Holding the Phalanx of the Christian Life

22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~ Ro. 7:22-25a

As I was reading through my devotional for this morning (which is New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp, and I highly recommend it), I was struck by something in Ro. 7 that I had never really thought about before. In vv. 22-23, Paul brings out how sanctification is a war in the Christian life. Yes, that is not really new, but the way I thought about it this morning was new to me. Sanctification being a war of sin, temptation, the world, my flesh, and the devil against my my union with Christ requires me to hold the phalanx of the Christian life and march forward always.

The Phalanx

The phalanx was an ancient battle formation that was really brought to its penical by the Spartans in ancient Greece. In the above photo, you get a pretty good picture of what it looked like (though, that photo is from the movie 300, which was really not representative of Spartan battle strategies in any other way than this one scene). The front line of soldiers would line up with shields in their left hand and spears in their right. The shields would overlap, so part of your shield protected you and part of it protected your comrade to your left. Then, the next line would do the same thing, putting their shields right up against the backs of the front line, and so on and so forth back--many ranks deep. Then, they would face another army, and the line would never break. The the Spartans would often just march over entire armies this way or even push entire armies off a cliff, if that was available.

Christian Life Warfare

Since sanctification is a war of sin, temptation, the world, the flesh, and the devil against my union with Christ and since that means I must hold the phalanx of the Christian life, it is then something constant and spiritually exhausting, when we do it in our own strength. Do you ever get tired of resisting temptation to the same sin over and over again? Do you ever get so tired that you give in? Me too. Holding the phalanx can be exhausting, and we often make the same tragic outcry Paul makes in v. 24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Holding the Line

Yet, what is Paul's answer to his outcry? It is that we never actually do hold the line on our own. We are never meant to! "Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord... There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Ro. 7:25-8:1) Our Savior--who is the only human ever to hold the line without it breaking ever in His life--delivers us and strengthens us; not just at the moment of our salvation but in every moment that follows throughout our whole life. He beckons us, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Mt. 11:28) He gives us rest, even in the midst of holding the phalanx in the spiritual battles of this life. A phalanx held by me will fail, but one held by faith in Jesus will hold until the end (cf. Php. 1:6).

The Shield of Faith

So, now that you know what the phalanx is, do you see why Paul used the metaphor of a shield for faith? In his metaphor about the Christian life and the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20), he says, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one." Faith in Jesus providing the strength we need is what protects us and what allows us to hold the phalanx, even in the midst of battle.

In Sparta, if you were a soldier, you could be caught without your sword or your spear during a time of war, and you might only receive a minor punishment. If you were caught without your shield, however, that was a capital crime. Why? Because being without your sword or spear would merely mean you could not go on the offensive in the phalanx, but if you did not have a shield, you were a weak point in the phalanx that might cost the whole army the battle. Your shield was absolutely essential, and you had to have it on you all the time during wartime.

For us, the shield of faith is something we cannot let drop for even a moment. We live by faith (Ro. 1:17) and walk by faith (2 Co. 5:7), for we must always acknowledge our need of Him and His gospel every moment. The war of the Christian life is not made of two or three "big" moments in life where temptation comes in a huge assault but of a million "little" ones in our daily, hourly, minutely life--the war is constant! And, we can face none of those moments on our own and hope to succeed. We must submit them all to Christ and His strength, praying that the gospel would drive us, strengthen us, and motivate us in Him to hold the line through them all. That is why Paul ends his metaphor of the armor of God by saying, "...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." (Eph. 6:18)

Holding the Line Together

There is one more thing I want to bring out: the phalanx was not a one-man line. That is obvious, but we need to think about the implications for us as believers. We hold the line against temptation with our shields of faith as a community of believers. I stand beside my brothers and sisters in Christ, and sometimes their shield of faith is what encourages me to keep mine up against the enemy. They might do this through their own prayers for me, through accountability, or simply through encouragement, but whatever way it is, one of the ways Jesus strengthens us to hold the line is through His body. We hold the line together.

O Lord, make this true of us today!

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Recounting the History of God's Grace

Well, we have made it through the book of Joshua. This Sunday, the sermon posted will look at the final chapter and see how God and Joshua end this wonderful book that teaches us how to fight the good fight of the faith.

In the previous sermon, we saw Joshua's final words to the leaders of Israel that teach them about living by faith. In this final chapter of the book, Joshua leads the people in renewing the covenant with God, which is an act of rededicating themselves to His service before Joshua passes into glory and they are on their own. The way the covenant renewal ceremony is laid out in this passage is very similar to the covenants of the other peoples of the ancient near east surrounding Israel. God chose to make His covenants with them in a way that would be familiar to them (in and of itself and act of grace!).

The ceremonies generally opened with a preamble where the parties making the covenant introduce themselves, and then they go on to a "historical prologue" where the history of the relationship between the parties is recounted (i.e. everything that is leading up to the covenant ceremony). The covenant renewal ceremony in Jos. 24 follows that pattern, and it is the historical prologue that I want to focus on for this devotional. We will talk about it a little Sunday, but we will not be able to go into detail there. So, here are a few theological highlights from the recounting of the history of God and His people to this point (reading Jos. 24:1-13 first would be helpful):

• Unconditional Election: Joshua starts out by reminding them that God took Abraham from Ur while Abraham was still a pagan. And, Abraham was chosen; not his brother Nahor, yet Abraham deserved it no more than Nahor. Abraham was no saint when God found him. He was plunged into pagan worship probably just as much as the Canaanites. Abraham did not become a believer because he was somehow inherently better than his father or brother. Abraham did not deserve it any more than anyone else. No, it was because God "took" him and "led" him. God loved Abraham when he deserved only wrath. The fact that Israel exists at all is simply an act of God's free grace and unconditional election. And, this is consistent with the rest of Scripture. The Bible constantly reminds us of who we were, but it is not to bring us to despair but to show us the incredible grace of God. Francis Schaeffer once wrote:

Whether studying the Old Testament or the New, we are reminded that we are not where we are because of a long, wise, and godly heritage. We come from rebellion. Individually, we are children of wrath. After we are Christians, we must look at others who are still under God's wrath and always say, "I am essentially what you are. If I am in a different place, it is not because I am intrinsically better than you, but simply because God has done something in my life." There is no place for pride.

