The Good Friday in parenting

Consider parenting. Children come into the world in a condition of complete dependence. They cannot operate as self-sufficient, independent agents unless their parents give up much of their own independence and freedom for years. If you don't allow your children to hinder your freedom in work and play at all, and if you only get to your children when it doesn't inconvenience you, your children will grow up physically only. In all sorts of other ways they will remain emotionally needy, troubled, and overdependent. The choice is clear. You can either sacrifice your freedom or theirs. It's them or you. To love your children well, you must decrease that they may increase. You must be willing to enter into the dependency they have so eventually they can experience the freedom and independence you have.

Timothy Keller, The Reason For God

G.O.S.P.E.L.

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

(HT: My bro-in-law)

The soul that feels "it's no use" needs Good News.

Sin is a least five things.

First, it is common among every living person (Romans 5:12).

Second, we cannot be naive or overly "spiritual", it is attractive. I wouldn't exist if it wasn't. We do what we want to do and when we sin there is a part of us that wants it. Sin's promise of satisfaction is real and it delivers temporarily with horrible repercussions to our consciences, our faith and our loved ones.

Third, it is self-fueling. The tiny drop of pleasure provided by sin leaves us craving for more. Without an alternative, our thirsty souls will return for more. We trifle with this self-fueling to our own peril. Tolkien's Gollum aptly pictures the progressive implosion of our souls. Eventually, our attention will be adhered to the object of our sinful (read God-less) desire.

Fourth, it is, then, horrible. It strips a person of their dignity and it leads them to despise God and use others - the very opposite of the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40). Sin destroys. Idolatry destroys. Unbelief destroys. There is no avoiding the destruction of God's image when we sin. It is anti-God and His purposes. We tend to see only the vilest and fullest expressions of sin as horrible but that is a deceptive device of the devil. Every rape began with a rogue sinful idea. Every murder's root is an undercover bitterness.

Fifth, it is NOT the Christian's master. In Christ, we have been delivered from bondage to sin (Romans 6:6) to walk in "newness of life" (Romans 6:4). But, just as soon as the celebration of our freedom begins, we find that a battle still rages in our soul (Romans 7:14-20). Is this freedom real? How do we experience it? Peter gives us a glimpse in 2 Peter 1:3-4:

[3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 

Here Peter tells us that an intimate knowledge of the one who saved us and what he has promised us in salvation is God's means of deliverance.

This session of "How The Gospel Changes People" (Summitview's Leadership Training) entitled "How the Gospel Addresses Sin" unpacks this idea to provide hope for those who are tempted to feel that sin has won and there is no longer any use in trying to resist it (Jer. 2:23-25).

Additional Resources
Teaching Notes
"Kill or Be Killed" - a series of supplementary messages to "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen
Leadership Training Resources from Summitview

• Notes
• Messages
  

Is there a central message to the Bible?

The Johnny Cash Project

You are all invited. Regardless of your ability or stature, you are all invited. It is a fundamental component of the Gospel and now, those who steward Johnny Cash's legacy have brought this Gospel idea to create his last music video: "Ain't No Grave." At thejohnnycashproject.com everyone is invited to bring their creative expression to a frame of this video. The concept is brilliant and the result is a rich expression of the effect of a life that put Christ on display- not in its perfection but in its redemption. 

2 Corinthians 4:7:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

It is hard to imagine anyone but Cash having the ability to draw thousands of people together to consider his hope in Christ and to, together, create to express it. Thank God that he still does and thank God there ain't no grave.

What's in it for Him?

Jesus showed his supreme love of the Father in His obedience to death (John 10:14-15,17-18). But how did the Father show His love for the Son? What made the crucifixion of the Son an expression of fatherly love?

Answer: The joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), namely, the intimacy, acceptance, mutual love and trust with the elect. The reward for Christ’s atoning work was the restoration of perfect love between Creator and creature (John 10:27-29). To the degree that Christ showed His love for the Father in His obedience to the Father, the Father showed His love for the Son by granting Him this desire (John 17:24 ) and drawing the Church home (John 6:44).

