the world. ...

Christianity provides abundantly, by example, precept, motive, and command, for all the duties of friendship and good neighborhood; for all honor, honesty, and integrity in social life; for all generous liberality, enterprise, and devotions to the public good; for all patriotic services and sacrifices for our country's honor and prosperity.

(The Rev. Thomas Smyth, D. D., Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC. Why Do I Live? New York: American Tract Society, nd, 126-27.)

Thomas Smyth on "The Christian in the World"

Calvin on Prayer and The Christian Life FREE from ChristianAudio

Just in! ChristianAudio has announced November's free audiobook. I'm heading over there to download it now.

Free Audiobook of the Month -
Calvin: Of Prayer and The Christian Life

"Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into converse with God." So begins John Calvin and his treatise on prayer. These seminal writings are from his Magnum Opus The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Prayer as Calvin describes it is not giddy, and he goes on to give Scriptural definitions of proper thought, engagement, and attitude. What do the roles of patience and self-denial play in the role of the Christian life and what does Christian piety look like? What should our views be of the present life and the future life? John Calvin is one of the giants of Christian history. These two sections of The Institutes guide us ever so thoughtfully and gracefully into his theology and practice of Christian living. Wonderfully narrated by James Adams, these are sure to both challenge and encourage one to a fuller devotion to Christ.

Just use the coupon code NOV2008 during checkout. Add the download format of Calvin: Of Prayer and The Christian Life to your cart and then enter the coupon code NOV2008 when prompted during checkout.

Narrator: James Adams
Run Time: 4.5 hours

Our Price: $0.00
List Price: $14.98
Coupon: NOV2008

Calvin on Prayer and The Christian Life FREE from ChristianAudio

“What’s God Got to Do With It?”

Newsweek has an interesting article on Victoria Osteen and her new book, Love Your Life. Ms. Osteen and her husband Joel are pastors of one of the largest churches in America, and tens of thousands are buying into their idea of religion as “appreciating what God's given us. He's given us this life, and he wants us to live it to the fullest” (from Lisa Miller's interview with Victoria). The writer’s response to Victoria’s prosperity-gospel: “All this is fine, in the pages of a women's magazine or a self-help book. But what has God got to do with it?”

I don’t know the writer of the article or if she is a true believer in Christ, but what was striking to me was that an editor of a news source not known for its adherence to evangelical belief would come to that conclusion. That seems to show more discernment than many of the followers of prosperity-gospel philosophy. Despite the counsel of much contemporary Christianity, I think the world is looking for something different in Christians, especially ministers. If Christianity has nothing transcendent to offer, why bother?

Everyone wants to be happy and live life to the fullest. But how would we counsel a seeker or practice it ourselves? John Piper puts it this way in the opening words to his book, The Supremacy of God in Preaching:

People are starving for the greatness of God. But most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is an unknown cure. There are far more popular prescriptions on the market, but the benefit of any other remedy is brief and shallow. Preaching that does not have the aroma of God’s greatness may entertain for a season, but it will not touch the hidden cry of the soul: “Show me thy glory!” (The Supremacy of God in Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 1990, p. 9)

In times like these, when the economy is down and people are losing their jobs, how do we find comfort and practice our faith? By looking inside ourselves? How about gazing on God in His greatness and believing that since He gave us His Son, He will provide us with everything we need! That's the essence of the Christian life: to trust and enjoy God now amidst suffering and uncertainty and to be willing to wait for our best life then, when we're with Him.

How would you summarize Christianity? What is religion all about?

(HT:JT)
______________________________
Also by John Piper on happiness and the greatness of God—

• Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1986)
• The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 2000)

“What’s God Got to Do With It?”

Notes on A Quest for More | TWO

A Quest for More: Living for something bigger than you by Paul David Tripp (New Growth Press, 2007)

A study guide is also available - A Quest for More: Small Group and Discussion Guide (New Growth Press, 2008)

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His grace cuts a hole in your self-built prison and invites you to step into something so huge, so significant that only one word in the Bible can adequately capture it. That word is glory. (18)

Tripp explains the choice of this word:

We were simply made for glory, but not just the shadow glories of the created world. We were made for the one glory that is transcendent—the glory of God. When you grasp this, your life begins to make a difference. (18-19)

Very true; I admit it. I eagerly anticipate the extraordinary, unique and exceptional things of life and am bored with the monotonous and mundane. I also long for purpose in life. I want my work to count for something. Admittedly I waste plenty of time, but I am not satisfied with that. I want to make a difference. I want to grow; I want to excel. But, Tripp meets me here and ties glory to purpose. He argues that everyone lives with purpose but not everyone makes a difference. The key is what my purpose is tied to. Is it self-serving or much more?