• Slow growth: Joshua tells us that God multiplied Abraham's seed, but it was really, really slow. He only gave him Isaac. Isaac only had two sons, one of which would not produce people of God (i.e. Esau). Finally, with Jacob's twelve sons, things start to speed up. So, we see from this that God does what He promises, but sometimes it is so gradual that we do not notice until it has been going on for a long time. We need to keep this in mind and walk by faith; not by sight. As one commentator says, "We easily lose sight of what Yahweh has done by demanding too much too soon."
• Rough spots: Joshua also points out that Esau and his people (not God's people) get their inheritance right away but Jacob and his sons (God's people!) go to Egypt and become slaves. What? Why do the covenant people get slavery while the others get their land? Sometimes history seems to conflict with God's design, which is, again, why we have to walk by faith and not by sight. God always accomplishes His design, but sometimes it is not at all when we would expect it (cf. e.g. He. 11:32-38). The Scriptures are realistic about this and do not hide the "rough spots" from us, and that shows God is honest, realistic, and always faithful. God showing us the "rough spots" and confusing parts of history is not to make us relish the difficult aspects of the life to which He has called His people but to show us that He is faithful to hold us in and bring us through the "rough spots."
• God's power: In vv. 5-12, Joshua recounts God's incredible power to deliver His people from Egypt (the greatest power in the world at the time), conquer the kings east of the Jordan, and conquer the Promised Land. Joshua sums it up with telling the people that it was not by their sword or bow that all this was accomplished but by God's mighty power. Time and time again God's people are outnumbered, outgunned, or even completely helpless, and God fights for them by His mighty power. This shows us what Jonah learned in Jon. 2:9: Salvation is of the LORD. Paul also tells us this in 2 Co. 4:7. This is not to say that we just "let go and let God," for God uses our struggles, as we fight by faith, but it does show us that our struggles would be nothing, useless, futile without God's mighty power. (We will talk more about this in the upcoming sermon.)
• God's provision: If we look at vv. 7, 13, Joshua shows us God's provision in necessity and abundance, but also note that His provision is the basic stuff: manna, grain, towns, houses. It, with the exception of the manna, is ordinary stuff that we take for granted every day, but it is all of God's grace. God always provides for His people, but we need to remember too that God isn't some kind of genie that just grants our wishes. He gives us our needs; not necessarily our desires. And, most often He does it through the normal, ordinary means of a job, a family, etc.

You see, Joshua does not recount their history just to show them their past but to show them the great God whom they serve. That is the basis for the rest of the covenant renewal ceremony, which we will talk more about on Sunday. Until then, think about your own history, and I bet if you think long and hard enough, you could find some very similar displays of God's grace, faithfulness, power, and provision even during the rought spots, and if you do that, it will refresh your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Some Reflections on the Dividing of the Promised Land

As I mentioned in the last devotional post in this series, we are moving ahead at warp speed through the last half of the book of Joshua, but, fortunately, Joshua lends itself to that. By the end of ch. 12, the Israelites have essentially taken all the Promised Land. They have broken the backs of their enemies, destroyed the strongholds, and basically won the war, but there is still a lot of "cleanup work" to be done. So, God divides the land between the twelve tribes of Israel and commands them to go into their various regions and kill or drive out the remaining Canaanites. That is what chs. 13-22 are mostly about, so we are going to summarize and skip almost all of it, with the exception of ch. 20, on which this Sunday's sermon will be.

However, even though we are skipping most of the dividing up of the land, that does not mean there's nothing for us to learn from that section. There are probably many theological and spiritual truths we could glean from it--too many to put in one post--so let me just hit a few highlights from these chapters.

First, one of the things that comes out in these chapters is that God gives the Israelites more land than they can possibly settle, at least at this point, but that should not surprise us at all. Our God is an abundantly gracious God. Christ Himself is far more full of grace than we are of sin and folly. When we go to the fountain of God's grace, it is kind of like taking a drink from a river. We can drink all that we can possibly hold and not even begin to drain the river of grace.

Second, God distributes the land to the tribes Himself, which is an important act of grace on God's part. Think about what would have happened if God had just said to the Israelites, "Here's the land, now go divide it up among yourselves." Do you think they would have done that without fights, without disagreements? Not hardly. Nothing can cause a family to turn on one another faster than dividing up an inheritance--"I want this land," "We deserve more because we're a bigger family," etc.--and the Israelites were no different. God knows their sinful hearts. He knows that if He had just sent them into the land with no instructions on dividing it up, they would have turned on each other, and there would have been a huge civil war that might have destroyed them. So, in His grace and wisdom, God divides the land Himself and proportions it as He sees fit. Therefore, when they go to settle the land, their property lines are clearly marked by God Himself, and no one can argue with that.

Third, the Levites do not get a specific territory. They are the one tribe that does not get a plot of land solely to themselves. Instead, they get allotted 48 cities distributed throughout the entire Promised Land. Why is that? Well, the Levites are the tribe specifically tasked with the service of God in the Tabernacle, later the Temple, and for the whole people of God. So, God does not put His ministers in one region but spreads them out throughout the whole land. This shows us that God is very concerned for the pastoral care of His people. If the Levites had one territory, say surrounding Jerusalem, then the tribes in the North would have to travel very far simply to get a circumcision or a funeral done. Instead, God distributes His servants throughout the land, so that they are close to all Israelites for weddings, funerals, circumcisions, or any other spiritual guidance that the people need. God loves His people and wants them to be cared for spiritually, and we can see that even in how He divides up the land!

Fourth, the dividing up of the land revealed a tension in which the Israelites would have to live for a time: the Promised Land was theirs--they had won the war--but there was also still a lot of "cleanup work" to be done to purge the land of Canaanites. So, the war was over, but the losers were still there and those Canaanites weren't going to be done away with easily. This is a kind of spiritual picture of how we live in the Christian life. For us, Jesus has won the war: sin has been defeated, death has been defanged, and the devil has lost. The war is essentially over--Jesus has won. Yet, we live in a tension like the Israelites. Though sin, death, and the prince of despair have been beaten, the losers still fight. We still must die a physical death, though it no longer has the sting of hell for God's people. The devil can still tempt us, but he must flee at the name of Jesus. And, while we are no longer slaves to sin, there are still many, many "Canaanites" in our hearts that need to be purged. Even though the war has been won, this life is still a battle that we have to fight by faith in Jesus each and every day, just like the Israelites had won the war but still had many, many Canaanites to get rid of.

But, God has not left us to live in this tension and fight these battles alone. He has give us His Word, prayer, worship, His people, and, most of all, the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to fight. As Paul says in Ro. 8:11, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." Because the Spirit dwells in us, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us--resurrection-power working in us. So, while there is much work to be done--many more "Canaanites" in our hearts to be purged--we can know that "it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

Those are just a few spiritual highlights from this section of Joshua. I would encourage you to read through it yourself, even though it may seem boring and repetitive, and see what the Spirit shows you about Jesus and the battles we fight for the Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: God Fights for His People

In the previous post, I talked about the conquest of the land of Canaan because that is one of the difficult ethical issues that this book brings up, and in the chapter that this sermon will cover brings that to the forefront. However, I would not have had time to cover it in the sermon, so I did it in the devotional. So, if you have not read that, please read it first.

In this sermon, we'll see from this passage how God fights for His people in the battles of this life. We cannot hope to stand alone against sin, the devil, the world, and death itself. Our enemies are far more powerful than we are, but God does not leave us alone. He fights for us, just like He fought for Israel in the battle against Jericho.

If you want to hear more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that God will use it to magnify His glory in your heart and fortify you for the battles of this Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Hope for a New Year

So, in the week leading up to this past New Year's Eve, many people were making resolutions, as they do, of course, every year. And, of course, since Jan. 1, 2015, the number of broken resolutions has been growing steadily. This year I got a little curious about the resolutions people were making, so I went to Twitter and searched #NewYearsResolution, and, as you might imagine, a bunch of tweets came up. Most were about the standard resolution stuff—losing weight, eating healthier, stopping doing _____, travel to _____, change my life, etc.—but there were also many tweets that reflected a loss of hope for many individuals—people who have made many, many resolutions and know they never stick to them.