You may be weary from disappointment with human love. You may feel distant from God. You may be crashing from the sugar high of indulging in created things. If so, have you considered this? What more does He need to say? Look to the greatness of Christ and to the Cross of Christ until your soul is warmed again. His desire is to do more than forgive. Forgiveness is not an end; it is a means to an end. Yes, the display of His glory is His first objective, but how is that glory most clearly put on display? Answer: In His perfectly-loving, personally-loving, and justice-satisfying sacrifice that brought you to God and secured your joy in Him forever. To get that, He endured the Cross and mocked its shame.

"I don't want to build a museum"

I may be a little late to the party on this one, but it is worth the watch.

Discovering Roadblocks to the Gospel: Asking and Listening Rightly for 'The Sentence'

The following is a review of Session 3 (listen here) of this year's Leadership Training Class.

They probably stood together in silence. Together they felt the tingle of adrenaline and their breath escape under the pounding of their hearts.  Several hundred thousand Hebrews, calloused, tired, tasting the salt of the ocean spray, with the memory of horses furiously neighing,  stood silent.

It wasn't long before they broke into song about their warrior God, The One who had just rent their understanding with His power to deliver. They sang with the strength of 400 years of prayer answered in a deliverance greater than the wildest imagination.

And days later they believed His deliverance was a sham and they wanted to go back. (Exodus 17)

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.(Hebrews 3:12–4:2)

The author of Hebrews issues a sober warning here. Like those who witnessed the parting of the Red Sea, those of us who know the Gospel and have seen proof of God’s grace can slip into unbelief. This God-belittling unbelief hardens us to Him and throws our assurance of His love into disarray resulting in anger, anxiety, and despair.

We must hold our original confidence firm to the end
Every biblical instruction implies a challenge. It's hard to hold our original confidence in Christ crucified. It is hard to draw our identity and security from the Cross. There are so many other things to trust in. Things more tangible. Things we can control.

Just as the Gospel comes to us in words, the temptation to stop trusting in it comes to us in words. The battle of our faith (Eph. 6: 11,16) is a battle of messages. Each of us has a specific message, a “sentence” utilized by Satan to tempt us to stop trusting in the Gospel. To see to it that none of us gets hardened by sin's deceitfulness, we must be good detectives of the “sentence” in each others' lives. This session aims at equipping us to ask and listen rightly for our competing messages so we can address each other with specific encouragement in the Gospel.

Additional Resources
Notes from the evening, including sample "sentences" to stimulate your thinking
Crosstalk by Michael Emlet

Harry Potter Activism? If you like your apathy, handle stories with care.

"There are so many of us who love Harry Potter and want to do more for our world," Andrew Slack, 31 year-old Harry Potter fan who started the "Harry Potter Alliance" (taken from "Harry Potter: Boy Wizard ... And Real-World Activist?" at the NPR "Monkey See" blog)

Our sanity rests on our ability to make sense of what we see. When we can't, it's helpful, for a time, to retreat into ignorance or another world altogether. Burying our heads in the sand (or the substance of your choice) or retreating into another world can make breathing more tolerable. But, if our goal is to hide, we need to be careful of stories. They'll mercilessly pull us out of our hiding places to confront reality.

Neda Ulaby at NPR has an interesting piece covering the Harry Potter Association, a story-motivated network for social action (listen to it here).  It seems a generation of Potter fans may be seeing a need for Dumbledore's Army to step out of the pages and on to the streets.

"Did you ever wish that Harry Potter was real? Well it kind of is."
Just as Dumbledore’s Army wakes the world up to Voldemort’s return, works for equal rights of house elves and werewolves, and empowers its members, we: Work with partner NGOs in alerting the world to the dangers of global warming, poverty, and genocide. Work with our partners for equal rights regardless of race, gender, and sexuality. Encourage our members to hone the magic of their creativity in endeavoring to make the world a better place. Join our army to make the world a safer, more magical place, and let your voice be heard! - From the HPA website

That's fascinating. Out of apathy, a clear sense of purpose has been awakened... by a story. Now over 100,000 members of the HPA are facing what they see as problems in a real world with a clarifying mantra: "The weapon we have is love."

