So many of us cavalierly gloss over what he has done and zero in on what we’re to do, and that shift, though it might seem slight, makes all the difference in the world. Our obedience has its origin in God’s prior action, and forgetting that truth results in self-righteousness, pride, and despair.
See the rest of this article here.
"I have a growing concern that younger evangelicals do not take seriously the Bible’s call to personal holiness. We are too at peace with worldliness in our homes, too at ease with sin in our lives, too content with spiritual immaturity in our churches."
Piper here does an excellent job in simply explaining how a Christian should relate to the Law's of the OT/NT:
Are Christians under the 10 commandments?
No. The Bible says we're not under the law.
I love Romans 7:4-6. By way of analogy, it says that you are married to the law. And you better stay married because if you leave this husband and go marry another you are going to be called an adulterer. But if your husband dies, then you can go and remarry.
And then Paul draws the analogy out—a little complex the way he does it—saying that you died to the law. You aren't married anymore, you can have another husband, namely Christ. He's raised from the dead.
So, our approach towards ethics is different. We don't ask the question, "Am I under the law?" We are under grace. The law is already fulfilled perfectly by Jesus. We are in Jesus and as far justification goes, God sees it as completed for you, one-hundred percent. He says, "You've trusted my Son. You've been grafted in him. You are in Christ Jesus and he fulfilled the law perfectly. He covered all your sins." God sees you in and through Christ, therefore, as far as final judgment goes God is 100% for you. That is settled and nothing is going to change it.
Now, shall we sin that grace may abound? Paul says, "Dead men don't sin." If you've died to sin, how can you still live in it? The new birth is the writing of the law on our heart so that we are not under it, it is under us. It is just coming out.
The way we strive towards being obedient, holy and loving people is not by getting up in the morning and pulling the list out of our pocket. No! We get on our knees and we open ourselves to the whole counsel of God in the Bible. We saturate and shape ourselves by everything he has done, he is doing and he will do. We stake our lives in the gospel and then instead of serving the law, we serve one another in love.
Love is the fruit of faith in Jesus—faith working through love. And if you ask, "What does love look like?" First John says, "It keeps the commandments." That brings us back to the question, which commandments? I would say, the ones that are loving.
Love God and do as you please is not bad advice, if you're bent on holiness. If you're bent on love the ten commandments are really important. You should hang them on your wall and you should measure your life by them, but in a very different way than when you were under them, because they have been kept for you.
You are now married to the risen Christ. You are not married to the law and the oldness of the letter, but to the newness of the Spirit. Our whole approach towards transformation, love and life is different than list keeping.
See the article and video here:
http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2587_christians_and_the_10_commandments/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+DGBlog+(DG+Blog)
What word comes to mind when you think of the life of Job? Trial. Affliction. Suffering. Endurance. Patience. But what about prosperity? The beginning and the conclusion of the book highlight Job’s prosperity. Note the chiastic structure that develops from the book’s introduction and conclusion:
A – Job’s prosperous life (1:1)
B – Job’s prosperous family (1:2)
C – Job’s prosperous wealth (1:3)
D – Job’s priestly mediation for his family (1:4–5)
D’ – Job’s priestly mediation for his friends (42:7–9)
C’ – Job’s abundantly prosperous wealth (42:10–12)
B’ – Job’s abundantly prosperous family (42:13–15)
A’ – Job’s abundantly prosperous life (42:16–17)
And notice the final verse of the book, this sort of epitaph etched on Job’s grave: “Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life” (42:17 NLT). Or as James says, “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:11 NIV). Trials, affliction, suffering, endurance, and patience are all key themes in the book of Job. But we miss something when we fail to see “what the Lord finally brought about.” Which is the OT’s way of saying that God uses trials for our good. To those who love God, affliction is the pathway to blessing (but of course this is no promise of financial wealth).
STOLEN from: Miscellanies
When planning for community group, I read through one of Spurgeon's sermons on John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but by me."
Spurgeon says:
Do we not each of us in ourselves at times an aptness to come to God in some other way than through Jesus Christ? "Now you have preached well," says Satan; "you have been successful in such-and-such a labor. Ah!" says the devil, "how liberal you have been in such-and-such a cause. Now go to God in prayer." And we go, and we pray with such assurance; we think we are sure to be heard. But perhaps without our knowing it, there is lurking at the bottom of our excellent fluency in prayer an evil thought that surely God will hear us, for we have been so diligent, and liberal. And on the other hand, when we have been committing sin, when conscience chides us, then we go to the throne, and we are half afraid, because we say God will not hear us. Is not that still pride? Why, were we ever better than we are now? Were we not always, and are we not now, as bad as ever we can be? In ourselves is there anything that can commend us to God? Is not the very fact that when in our good state we come boldly, and when in our low state we come timidly, proof that there is lurking in us a secret suspicion that we are to come to God by something that is in us? Oh! if we could but learn this truth and stand to it, that our acceptance with God depends upon nothing that we do or can do, nothing that we can think, or feel, or be, but depends wholly and entirely and solely upon what Jesus is, and what he has done, and what he has suffered, let us once get that thought—and it is in the text—we shall then be able, by the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, to come to God at all times with boldness, knowing that we were so coming through Christ, and therefore we might always come boldly to the throne of grace.