Now, you may not be into New Year's resolutions (like me), but when we Christians come up on mile markers in life like a new year, it's not uncommon for us to reflect on the previous year and maybe even feel a little twinge of that loss of hope—I want to change, but I never stick to it. Sometimes I think about how I'm still struggling with the same sins that plagued me a year ago or two years ago. Sometimes I wonder if I'm increasing in personal holiness and growing in the likeness of Christ at all. Now, that may be partially because I'm the kind of person who tends to focus more on the negative, and you may be a more positive thinking person. But, even so, I'd venture the guess that all of us would like to grow more in Christ and get over certain sins faster or altogether. Paul expressed the common human experience when he said, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" We know God's moral will for our lives and then we see what we're doing and how we've been doing it for a long time, and it's easy to think, "Is there any point? Is there any hope?"

Well, Ro. 4:13-25 is a passage that talks about the true hope of the gospel, even when it seems hopeless, and I had the blessing of being able to preach a sermon on that passage a couple of Sunday's ago. If you are interested in hearing more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here. I pray that it is a blessing to your soul and increases your joy in Christ.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Transformation

Continuing our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah brings us to Ge. 43-44, which is one of the high points of this narrative, at least when it comes to the theme of gospel-change working in our lives. In the previous sermon, we saw Jacob and Joseph's brothers' consciences being pricked and awakened by God; yet we didn't actually see any transformation of their hearts. In Ge. 43-44, we see God use the tools of providence and guilt to transform Jacob and the brothers' hearts. It's a wonderful development in the plot of this story, and you can hear the sermon here or read the transcript here.

As we have stated in the past posts in this series, we are also learning the questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on the page of Scripture. In this passage, we do not learn a new question but reuse one we have already learned: What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? And, when we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His work of redemption. In this sermon, we also get introduced to another way of seeing Christ in these Old Testament stories: types. A "type" is a theological term for an OT person, place, or object that God ordained to serve as a predictive pattern for Christ and what He does for us, and we see Judah as a type of Christ at the end of ch. 44. If you want to learn how, you can hear the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Growth

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, we come to Ge. 42, where Joseph meets his brothers after more than 20 years of separation. Now, we have seen Joseph grow a lot in the past 20+ years in this story, but we have no idea what has been going on in his brothers or Jacob. Both Joseph and we need the answer to the question: How much have Jacob and Joseph's brothers grown in the past 20+ years? What is the state of their spiritual health? Well, we find that out in this passage and we learn a little about our spiritual health and growth as well. Unfortunately, because of a mix-up, this sermon was not recorded, but you can read the transcript here.

As we have stated in the past posts in this series, we are also learning the questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on the page of Scripture. In this passage, we do not learn a new question but reuse one we have already learned: What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? And, when we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need. With this passage, we can see ways in which we can examine our own spiritual health and see our need of Jesus for growth in those areas.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Sanctification

Since this Sunday's sermon post will largely focus on spiritual health and our growth/sanctification as children of God, a little perspective on the biblical balance of God's work and our effort in sanctification would be helpful. The senior pastor of my church, Chris Hutchinson, has written an excellent article on this balance, which will be our devotion this week. If you would like to read it online in its original venue on The Aquila Report, you can find it here; otherwise it is below:

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Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. ~ Philippians 2:12-13

There has been quite the dustup recently in the Reformed world over the doctrine of sanctification. To over simplify things, some are saying that our sanctification primarily comes from remembering our justification, while others want a more rigorous attention to the effort we must contribute. I have no ambition to provide a comprehensive answer that will settle the dispute, but there is one often-neglected paragraph in the Westminster Confession of Faith that I believe can provide some peace to both sides, and thus settle at least some of the dust.

But first, we should not be surprised that there is considerable debate about sanctification among the Reformed. After all, the only remarkable thing about the Reformed doctrine of sanctification is that there is nothing remarkable about it. We are the ones who reject any sort of “golden key” solution to the problem. Other traditions offer a “second experience of grace,” the sacraments, or some one doctrine as offering the ultimate solve-all to the problem of ongoing sin in the Christian’s life. But the Reformed say we need all of the above, and even more. We are precisely in the already/not yet stage of our salvation, and so it must be messy – how could it not? We are already perfect – justified by simple faith in Christ (Romans 4:5); and at the same time not yet perfect – glorification still awaits us (Romans 8:23).

So of course we have discussions and debates about what this messy stage of sanctification looks like. And it may look different from Christian to Christian. A word in season to one believer may be a crushing discouragement to another. That is why we need wisdom – and even more, love for one another, that we might know how to speak in order to build up as each case requires (Ephesians 4:29; II Timothy 4:2).

But in all this, I believe that our forefathers wrestled through this problem well and produced a very helpful paragraph that is not as well known or used as I think it might be in these discussions. And that is Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2, from the chapter on Saving Faith, found just after the chapter on sanctification:

By this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein; and acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

Now to place this section in context, this chapter on saving faith follows the chapters on justification, adoption and sanctification – the three main benefits of redemption in this life (WSC 32). And so this chapter is written to ensure that we see salvation as full orbed. True saving faith is more than just a one-time decision to receive Christ, but is a life long and growing faith (cf. I Thessalonians 2:13 and I Peter 1:2, in which we are said to be “saved” by sanctification, which I take to be more than definitive, positional sanctification).

So WCF 14 begins with the reminder that saving faith is the work of the Spirit in our hearts “ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word,” and only then increased and strengthened by all three means of grace – Word, sacraments and prayer. This reminds us of the priority of the Word in Reformed ministry. The spoken promise of the Gospel is where we must begin all ministry, to believer and unbeliever alike. Sacraments and prayer assist this ministry, but nothing avails anyone unless they first passively receive the Word – not as actors but as those acted upon. Justifying faith is always and only passive as the Larger Catechism makes clear (WLC 72). If we lose this we lose any hope of providing a sure and certain assurance of salvation.

But then, unless we think that the Christian life is an entirely passive affair, the divines give us 14.2, as quoted above. This paragraph reminds us that following on our justification, the Christian life involves life-long repentance and obedience and even trembling. Every passage of the Bible must be believed and – once properly understood – applied. The Christian life involves action. It is Philippians 2:12b, straight up: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So is that it? Does that settle the debate? The “effort” side wins? It is almost as if the divines anticipated our present day dispute. Which, of course they did, since it was a dispute in their day as well (cf. The Rise of Moralism by C. Fitzsimons Allison). And so they went on to write this important sentence:

But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

The authors remind us that even though the Christian life must involve action, that which is principal is still passive – accepting, receiving and resting upon Christ alone. And note that this is not just for justification, but for sanctification as well. So the divines state that the principal acts of sanctification involve resting on Christ, not our own actions! And so now, it is Philippians 2:13: for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Now, I am not sure what that always looks like in any given situation. We have all known people who “try too hard” to live the Christian life and just end up making themselves and everyone around them burdened and depressed. I would suspect that most of us have been that person at some time in our lives. And so our word to them must be to rest. To remember their justification. To somehow depend upon Christ for the strength to be more holy. To slow down and relax a little. To enjoy their life and remember that in Christ, God has already approved their works and they should not try to be more than they are (Ecclesiastes 9:7; Colossians 2:8-23).