Reality is even more fascinating. It to is a story. Creatures, bearing the image of their perfect, eternal Creator, have rebelled from that Creator to find a life outside His authority. Being subjective rule makers and opportunists, each of us (the creatures) have brought destruction and death instead of creativity and life. And, for that, justice must be done. But, the Creator, being rich in mercy stepped into His creation and took that justice on His own shoulders, dying so that He might be just and justifier of those who would trust Him. Some call it Good News.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13)
 
we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (Titus 3:3-8)

Here, in the Bible, we see the connection between life's narratives and life's motives. Justification, atonement, redemption, regeneration, and sanctification are concepts that come to us, biblically, in narrative form. They are not merely "good doctrine" disembodied from our everyday, they are the thematic elements of our history before God. And so they must be proclaimed. And so they must be received.

Be careful with all this though, you just might chuck your distractions and give up your life (and/or your apathy) for something good...and eternal.

How can we be pebble-hearted?

What earnestness our theme deserves! We have to tell of an earnest Savior, an earnest heaven, and an earnest hell. How earnest we ought to be when we remember that in our work we have to deal with souls that are immortal, with sin that is eternal in its effects, with pardon that is infinite, and with terrors and joys that are to last for ever and ever! A man who is not in earnest when he has such a theme as this,—can he possess a heart at all? Could one be discovered even with a microscope? If he were dissected, probably all that could be found would be a pebble, a heart of stone, or some other substance equally incapable of emotion. I trust that, when God gave us hearts of flesh for ourselves, He gave us hearts that could feel for other people also.  - C.H. Spurgeon from "The Soul Winner"

Religion IS The Problem

October 17, 2010: "The Self-Salvation Project of Cain," Genesis 4:1-16. from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.

"...beat it into their heads"

This is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, whereby the knowledge of all goodness consisteth. Most necessary it is therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it to others and beat it into their heads continually.

Martin Luther

The Gospel is the Power: An Invitation to the 2010 - 2011 Leadership Training Class at Summitview

And God said, (Genesis 1:3)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, (Romans 1:16)

take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17)

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3)

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11–16)

(all emphases added) 

Light pierces darkness on the wings of words. Stars, planets, moons, nebula, blueberry bushes, cacti, coral, mountains, rivers, puppies, blue whales, leopards, ostriches, and flamingos arrive with words. Your fingers, your mouse, your phone, your kids, and your shoes are held together with words. Words revive, sanctify and preserve once-dead souls. Luther once proclaimed he had "driven the devil away with ink" because the right words are offensive weapons against the Great Accuser. In the end, a sword from the mouth of the final conquering King will strike down every opposition government.

Words matter to God. His power is manifested in syllables. Nothing changes, nothing improves, nothing finds life, indeed nothing exists, apart from His word. And so one of our great collective sins is the cheapening of words. Our unclean lips have perverted words to deceive, flatter, entertain and distract. How many words did you take in today? Chances are you are fatigued under the dead weight of rotting, meaningless words. Words that bring life are the need of the hour.

This year in Summitview's Leadership Training Class we will be considering how God rescues and transforms us as the Holy Spirit delivers words to our hearts, specifically the words of the Gospel. 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:21–24)

Nothing is more practical or powerful than knowing the Gospel. It is the power of salvation for eternity and for today. Please consider attending these sessions or listening to each one as they are posted here along with any supplemental reading.

LTC 2010-2011
In our first two sessions, we established the groundwork for the year by answering two fundamental questions:
Session 1 - What Is the Gospel? (Romans 3:21-27)
Session 2 - How Is the Gospel An Agent To Change? (Titus 2:11-14) - Notes

The remaining sessions build on this groundwork into more specific application (all take place from 7-8:45pm in the Summitview Auditorium).