I can't tell you how many times I've thought that some crappy event in my life was a judgement from God for some sin I committed that morning or that week, and that God was ticked at me/hiding from me. Then follows the prayers of desperation such as, "forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, please forgive me."
Yet, are we not his children? Aren't we given Christ's righteousness? Isn't the law overthrown, nailed to the cross? Aren't we in Christ and isn't the Father "well pleased" with his only begotten son?
Check out this article on God's punishment vs God's discipline. It's helped me sort through some thoughts on the topic. http://www.cafeapocalypsis.com/?p=608
Rob Bell is not my favorite pastor of all time. He didn't even make my top 10. In fact, just as a person, I have to pray not to think evil thoughts and want to punch something.
Sooooooo, you could say that i'm slightly biased concerning the guy. However, see for yourself. The Boston Globe did an article on how Bell is an "Evangelical Rock Star". Check it: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/09/rob_bell.html
Make sure you read the comments and mourn with me. I haven't met too many people who believe this junk and avoid Jesus on the cross, dying to cleanse us from our sins.
“We cannot but hate death,
even when we have ceased to fear it,
and know that for us its sting has been extracted.
We hate it,
and thrust it from us;
loathing its advances,
and waging daily war with it—
seeking by every appliance of skill to overcome it and ward off its stroke.
We hate it because of its
shadow,
and its coldness,
and its silence.
We hate it as the great robber
of our loves and joys,
who gives nothing but takes everything.
It cuts so many ties;
it rends so many hearts;
it silences so many voices;
it thins so many firesides;
it comes with its dark veil,
its screen of ice,
between friend and friend,
between soul and soul,
between parent and child,
between husband and wife,
between sister and brother.
Of human sympathies it has none;
it concerns not itself about our joys or sorrows;
it spares no dear one,
and restores no lost one;
it is pitiless and dumb;
it is as powerful as it is inexorable,
striking down the weak,
and wrestling with the strong
till they succumb and fall. …
Its history is one of evil,
not of good;
of wrong,
and sadness,
and terror;
of breaking down,
not of building up;
of scattering,
not of gathering;
of darkness,
not of light;
of disease,
and pain,
and tossings to and fro,
not of health and brightness. …
Death has been the sword of law for ages;
but when it has done its work on earth,
God takes this sword,
red with the blood of millions,
snaps it in pieces before the universe,
and casts its fragments into the flame. …
We preach Jesus and the resurrection;
Jesus the resurrection and the life;
Jesus our life.
We bring glad tidings concerning this risen One,
and that finished work of which resurrection is the seal;
glad tidings concerning God’s free love in connection with this risen One.
The knowledge of this risen One is
forgiveness,
and life,
and glory.
Oh then, what is there in our dying world like this to impart consolation and gladness?
We shall not die,
but live.
Eternity is a life,
and not a death;
a life with Christ,
and a life in Christ.
For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne
shall lead us to the living fountains of waters,
and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.”
—Horatius Bonar, Light and Truth: Bible Thoughts and Themes (Dust & Ashes, 2002), 5:229—236.
HT: Miscellanies
The Episcopal Church voted this week to elect and consecrate openly gay bishops. On top of this, the presiding bishop over the church is claiming that personal individual faith in the Lord Jesus is heresy.
Read Albert Mohler's thoughts HERE.
'You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you'
- St. Augustine
John Calvin, the 17th century Genevan Reformer made the memorable point, “Our hearts are ‘idol factories’, and our words and actions are shaped by the pursuit of things our heart craves.” Oh! that we would pursue Christ and forget the filthy rags and deceitful treasures that this world has to offer.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.Read more...
Colossians 3:1-4
So much of the church has departed from proclaiming sin, separation from God, total depravity, and eternal judgement with Hell included. Yet still, these churches talk about salvation in Jesus...
What is Christ saving them from? Why do they need saved?
In the words of John Piper, "I need saved everyday." My sin is overwhelming and too much for me to handle. My passions can control me. Satan lusts after me "seeking to devour." I need Jesus because I am a sinner.