But we have also all known believers who take their salvation for granted and seemingly have little interest in increasing their faith and repentance. They need to be reminded of the first part of this paragraph; that if they have true saving faith, then they will respond to the Word with particular repentance, change and action, as various passages of the Bible are learned and understood. This is why pastors and elders must be involved in their parishioners’ lives so that the general Word in sermons may be specifically applied to individual situations through discipleship, with gentleness and patience (cf. Philippians 3:15; II Timothy 2:24-25).

And so this section of the Westminster Confession provides important guidance and balance to these discussions. To the “rest” side, it reminds us that the Christian life involves effort – God empowered effort, but effort nonetheless. And effort that at times even trembles at the threatenings of God’s Word. To the “effort” side, it reminds us that we must not make principal what God’s Word does not – that the principal acts of sanctification remain accepting, receiving and resting on Christ alone, and never our own efforts.

Now no ministry ever gets this balance perfectly and so we must be careful not to pick and pull at each violation lest we devour one another (cf. Galatians 5:15). But if, as a whole, a Reformed ministry does not remind its people that their sanctification involves ongoing repentance, change and trembling, then it fails its own confession at that point. Believing the Gospel leads to concrete application (cf. Romans 12:1ff; Ephesians 4:1ff).

And likewise, if a Reformed ministry fails to emphasize resting in Christ for sanctification, then it too falls short of the Confession. I have heard many preachers and conference speakers who have done just that. I have left such talks wishing that the speaker had first meditated upon WCF 14.2 before burdening their hearers with so many strong, specific and fleshly exhortations. They had reversed the Confessional order, making effort principal, rather than rest.

So I believe that there is enough in Westminster Confession 14.2 to satisfy and challenge both sides of the discussion. And if heeded, that some of the dust of this debate may peaceably settle, with all sides better able to listen well and balance out what may be imbalanced in their own ministries, rather than everyone else's.

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Pastor Hutchinson has many other excellent articles and resources that he has written, which you can find on this resource page on our church's website. I hope the above article has been a blessing to you, and on Sunday we will see God beginning growth in Joseph's brothers and Jacob.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Unassailable Acceptance

"Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since it is in him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received his merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins, Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin." ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, evening March 28

What we celebrate on this day--Easter--is central to Christianity, and it guarantees our full, irremovable, unassailable acceptance before God. Is it historical? Absolutely. Is it important? Absolutely, for as Paul says, "...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." (1 Co. 15:17) Christ's resurrection is essential for the completed work of salvation, for an unresurrected Christ still bears the guilt of sin and has secured nothing (1 Co. 15:14-17). As long as He remained in death the righteous character of His work as our federal head and Savior remained in question. Through His resurrection He secured justification (1 Ti. 3:16), adoption (Ro. 1:4), sanctification (Ro. 6:3-11), glorification (1 Co. 6:14), and eternal life (Ro. 6:4-8). Since we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection (Col. 2:12), we have all these things too. Without His resurrection we have nothing.

As Spurgeon says, "when you have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted." When Paul said, "³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Ro. 8:38-39) he meant nothing can separate us from God if we are in Christ and that includes we ourselves. Nothing means nothing; so you cannot be unaccepted. If you have repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you cannot make God love you any more or any less by anything you do. You are fully accepted before God in Christ, period. Bask in that truth today and every day, and go live a life of thankfulness to Him for it.

Someone might say, "All of my incentive goes away when I know that my acceptance with God does not depend on my success or failure in obedience." But, if you say that, you do not really know or understand the love of Christ. Let me give you an example. (It is a marriage one so for those of you who are not married, use your imagination.) Husbands, would you cheat on your wife, if you knew that she would love and forgive you anyway? (Wives, think about it from your perspective.) I doubt it. Why not? Because her unconditional love engenders your love and thankfulness, and you would not do that to someone you love, even if you knew for certain they would still love you if you did cheat. You would not bring yourself to hurt them that much for your own selfish gain because their love has engendered your reciprocating love and thankfulness. You would want to show them by not cheating how thankful you are for a love that would forgive you even if you did cheat. Now, if you would cheat, then you do not really understand her love or understand love at all and probably have never understood it.

True believers have been changed by the love of Christ and will want to please Him and show Him their thankfulness. In fact, the only people who get any better are those that know if they do not get any better, God will still love them anyway. Does that mean we will not sin? No, of course not (1 Jn. 1:8). But, we do when we forget the truth of the gospel and go looking for what we already have in Christ in some idol that is smaller than Him. We have hearts that are prone to wander, which is why we need to come back to the gospel over and over again. The gospel is not just the flame that ignites the Christian life, it is the fuel that makes it burn every day. Jonathan Edwards used to say, "The key to the Christian life is letting the gospel filter down into every aspect of your life both rationally and experientially." You need the gospel as much today as you did when you were still dead in your sins. Never forget that, and never forget that you "cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted."

By His Grace,
Taylor

Augustine's Anti-Pelagian Writings

"Both by nature and by grace, Augustin was formed to be the champion of truth in this controversy. Of a naturally philosophical temperament, he saw into the springs of life with a vividness of mental perception to which most men are strangers; and his own experiences in his long life of resistance to, and then of yielding to, the drawings of God’s grace, gave him a clear apprehension of the great evangelic principle that God seeks men, not men God, such as no sophistry could cloud. However much his philosophy or theology might undergo change in other particulars, there was one conviction too deeply imprinted upon his heart ever to fade or alter,—the conviction of the ineffableness of God’s grace. Grace,—man’s absolute dependence on God as the source of all good,—this was the common, nay, the formative element, in all stages of his doctrinal development, which was marked only by the ever growing consistency with which he built his theology around this central principle." ~ B. B. Warfield, Introductory Essay on Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy

Those of you who know me well know that the writings of Augustine have had a huge impact on my development as a Christian—both spiritually and theologically. He has had such an enormous impact on me that I gave my son Gabriel the middle name "August" in his honor. In a recent post, I gave some recommended reading for 2013 and one of the books I suggested was Augustine's Anti-Pelagian Writings. To be honest, if I would have you read only one of Augustine's works, it would be his Confessions, but if I would have you read two, it would be his Confessions and his Anti-Pelagian Writings. Since the former is so much more commonly known, today I will focus on the latter. Below is a section of B. B. Warfield's introduction to the Anti-Pelagian Writings. It is only a small portion (the essay is quite long and included as an introduction to most versions of the Anti-Pelagian Writings) but it is enough to give you a taste of the theological importance of Augustine's efforts against Pelagius' heretical teachings. I hope it "wets your whistle" and inspires you to read this important collection of Augustine's work.

It was inevitable that the energy of the Church in intellectually realizing and defining its doctrines in relation to one another, should first be directed towards the objective side of Christian truth. The chief controversies of the first four centuries and the resulting definitions of doctrine, concerned the nature of God and the person of Christ; and it was not until these theological and Christological questions were well upon their way to final settlement, that the Church could turn its attention to the more subjective side of truth. Meanwhile she bore in her bosom a full recognition, side by side, of the freedom of the will, the evil consequences of the fall, and the necessity of divine grace for salvation. Individual writers, or even the several sections of the Church, might exhibit a tendency to throw emphasis on one or another of the elements that made up this deposit of faith that was the common inheritance of all. The East, for instance, laid especial stress on free will: and the West dwelt more pointedly on the ruin of the human race and the absolute need of God’s grace for salvation. But neither did the Eastern theologians forget the universal sinfulness and need of redemption, or the necessity, for the realization of that redemption, of God’s gracious influences; nor did those of the West deny the self-determination or accountability of men. All the elements of the composite doctrine of man were everywhere confessed; but they were variously emphasized, according to the temper of the writers or the controversial demands of the times. Such a state of affairs, however, was an invitation to heresy, and a prophecy of controversy; just as the simultaneous confession of the unity of God and the Deity of Christ, or of the Deity and the humanity of Christ, inevitably carried in its train a series of heresies and controversies, until the definitions of the doctrines of the Trinity and of the person of Christ were complete. In like manner, it was inevitable that sooner or later some one should arise who would so one-sidedly emphasize one element or the other of the Church’s teaching as to salvation, as to throw himself into heresy, and drive the Church, through controversy with him, into a precise definition of the doctrines of free will and grace in their mutual relations.