Tripp puts it this way:

[I]t is a good thing to have purpose, but if your purpose isn't tied to glory, you have still denied your humanity. (19)

Tripp directs our gaze toward the glory of God and to three other glories that proceed from it.

1. God glory

   We were made to experience, to be part of, to be consumed by, and to live in pursuit of the only glory that is truly glorious—the glory of God. (19)
   
   … never shrink the size of [your] glory focus to the narrow glories of [your] own little lives. (20)
   

2. Stewardship glory

   The transcendence of human beings is expressed as people reflect God's glory by their rulership and stewardship over the surrounding created world. (20)
   
   …never shrink the size of [your] care to care for [only yourself]. (20)

3. Community glory

   The web of ongoing relationships daily calls us out of our insulation and isolation to experience a community glory that selfish, personal focus can never deliver. (21)
   
   …never shrink the size of [your] community to a functional community of one. (21)

4. Truth glory

   Never were Adam and Eve built to exist on conclusions drawn from their experiences, or concepts resulting from autonomous interpretations. Every thought was meant to be shaped by the truth glory that he would patiently and progressively impart to them. (21-22)
   
   …never shrink the size of [your] thought down to the size of [your] thoughts. (22)

Chapter one concludes by refocusing on the purpose of this book. Rather than arguing for a radical reordering of our lives, Tripp is arguing for a reordering of our perspective on and vision of life. Don't settle for the lesser, self-serving glories, but strive for the greater, God-connected glory.

[Y]our humanity only really lives when it is connected to the transcendent glory that can only be found in God. (23)

Questions for Reflection:

• What do I have to do? What level of glory am I seeking in each of these tasks?
• What difference will it make in the way that I perform each task I face in connection with the glory of God?
  
• Are there tasks that cannot be performed in connection with the glory of God?
• Am I considering the glory of God in the "small" tasks as well as the "big" tasks?
• How much of God's creation, other than myself, do I truly care for? Is God really concerned that I care for the environment (dumping, littering, abusing, destroying, etc.)?
• How large is my community (circle of fellowship, or even interaction)? Do I interact with my neighbors? Do I interact selectively at church?
• To what do I appeal as the ultimate source of authority? Do I even believe that there is "an ultimate source of authority"?
  

Notes on A Quest for More | TWO

Notes on A Quest for More | ONE

Last year, the Westminster Bookstore sent me two complimentary books as a "thank you" for participating in their blog partners program. Getting free books is always a pleasant surprise. I already thought very highly of their bookstore, but their generosity secured an extra measure of appreciation with me.

One of the books they sent to me was the recently released A Quest for More: Living for something bigger than you by Paul David Tripp (New Growth Press, 2007). I had to put this on the shelf as I worked on the many other books I had already begun to read, but I have been anticipating an opportunity to dig into it. The opportunity came this past week when I was invited to join a men's study group that is currently reading through and discussing this book. I was not able to make the meeting, but I did begin to read the book, and I'm hooked. I've got to finish it now!

The many books by Paul David Tripp come highly recommended by various sources. I was glad to work through the DBTS Booklist (2008) this past week and find that a number of Tripp's books are among their recommendations.

Anyway, in A Quest for More, Tripp addresses the basics of a Christian worldview from a counselor's perspective. The truths Tripp teaches here are old truths repackaged in a fresh, engaging, and highly readable way. I'm not yet finished, but I want to share the following excerpts from the book.

In chapter one, Tripp defines the word transcendence and argues that this term pinpoints a basic human motivator.

tran • scen • dence: the state of being beyond and outside of the ordinary range of human experience (13)

He argues:

There is woven inside each of us a desire for something more—a craving to be part of something bigger, greater, and more profound than our relatively meaningless day-by-day existence. (14)

We were created to be part of something so big, so glorious, so far beyond the ordinary that it would totally change the way we approach every ordinary thing in our lives. And in all of sin's blindness, brokenness, and rebellion, that desire to transcend has now been crushed. (14-15)

The problem is that we continue to short-change ourselves. We continue to settle for "less." Settling for less involves living "only for ourselves" (14): "self-survival and self-pleasure" (16).

God purposed that the borders of our vision would be much, much larger than the boundaries of our lives. (16)

His grace cuts a hole in your self-built prison and invites you to step into something so huge, so significant that only one word in the Bible can adequately capture it. That word is _________. (18)

What word do you think should fill in the blank? I'll pick this up in another post.

Notes on A Quest for More | ONE