Session 3 (November 9th) - Discovering Roadblocks to the Gospel: Asking and Listening Rightly for "The Sentence" (Hebrews 3:12-4:2)

Session 4 (December 7th) - The Role of Prayer and the Holy Spirit in Change (John 16:4-15)

Session 5 (January 11th) - How Gospel-Change Addresses Sin (Romans 8:13)

Session 6 (February 8th) - How Gospel-Change Works with Depression (Phil. 4:4-9)

Session 7 (March 8th) - How Gospel-Change Works in Family Issues (Eph. 5:22-33 and 6:1-4)

Session 8 (April 5th) - The Role of the Church in Sanctification of the Believer (Hebrews 10:19-24)

Session (May 3rd) - Set the Captives Free: How the Changing/Freeing Power of the Gospel Affects Our Evangelism (Titus 3:1-8)

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10)

Together, let's journey toward that day.

Pursuing maturity without self-loathing or pride

"Our problem is that if we don't continually remind ourselves of how he has chosen, renamed, and remade us, the struggle to grow in Christian character will become nothing more than another attempt at self-improvement, and self-improvement always results in self-loathing or pride. Our Savior declared that we are completely dependent upon him and what he accomplished for us, but in overconfidence we hastily run past his accomplishments and seek rest in our own."

Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life

Humility (video): An interview with an "expert on pride"

It seems to me that every person has some thematic element to their life. It weaves its way through everything they do. And, in the hands of God, under the weight of the gospel, that theme begins to reveal distinctions between spiritual death and spiritual life.

C.J. Mahaney is a great case in point. By his own admission, C.J. is an expert in pride only. He is intimately familiar with his tendency to seek a place of supremacy over God. But, as the gospel has shaped his life, his pride is gradually giving way to humility. This process is C.J.'s theme, or better said (Eph. 2:10), God's theme in C.J.'s life. The following interview is a concise and helpful summary of what he has learned along the way.

Additional Resources
Humility - C.J. Mahaney

Words to the discouraged and overwhelmed - only

For me, it has been a season of tremendous internal tumult. Steady waves of late-thirty-something questions have struck their blows against an already failure-battered stern. This is no kitschy, hipster, I'm-so-much-cooler-because-of-my-crisis attempt at relevance (or whatever). It is an honest revelation of a soul on the verge of breaking up. But, amidst the who am Is, what am I doings and maybe its already to lates, the grace of God appeared and ministered to another man under a broom tree.

In this season, God's means of grace to me were the nearly 400 year-old words of Puritan Richard Sibbes in his exposition of Isaiah 42:1-3. This is the triumph of Christ; the bruised reed he will not break, the smoldering wick he will not snuff out until he brings forth judgment to victory. Through Christ's horrific and justifying death, God's favor is ever towards His children.  "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn of many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30)

These final words in "The Bruised Reed" are offered as a summary, an encouragement and a commendation to every weary follower of Christ: put this on your reading list.

In conclusion and as a general application to ourselves of all that has been said, we see the conflicting, but yet sure and hopeful, state of God's people. The victory lies not with us, but with Christ, who has taken on him both to conquer for us and to conquer in us. The victory lies neither in our own strength to get it, nor in our enemies' strength to defeat it. If it lay with us, we might justly fear. But Christ will maintain his own government in us and take our part against our corruptions. They are his enemies as well as ours. Let us therefore be `strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might' (Eph. 6:10). Let us not look so much at who our enemies are as at who our judge and captain is, nor at what they threaten, but at what he promises. We have more for us than against us. What coward would not fight when he is sure of victory? None is here overcome but he that will not fight. Therefore, when any base fainting seizes on us, let us lay the blame where it ought to be laid.

Discouragement rising from unbelief and the ill report brought upon the good land by the spies moved God to swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. Let us take heed that a spirit of faint heartedness, rising from the seeming difficulty and disgrace involved in God's good ways, does not provoke God to keep us out of heaven. We see here what we may look for from heaven. O beloved, it is a comfortable thing to conceive of Christ aright, to know what love, mercy and strength we have laid up for us in the breast of Christ. A good opinion of the physician, we say, is half the cure. Let us make use of this mercy and power of his every day in our daily combats: `Lord Jesus, thou hast promised not to quench the smoking flax, nor to break the bruised reed. Cherish thy grace in me; leave me not to myself; the glory shall be thine.' Let us not allow Satan to transform Christ to us, to make him other than he is to those that are his. Christ will not leave us till he has made us like himself, all glorious within and without, and presented us blameless before his Father (Jude 24).