This new heresiarch came, at the opening of the fifth century, in the person of the British monk, Pelagius. The novelty of the doctrine which he taught is repeatedly asserted by Augustin, and is evident to the historian; but it consisted not in the emphasis that he laid on free will, but rather in the fact that, in emphasizing free will, he denied the ruin of the race and the necessity of grace. This was not only new in Christianity; it was even anti-Christian. Jerome, as well as Augustin, saw this at the time, and speaks of Pelagianism as the “heresy of Pythagoras and Zeno;” and modern writers of the various schools have more or less fully recognized it. Thus Dean Milman thinks that “the greater part” of Pelagius’ letter to Demetrias “might have been written by an ancient academic;” Dr. De Pressensé identifies the Pelagian idea of liberty with that of Paganism; and Bishop Hefele openly declares that their fundamental doctrine, “that man is virtuous entirely of his own merit, not of the gift of grace,” seems to him “to be a rehabilitation of the general heathen view of the world,” and compares with it Cicero’s words: “For gold, lands, and all the blessings of life, we have to return thanks to the Gods; but no one ever returned thanks to the Gods for virtues.” The struggle with Pelagianism was thus in reality a struggle for the very foundations of Christianity; and even more dangerously than in the previous theological and Christological controversies, here the practical substance of Christianity was in jeopardy. The real question at issue was whether there was any need for Christianity at all; whether by his own power man might not attain eternal felicity; whether the function of Christianity was to save, or only to render an eternity of happiness more easily attainable by man.

Genetically speaking, Pelagianism was the daughter of legalism; but when it itself conceived, it brought forth an essential deism. It is not without significance that its originators were “a certain sort of monks;” that is, laymen of ascetic life. From this point of view the Divine law is looked upon as a collection of separate commandments, moral perfection as a simple complex of separate virtues, and a distinct value as a meritorious demand on Divine approbation is ascribed to each good work or attainment in the exercises of piety. It was because this was essentially his point of view that Pelagius could regard man’s powers as sufficient to the attainment of sanctity,—nay, that he could even assert it to be possible for a man to do more than was required of him. But this involved an essentially deistic conception of man’s relations to his Maker. God had endowed His creature with a capacity (possibilitas) or ability (posse) for action, and it was for him to use it. Man was thus a machine, which, just because it was well made, needed no Divine interference for its right working; and the Creator, having once framed him, and endowed him with the posse, henceforth leaves the velle and the esse to him.

At this point we have touched the central and formative principle of Pelagianism. It lies in the assumption of the plenary ability of man; his ability to do all that righteousness can demand,—to work out not only his own salvation, but also his own perfection. This is the core of the whole theory; and all the other postulates not only depend upon it, but arise out of it. Both chronologically and logically this is the root of the system.

When we first hear of Pelagius, he is already advanced in years, living in Rome in the odour of sanctity, and enjoying a well-deserved reputation for zeal in exhorting others to a good life, which grew especially warm against those who endeavoured to shelter themselves, when charged with their sins, behind the weakness of nature. He was outraged by the universal excuses on such occasions,—“It is hard!” “it is difficult!” “we are not able!” “we are men!”—“Oh, blind madness!” he cried: “we accuse God of a twofold ignorance,—that He does not seem to know what He has made, nor what He has commanded,—as if forgetting the human weakness of which He is Himself the Author, He has imposed laws on man which He cannot endure.” He himself tells us that it was his custom, therefore, whenever he had to speak on moral improvement and the conduct of a holy life, to begin by pointing out the power and quality of human nature, and by showing what it was capable of doing. For (he says) he esteemed it of small use to exhort men to what they deemed impossible: hope must rather be our companion, and all longing and effort die when we despair of attaining. So exceedingly ardent an advocate was he of man’s unaided ability to do all that God commanded, that when Augustin’s noble and entirely scriptural prayer—“Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt”—was repeated in his hearing, he was unable to endure it; and somewhat inconsistently contradicted it with such violence as almost to become involved in a strife. The powers of man, he held, were gifts of God; and it was, therefore, a reproach against Him as if He had made man ill or evil, to believe that they were insufficient for the keeping of His law. Nay, do what we will, we cannot rid ourselves of their sufficiency: “whether we will, or whether we will not, we have the capacity of not sinning.” “I say,” he says, “that man is able to be without sin, and that he is able to keep the commandments of God;” and this sufficiently direct statement of human ability is in reality the hinge of his whole system.

There were three specially important corollaries which flowed from this assertion of human ability, and Augustin himself recognized these as the chief elements of the system. It would be inexplicable on such an assumption, if no man had ever used his ability in keeping God’s law; and Pelagius consistently asserted not only that all might be sinless if they chose, but also that many saints, even before Christ, had actually lived free from sin. Again, it follows from man’s inalienable ability to be free from sin, that each man comes into the world without entailment of sin or moral weakness from the past acts of men; and Pelagius consistently denied the whole doctrine of original sin. And still again, it follows from the same assumption of ability that man has no need of supernatural assistance in his striving to obey righteousness; and Pelagius consistently denied both the need and reality of divine grace in the sense of an inward help (and especially of a prevenient help) to man’s weakness.