Well, i'm not saying the verse is at all funny, but how it undermines two common present day beliefs is pretty ridiculous.
Philippians 1:29 "29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake"
1) For it has been granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should believe. Faith is a gift of God, and if we have it, we have it because God granted it to us. The credit for our belief is found in nothing other than the grace of God given for Christ's sake.
2) For it has been granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should suffer. If we have faith in God, we must suffer. It is not an option, it's a definite. This suffering is a gift from God, not a curse, granted to us for Christ's sake.
So much for Arminianism and the prosperity gospel. God destroyed them both in one verse.
He's efficient.
I've been meditating lately on the work that suffering does to reveal our weakness and frailty. My walk with Christ can look pretty stellar right up to the point where God sticks out his proverbial foot and trips me. When this happens, my go-to is worry and anger and sin and crap. How easy is it to forget the big picture in the midst of a trial!? It seems like every time this happens, i'll somehow go dumb and blind, ceasing to remember the work of Christ and the promise of eternal life. It's like my mind goes right to selfish and stupid thoughts such as "I deserve..." and "woe is me".
In the midst of this, I've been encouraged by the words of Jeremiah 29. Israel is in captivity in Babylon and are downright confused as to what they should be doing in this new territory. They have lots of false prophets telling them to do some wack crap and are largely without a leader. It's here that Jeremiah speaks a word from the Lord:
4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, [1] 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare [2] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
It is God that directs our steps, even into places where we are going to suffer. But we have hope and a promise, that he is doing all things for the good of those who love him, and that he shall deliver us into the kingdom of his son.
May God write this upon our hearts and cause us to remember.
As most of you know, I, and a bunch of other cats, traveled to Durham North Carolina to attend the Advance conference put on by The Resurgence. I was a conference virgin prior to the trip. It was my conference debut. I was a rookie in the conference league. I was a conference noob. Here's some pictures of the shiz. Here's the messages in download form. I'm hoping that they will produce video as well at some point.
Anyways, the trip was sweet and opened my eyes to what these conferences look like. BASICALLY, there was a lot more content and preaching than I was expecting. The conference began on Thursday at noon and ended at the same time on Saturday. There were 11 Sermons and 2 Q&A sessions, each ranging from an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long. The lineup included:
I have to be saved everyday. That’s my thesis for the post. Let’s see if I can explain.
God commands us to delight in him. God commands us to be happy. He commands us to praise him. He commands us to be content in every situation. He commands us to have his joy in us. He says, “Rejoice always.” He even threatens punishment if we don’t serve him with joy:
Deu 28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
So the question remains, are we happy?
Plain and simply, I’m often not happy. I often wish things were different. I often am angry at wrongs done against me. I’m often dissatisfied. I’m often really distracted. I fix my eyes on stuff, and lose sight of Jesus. I’m often really tired. Sometimes, I want to zone out for a good hour or take a nap for, oh lets say, a day or two. The truth is, sometimes things suck.
So what? Should we say that God is unjust in his commands?
“By no means! Let God be true and every man a liar…” (Rom 3:4)
Oh, if we would simply see him as he is! We don’t need to trick ourselves or chant “God is good” over and over until we are happy. We don’t need to deny the fact that circumstances can suck major butt sometimes, and just smile big and sing happy songs. To hell with fake-joy.
Oh that we would see Jesus! He is beautiful. He is worthy of all the worship that our hearts and mouths could possibly give him. He is majestic. He is awesome. He is dumb tite yo. He is powerful. He is holy. He is gracious. He is truly good. He is wise beyond understanding. He is everywhere at all times. He is eternal and needs no thing.
But we forget. We lose sight. We doubt. We are lazy. We are busy. We are tired. We are stupid. We sin.
And so I have to be saved everyday. I have to go everyday to the bible and ask for God to show me himself. I have to be reminded of how good he is. I have to pray and ask for him to give me eyes to see. I have to preach to myself the promises of God. I have to talk to friends and be around people that remind me of Jesus, both in word and deed.
So let’s fight to see him. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Let’s ask him to awaken us from our slumber. Let’s ask him to “draw near to us, as we draw near to him”. Let’s seek joy in nothing other than the risen Lord. Let’s war against every desire to be lazy, unbelieving, near-sighted, forgetful, dumb, and sinful. Let’s go to the cross, and there see Jesus our Lord. He bids us come.
There is a mean streak in the Christian life. There is a violence. There is a militancy. But it is exactly the opposite of selfish violence against people. It is a violence against the "flesh" or against "the deeds of the body" - our flesh and our body. The Christian is not mean to others. He is mean to his own sinfulness - his own flesh.