It was upon this last point that the greatest stress was laid in the controversy, and Augustin was most of all disturbed that thus God’s grace was denied and opposed. No doubt the Pelagians spoke constantly of “grace,” but they meant by this the primal endowment of man with free will, and the subsequent aid given him in order to its proper use by the revelation of the law and the teaching of the gospel, and, above all, by the forgiveness of past sins in Christ and by Christ’s holy example. Anything further than this external help they utterly denied; and they denied that this external help itself was absolutely necessary, affirming that it only rendered it easier for man to do what otherwise he had plenary ability for doing. Chronologically, this contention seems to have preceded the assertion which must logically lie at its base, of the freedom of man from any taint, corruption, or weakness due to sin. It was in order that they might deny that man needed help, that they denied that Adam’s sin had any further effect on his posterity than might arise from his bad example. “Before the action of his own proper will,” said Pelagius plainly, “that only is in man which God made.” “As we are procreated without virtue,” he said, “so also without vice.” In a word, “Nothing that is good and evil, on account of which we are either praiseworthy or blameworthy, is born with us,—it is rather done by us; for we are born with capacity for either, but provided with neither.” So his later follower, Julian, plainly asserts his “faith that God creates men obnoxious to no sin, but full of natural innocence, and with capacity for voluntary virtues.” So intrenched is free will in nature, that, according to Julian, it is “just as complete after sins as it was before sins;” and what this means may be gathered from Pelagius’ definition in the “Confession of Faith,” that he sent to Innocent: “We say that man is always able both to sin and not to sin, so as that we may confess that we have free will.” That sin in such circumstances was so common as to be well-nigh universal, was accounted for by the bad example of Adam and the power of habit, the latter being simply the result of imitation of the former. “Nothing makes well-doing so hard,” writes Pelagius to Demetrias, “as the long custom of sins which begins from childhood and gradually brings us more and more under its power until it seems to have in some degree the force of nature (vim naturæ).” He is even ready to allow for the force of habit in a broad way, on the world at large; and so divides all history into progressive periods, marked by God’s (external) grace. At first the light of nature was so strong that men by it alone could live in holiness. And it was only when men’s manners became corrupt and tarnished nature began to be insufficient for holy living, that by God’s grace the Law was given as an addition to mere nature; and by it “the original lustre was restored to nature after its blush had been impaired.” And so again, after the habit of sinning once more prevailed among men, and “the law became unequal to the task of curing it,” Christ was given, furnishing men with forgiveness of sins, exhortations to imitation of the example and the holy example itself. But though thus a progressive deterioration was confessed, and such a deterioration as rendered desirable at least two supernatural interpositions (in the giving of the law and the coming of Christ), yet no corruption of nature, even by growing habit, is really allowed. It was only an ever-increasing facility in imitating vice which arose from so long a schooling in evil; and all that was needed to rescue men from it was a new explanation of what was right (in the law), or, at the most, the encouragement of forgiveness for what was already done, and a holy example (in Christ) for imitation. Pelagius still asserted our continuous possession of “a free will which is unimpaired for sinning and for not sinning;” and Julian, that “our free will is just as full after sins as it was before sins;” although Augustin does not fail to twit him with a charge of inconsistency.

The peculiar individualism of the Pelagian view of the world comes out strongly in their failure to perceive the effect of habit on nature itself. Just as they conceived of virtue as a complex of virtuous acts, so they conceived of sin exclusively as an act, or series of disconnected acts. They appear not to have risen above the essentially heathen view which had no notion of holiness apart from a series of acts of holiness, or of sin apart from a like series of sinful acts. Thus the will was isolated from its acts, and the acts from each other, and all organic connection or continuity of life was not only overlooked but denied. After each act of the will, man stood exactly where he did before: indeed, this conception scarcely allows for the existence of a “man”—only a willing machine is left, at each click of the action of which the spring regains its original position, and is equally ready as before to reperform its function. In such a conception there was no place for character: freedom of will was all. Thus it was not an unnatural mistake which they made, when they forgot the man altogether, and attributed to the faculty of free will, under the name of “possibilitas” or “posse,” the ability that belonged rather to the man whose faculty it is, and who is properly responsible for the use he makes of it. Here lies the essential error of their doctrine of free will: they looked upon freedom in its form only, and not in its matter; and, keeping man in perpetual and hopeless equilibrium between good and evil, they permitted no growth of character and no advantage to himself to be gained by man in his successive choices of good. It need not surprise us that the type of thought which thus dissolved the organism of the man into a congeries of disconnected voluntary acts, failed to comprehend the solidarity of the race. To the Pelagian, Adam was a man, nothing more; and it was simply unthinkable that any act of his that left his own subsequent acts uncommitted, could entail sin and guilt upon other men. The same alembic that dissolved the individual into a succession of voluntary acts, could not fail to separate the race into a heap of unconnected units. If sin, as Julian declared, is nothing but will, and the will itself remained intact after each act, how could the individual act of an individual will condition the acts of men as yet unborn? By “imitation” of his act alone could (under such a conception) other men be affected. And this carried with it the corresponding view of man’s relation to Christ. He could forgive us the sins we had committed; He could teach us the true way; He could set us a holy example; and He could exhort us to its imitation. But He could not touch us to enable us to will the good, without destroying the absolute equilibrium of the will between good and evil; and to destroy this was to destroy its freedom, which was the crowning good of our divinely created nature. Surely the Pelagians forgot that man was not made for will, but will for man.

In defending their theory, as we are told by Augustin, there were five claims that they especially made for it. It allowed them to praise as was their due, the creature that God had made, the marriage that He had instituted, the law that He had given, the free will which was His greatest endowment to man, and the saints who had followed His counsels. By this they meant that they proclaimed the sinless perfection of human nature in every man as he was brought into the world, and opposed this to the doctrine of original sin; the purity and holiness of marriage and the sexual appetites, and opposed this to the doctrine of the transmission of sin; the ability of the law, as well as and apart from the gospel, to bring men into eternal life, and opposed this to the necessity of inner grace; the integrity of free will to choose the good, and opposed this to the necessity of divine aid; and the perfection of the lives of the saints, and opposed this to the doctrine of universal sinfulness. Other questions, concerning the origin of souls, the necessity of baptism for infants, the original immortality of Adam, lay more on the skirts of the controversy, and were rather consequences of their teaching than parts of it. As it was an obvious fact that all men died, they could not admit that Adam’s death was a consequence of sin lest they should be forced to confess that his sin had injured all men; they therefore asserted that physical death belonged to the very nature of man, and that Adam would have died even had he not sinned. So, as it was impossible to deny that the Church everywhere baptized infants, they could not refuse them baptism without confessing themselves innovators in doctrine; and therefore they contended that infants were not baptized for forgiveness of sins, but in order to attain a higher state of salvation. Finally, they conceived that if it was admitted that souls were directly created by God for each birth, it could not be asserted that they came into the world soiled by sin and under condemnation; and therefore they loudly championed this theory of the origin of souls.

The teachings of the Pelagians, it will be readily seen, easily welded themselves into a system, the essential and formative elements of which were entirely new in the Christian Church; and this startlingly new reading of man’s condition, powers, and dependence for salvation, it was, that broke like a thunderbolt upon the Western Church at the opening of the fifth century, and forced her to reconsider, from the foundations, her whole teaching as to man and his salvation.

Augustine's anti-Pelagian writings are available for free all over the web. Here is the link to the CCEL version, which gives you a number of formats (online, PDF, plain text file, etc.), and here is a .mobi version that you can use on your Kindle, which you can get for free on any smart phone. I hope the above section of B. B. Warfield's introduction to them inspires you to read them. They will bless your soul, expand your mind, and magnify the glory of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in your heart.

By His Grace,
Taylor

What is Sanctification?

"Union with Christ in his death and resurrection is the element of union which Paul most extensively expounds...if we are united to Christ, then we are united to him at all points of his activity on our behalf. We share in his death (we were baptized into his death), in his resurrection (we are resurrected with Christ), in his ascension (we have been raised with him), in his heavenly session (we sit with him in heavenly places, so that our life is hidden with Christ in God), and we will share in his promised return (when Christ, who is our life, appears, we also will appear with him in glory) (Rom. 6:14; Col. 2:11-12; 3:1-3). This, then, is the foundation of sanctification in Reformed theology. It is rooted, not in humanity and their achievement of holiness or sanctification, but in what God has done in Christ, and for us in union with him. Rather than view Christians first and foremost in the microcosmic context of their own progress, the Reformed doctrine first of all sets them in the macrocosm of God's activity in redemptive history. It is seeing oneself in this context that enables the individual Christian to grow in true holiness." ~ Sinclair Ferguson

If you want to get a great summary of the Reformed, and I think correct, view of sanctification you can find it in Sinclair's article in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification. His article is worth the price of the book alone, but it is also great to see other traditions' views presented by their best scholars and critiqued by each other. In a nutshell, below is how I would explain sanctification:

What is sanctification? From the Reformed perspective sanctification can be defined as the life-long process (Philippians 1:6) of our whole man being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) through the work of God’s grace (John 1:16; II Corinthians 9:8; 12:9) by the agency of the Spirit (Galatians 3:1-5; I Corinthians 6:11) applying the blessings of our union with Christ (John 14:20; 15:5; Ephesians 5:25-32) to us through the means of grace—the sacraments, the Word of God, and prayer.

When does this happen? In the logical order of salvation sanctification begins after our justification and adoption and continues until our glorification. One might ask, “Why is this important?” It is important because we must understand that the foundation for the transformative process of sanctification is our forensic standing before God. We are declared righteous and adopted into the family of God by being united to Christ through the Holy Spirit. Only on the certainty of this foundation can we truly understand the way of sanctification. The principal means of the believer’s sanctification is union with Christ. As Paul reminds the Galatians, this foundation assures us that sanctification is not by human effort—it began with faith in Christ, it will end with Christ, and in between it continues with faith in Christ (Galatians 3:1-5).

The key focus that needs to be brought out is that Christ Himself is our sanctification (I Corinthians 1:30) and it is only by our union with Him through the agency of the Spirit that we can “bear fruit” (John 15:5) in our Christian lives. Paul reminds us in Romans 6:5-8 that we were united with Christ in His death, we were united with Christ in His burial, and we are united with Christ in life. It is because of this union with Christ that we can “consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to God” (Romans 6:11). Being united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection broke our chains of slavery to sin and made us “slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:15-18). It is only because of the blessings of this union with Christ that Paul can pastorally say to his Roman audience, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romains 6:12) for it does not and cannot depend on “human effort” (Galatians 3:3).

If we are united to Christ and can have victory over our sin by this union why, then do we still sin? To understand this we must remember that God has replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and created in us a new, inner man—we are a new creation in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17)—but since we have not yet been glorified with Christ the old, outer man still persists (Ephesians 4:22-23). The flesh has been defeated, but the loser still fights. We will not be completely free of sin until we are glorified with Christ and the old man is completely done away with.

How does the Spirit reshape us into the image of God? It is not by works that the Spirit molds us into the image of Christ. Good works do not produce holiness. It is the grace of God working in us by the Spirit through faith in Christ that produces holiness. How then do we receive this grace? The Spirit applies this grace to our lives through the use of the means of grace—the Word of God, the sacraments, and prayer. This is contrary to our normal was of thinking. We feel like we have to do something—that we must bring something to the table. However, we do not bring anything to the table, we rest in Christ. Sanctification, like justification, is by faith in Christ. We do this by letting the Spirit minister to our hearts through the Word of God (the reading, study, and especially the preaching of the Word in public worship), the observing of the sacraments during worship, and prayer (private and corporate). By the Spirit’s work through the means of grace we can respond with works of thankfulness to the unconditional love of God shown in the gospel. By the Spirit’s work through the means of grace we draw near to Christ and let the Spirit sanctify us in Him.

By His Grace,

Taylor

A Life of Repentance

“Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” ~ The first of Martin Luther's 95 Theses

Traditionally, Reformation Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. The first is something I often need to be reminded of even though it may look bleak. It does seem like Luther is saying Christians will never make progress in getting better so they always need to be repenting. What he really meant, however, is that living a life of repentance is the way a Christian actually makes progress. In fact, a persistent life of repentance is one of the best, telltale signs that we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. (By the way, “poenitentiam agite” is the Latin Vulgate mistranslation of Matthew 4:17 that led to the Roman Catholic doctrine of repentance. Luther is saying that it should not be translated as “do penance” but “repent”.)

When talking about repentance we must understand the difference between “religious repentance” (a term I borrow from Tim Keller) and gospel-driven repentance. “Religious” repentance is done basically to keep God happy so He will not punish us, so He will bless us, or to bribe Him to answer our prayers. Gospel-driven repentance, however, comes from deep sorrow for sinning against our God who loves us so much and repeatedly reminds us of our union with Christ, His all-encompassing sacrifice for us, and God’s love for us that can never change. This kind of repentance will weaken our need to do those things that are contrary to God’s heart.

Sin is atrocious and dishonors God but with “religious repentance” we are not sorry for the sin; we are afraid of condemnation or punishment, which is a man-centered way of viewing repentance. The gospel reminds Christians that we are incredibly sinful (Romans 7:7ff) but also that no sin can ultimately bring us to condemnation (Romans 8:1) so we do not have to go to God thinking we must somehow avert His anger. Jesus has already done that for us with His propitiatory sacrifice for us (Romans 3:23-26)! Gospel-driven repentance opens our heart to being sorry for the sin itself and what it has done to God. Gospel-driven repentance is ultimately God-centered, which is how our entire lives should be.

Another problem with “religious” repentance is that when we have this mindset we are often trying to atone for the sin somehow. We think that if we are truly sorry for the sin then we deserve to be forgiven for it. We might even go so far as to do something that will make us suffer for the sin as some kind of act of penance. That kind of thinking is actually quite arrogant and, again, man-centered. We cannot atone for anything! The gospel, however, reminds us that we do not have to atone for our sin. Jesus has already done that! He suffered the punishment for our sins (I John 2:1-2). He earned the forgiveness. In repentance we simply receive with open, empty hands the forgiveness that Jesus earned for us. In gospel-driven repentance, forgiveness is a just/righteous thing for God to do (I John 1:9) because Jesus suffered and died for it. Think about that for a second. It would be unjust for God not to forgive us when we come to Him for forgiveness on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice for us because Jesus merited acceptance for us! Again, this makes gospel-driven repentance humble and God-centered.

Gospel-driven repentance also makes confession of sin easy. Listen to John’s words in I John 1:8-2:2:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

In “religious” repentance we only ask for forgiveness when we are really feeling guilty about something. There must be tremendous pressure for us to repent. In gospel-driven repentance, however, we run to God with all our sins because 1) we know we have to and 2) we know that we will be accepted. John tells us that if we say we have no sin we are a liar. Harsh words but true words. But, he says, if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us! Not only that, John says, “…if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” This should make us run to the throne for repentance any time we sin, no matter how “big” or “small” the sin seems. We can run to the throne because we know that God is faithful and just to forgive us and Jesus, the sacrifice that earned our forgiveness, is our advocate! Gospel-driven repentance reminds us of how sinful we are, yet also reminds us that we can freely, quickly run to God for forgiveness and be certain that He will grant it.

This is why repentance is a way of life for believers, as Luther says. We will always have sins to repent but at the same time repentance is one of the ways that God helps us grow and become better. Look again at what John tells his readers, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” Wait, he is telling them that they are sinful and that they can confess their sins so they will not sin? That seems odd. It seems like telling people they are going to sin (no doubt about it) and that they can get forgiveness from God when they confess would make people sin more. That kind of radical grace opens the door for more sinning, right? No, John does not see it that way at all. He says that he is telling them the radical grace of the gospel so that they will not sin. Why? I like Steve Brown’s answer, “The only people who get any better are those that know that if they don’t get any better God will still love them anyway.” Gospel-driven repentance based on radical grace does not encourage sin but helps conform us to the likeness of Christ, which changes our hearts to be after God’s.