We saw the meaning of "flesh" in Romans 8:7, "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." The flesh is what we are when rebellion against God and insubordination and hostility to God rule our bodies and our minds. So the way you put to death "the deeds of the body" is to strangle the air that sinful deeds breathe. Strangle the flesh. Cut the lifeline. Pinch the air pipe. Stop the blood flow. Sinful deeds must be killed before they happen - by severing the root of distrust and hostility and insubordination toward God.
I like angry songs. If "angry" was a genre, it would be my favorite one.
Now let me clarify: I don't like screamo. However, if you give me a song where it's evident that the artist is passionately upset about something, then i'll take that song and put it on repeat for half a day.
This applies to movies for me as well. Braveheart is flippin' sweat because William Wallace is one angry determined man. It costs him his life, but he counted the cost and paid the price.
I think it's important for me to also say that the opposite of this is true. Just as I like angry songs, I dislike cheesy happy songs. You could play me these types of songs all day and i'll eventually just get upset and seek out some angry raw music (j/k...but, I mean, seriously).
This applies to christians too. Truthfully, the order of this post is probably incorrect. I think that I started liking angry christians before I ever liked angry songs.
This probably needs some clarification as well: I don't like followers of Jesus who want to physically fight people all the time. Or those who are constantly cussing someone out and banging their heads into walls and such.
But the fact remains, there is far too little anger in us. Is there not reason?
Should we not be angry at our lack of fruit for Christ? At the sin that's still present in our lives? Should we not be angry at how lukewarm we are? How we don't believe God's promises? How we look so much like the world? How we are ashamed of the gospel? Oh, how little do we love others? How often do we solely love ourselves? Maybe more than all the others, should we not be angry at our lack of anger?
Lets get angry. Lets stop moping around and complaining about our problems. Lets rise. Lets pray that God would give us some HOLY DISSATISFACTION. Lets put on the full armor of God and stand firm in the Lord. Lets pray to a big God who does what he pleases.
I want to hear some angry prayers. I long to see someone so angry that their life changes. I want to see an army full of angry christians. I want us to wrestle with God until he blesses us. I want to see some people willing to fight to the death.
Any idol I have known,
whatever that idol be,
help me to tear it from its throne,
and worship only thee.
Spurgeon
THIS post from Between Two Worlds rocked my world. It's an analogy that Piper used to describe the christians battle against sin.
Read more...No, i'm not referring to Stuart Townsend's new-school jam. I am referring to what the Lord has been teaching me lately.
I've been listening to Piper's book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist via audiobook, and it's got me thinking a lot about joy. Here's my thoughts:
I came to Christ because of joy. Plain and simply, life had no purpose or meaning in the life of 19 year old Mark Bennon. I was broken from putting all my marbles into a relationship that, at that time, was in shambles. I was confused because all the things that I had taken comfort in were stripped from me. There were no more sports, no more drinking buddies, no more girlfriend, no more knowing everybody, no more reputation, no more familiarity. It was here that I heard an alternative to my hopelessness in the offer to follow Christ. I was more than interested, I was determined to know the Lord. I knew vaguely of my sin, and vaguely of what the cross meant, but I was not yet compelled by these truths. I was compelled almost solely by the prospect of joy in the Lord, and it was right and good to do so.
The only problem is that satan is persistent in tempting me to love everything else but Jesus and i'm dumb enough to believe him. Christian, how often do you hear the whisper in your ear that if you get/do/win/achieve (blank) you will be happy? And how dumb is it that we are decieved?! I've traveled the avenues of sin so many times, before knowing Jesus and after, and i've found no hope and no joy. There is simply emptiness apart from the small and the narrow. And yet we refuse to remember the joylessness of sin and the lessons that God has taught us.
So what?
It is no secret that right now, i'd rather not be living in Hurrican(e), West Virginia.
However, I was cut to the heart from a sermon last night from Harambee Church:
"If you are in a situation right now where you are saying 'I wish my life was better-I wish things would change for me-I wish things were different', have you stopped and realized what they should be for you?"
In light of our sin and God's grace, is there ever a good reason to gripe and complain about our circumstances?
My prayer is that in all situations, God's people would praise the Lord for his mercy in place of grumbling over present troubles. 28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [Romans 8]
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A.W. Tozer is a brilliant author who in this book goes through all the attributes of God in an effort to proclaim His excellence. |
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It's a book about the redemtion of sinful man...and it's an English Standard Version. |
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Studies show that this devotional dominates lives. |
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It's a commentary... He comments on things. |
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