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Bumpy Ride

"...She had mapped out a perfect life, without failures or disappointments. But that is more of a flawed life-plan than the bumpy ride God inevitably maps out for us. People who have never suffered in life have less empathy for others, little knowledge of their own shortcomings and limitations, no endurance in the face of hardship, and unrealistic expectations for life. As the New Testament book of Hebrews tells us, anyone God loves experiences hardship (Hebrews 12:1-8)." Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

God is good. Any Christian would agree with that statement. We can even say that God is perfectly good, and He is all the time. We take great comfort in those words, as we should, but there is a side of God’s goodness that we often misunderstand. We often think that God loving us means He will not allow us to experience "the bumpy ride." Many of us have found, however, that is simply not the case.

When C. S. Lewis lost his wife, Joy, he started journaling about his struggles with God. Eventually one of his friends read his journal and convinced Lewis to publish it because he knew how much it would help many others. Lewis did publish it (initially under a pseudonym) with the title A Grief Observed. In it he wrote about God’s goodness:

The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed-might grow tired of his vile sport-might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For not even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t. Either way, we’re in for it.

I think we often miss this when we consider what a "good God" would be like. In today’s culture, we want to believe that a truly "good God" would not discipline us, allow us to take a path that will hurt us, or use the evil in the world to accomplish His good plans for making us more like Jesus. We try to fit God into a box where His goodness is subject to our desires and comfort. Is that good though? Is a parent who does not discipline their child doing that child a favor? It is painful to have a broken bone set, but if the medic acquiesced to the pleas to stop before the bone was set, would that be good? In each case the child or the injured individual may be thankful at the time, but in the long run, they would be hurt a great deal more. Thankfully we have a wise and a good God who knows better than to stop before He is finished. It is also kind of frightening to believe in such a God because we then have to come to grips with the reality that He may do something for our good that is extremely unpleasant. We have to realize that He uses suffering to produce Christ-like character and hope in us (Ro. 5:3-5). That means there will be times when we may wish that He would be subject to bribes like some kind of "Cosmic Sadist," but if He were, He would not be good. During these times we have to remember what Charles Spurgeon once said, "When you can’t trace God’s hand, trust His heart."

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Hunt

"Many Christians think of finding God's will as if it were an Easter egg hunt. God isn't in the business of keeping His will from you... The Bible is clear that some things are always God's will... and some things are never God's will... If you want to do God's will do what He says to do and don't do what He says not to do... Aside from that do whatever your hand finds to do with all of your might, that's Ecclesiastes 9:10. If He wants you to do something else He'll let you know through circumstance, through Bible study, through your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible says I Thessalonians 4:3 'For this is the will of God, your sanctification.' In other words God's perfectly capable of moving you anywhere He wants, of bringing forth any circumstances, of giving you any relationship, that's His business." ~ Steve Brown

I like this statement, especially the part about thinking of God's will like it is an Easter egg to be found. So often we fret over what "God's will for my life" is. We stress about whether or not we are making the "right decision" or if we are going to "mess up God's plan". We complicate things too much. First, we cannot mess up God's plan. God is sovereign and His plans are certain, there is nothing we can do to change that. Second, we worry so much about making the "right decisions" when really God's will for us as Christians is not as much about what we do specifically, but who we are as His children. As Steve quoted above, I Thessalonians 4:3 specifically states that the will of God is that we be sanctified in Him. Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart." How can God promise to give us the desires of our hearts? Well if we are delighting ourselves in Him, following Him, and making Him the center of our lives He will make His desires our desires as He sanctifies us. We are then free to follow those desires that He has given us.

How do we make this practical? A few things: First, to delight ourselves in God we have to know Him and what His general will for creation is. To do this we must study His Word, listen to it rightly preached, and commune with Him in prayer. Through this He becomes our joy and we begin to see what His plans (in general) for the Kingdom are. Second, God has given us community for many reasons and one is so we can draw from the wisdom of the collective body. We need to seek the advice of the friends that know us best and the older, wiser godly individuals in our lives. Finally, if we are doing all of the above we can follow our hearts' desires trusting that God will make His desires our desires.

By His Grace,
Taylor

It is Hard to Hug a Stiff Kid

"It is hard to hug a stiff kid... It is easier to hug a dirty kid." ~ Steve Brown

Steve used this analogy when talking about prayer. He was pointing out that a lot of us avoid coming to God in prayer because we think we are not good enough or think that we need to get it together and then come to God in prayer. It is the "God helps those who help themselves" mentality. What he is pointing out here is that God does not expect us to have it all together when we come to Him, actually He knows it is the opposite and wants us to realize that. What actually keeps us distant from God is not our sin, but our self righteousness (or a desire for it) that stiffens us.

I am not a hugger, anyone who knows me knows that and knows that when they try to hug me it is probably a pain because I stiffen up. Think of what it is like when we come to God that way, trying to be strong and righteous. When we are stiff like the the brother of the prodigal son (Luke 15:25-32) we cannot accept the Father's love for us as His children, we feel like we have to earn it. But when we come to God, dirty and knowing that we are not "worthy to be called [His] son" (Luke 15:21) that is when He can kill the fattened calf for us, clean us, put a robe on our backs and a ring on our finger and say, "this son of mine was dead and is alive again" (Luke 15:24). It is when we know we are dirty and recognize that we are not even worthy to be a servant in His house that we, ironically, find out what it means to be His child. It is easier to hug a dirty kid.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Do Not Forget the Pigs

"Don't forget the pigs... the further they get away the better they start looking... Always remember where He found you, don't forget the pigs... Don't forget the party and Who threw it for you... Remember what He is like, He is not like they told you... Don't forget when the party's over, tomorrow you have to go back to the field... When you have dirt under your fingernails, when you think you can't do it anymore, when you're really really tired think about the party. Someday when we get home we are going to have the party of all parties." ~ Steve Brown, A Word To The Boys From The Old Guy

If you have never listened to Steve Brown preach you are missing out. He will shock you and possibly offend you, but he will also remind you in a beautiful way of sweetness of the grace of God because that is all he preaches and he does it well. He preached recently at Perimeter on the prodigal son and I loved the above quote.

All to often we are prone to forget the pigs. When things start going our way and life is good we forget where He found us and how He took us from the pigs to the party. We forget how horrible it felt to be empty even though we had everything that we thought we wanted. We forget Who was the only Person Who did not leave us when we hit rock bottom and that is dangerous. When we forget the pigs, as Steve says, they start to not look so bad.

We cannot forget the party either because not only did He save us from the pigs but He gave us a place of honor. We are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). He killed the fattened calf for us and rejoiced when the lost sheep was found (Matthew 18:13). He could have made us a slave in His house, as the prodigal son thought would happen, for we did not even deserve that much, but He did not. He threw a party (incredible grace).

Finally, do not forget that the there is work to be done. We have to come down the mountain (Luke 9:28-36). When we do and work in the field doing the work He has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10) we cannot forget the "party of parties" that is to come (Revelation 5:9-14). When we get dirty under our fingernails and we are tired we cannot forget the party that is to come.

By His Grace,
Taylor