What a comfort this is in our conflicts with our unruly hearts, that it shall not always be thus! Let us strive a little while, and we shall be happy for ever. Let us think when we are troubled with our sins that Christ has this in charge from his Father, that he shall not `quench the smoking flax' until he has subdued all. This puts a shield into our hands to beat back `all the fiery darts of the wicked' (Eph. 6:16). Satan will object, `You are a great sinner.' We may answer, `Christ is a strong Saviour.' But he will object, `You have no faith, no love.' `Yes, a spark of faith and love.' `But Christ will not regard that.' `Yes, he will not quench the smoking flax: `But this is so little and weak that it will vanish and come to naught."  Nay, but Christ will cherish it, until he has brought judgment to victory.' And this much we have already for our comfort, that, even when we first believed, we overcame God himself, as it were, by believing the pardon of all our sins, notwithstanding the guilt of our own consciences and his absolute justice. Now, having been prevailers with God, what shall stand against us if we can learn to make use of our faith?

...
According to our faith, so is our encouragement to all duties, therefore let us strengthen faith, so that it may strengthen all other graces. The very belief that faith shall be victorious is a means to make it so indeed. Believe it, therefore, that, though it is often as smoking flax, yet it shall prevail. If it prevails with God himself in trials, shall it not prevail over all other opposition? Let us wait a while, `stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD' (Exod. 14:13).

The Lord reveal himself more and more to us in the face of his Son Jesus Christ and magnify the power of his grace in cherishing those beginnings of grace in the midst of our corruptions, and sanctify the consideration of our own infirmities to humble us, and of his tender mercy to encourage us. And may he persuade us that, since he has taken us into the covenant of grace, he will not cast us off for those corruptions which, as they grieve his Spirit, so they make us vile in our own eyes. And because Satan labors to obscure the glory of his mercy and hinder our comfort by discouragements, the Lord add this to the rest of his mercies, that, since he is so gracious to those that yield to his government, we may make the right use of this grace, and not lose any portion of comfort that is laid up for us in Christ. And may he grant that the prevailing power of his Spirit in us should be an evidence of the truth of grace begun, and a pledge of final victory, at that time when he will be all in all, in all his, for all eternity. Amen.

Alternative Energy for a New City

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5.14–16

It's a simple description of our identity and purpose. Be different. Be distinctive. Be conspicuous. Christ calls his followers to become a city on a hill. It's not hard to understand, it's just impossible to do... apart from God.

How does God create this city within a city? What fuels it's citizens in a way that gives glory to our Father in heaven?

Puritan Richard Sibbes answers it this way:

...grace will become glory, and come forth into the sight of all.

and the Apostle Paul describes it similarly in 2 Corinthians 2:14:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

God's grace in Christ transforms people. And, as they live together in allegiance to their Savior King, with the perfect law of love written on their hearts, they become an alternate city. This "city on a hill" lives on the alternative energy of the Gospel and foreshadows the completion of the kingdom of God where love, beauty and joy will exist forever without the destruction of sin. And, because this is all from God, there is no boasting in anything other than His perfect wisdom and sovereign goodness.

This is the mission of the church: To glorify God as we experience and proclaim the transforming power of the Gospel to all people.

For many of us, this sounds like a "nice" little blog post until we think of our own lives. And there, in our deepest struggles, we see things that have not changed and... we believe the Gospel... right? Surely there is something more - some other truth or method must be missing. Yet, Paul boldly summarizes his ministry to build the first-century church by saying that he "decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2)

But how does this message affect our lives everyday? How does the death of the God-Man as a wrath-adsorbing substitute for sin change the sexual addict? How does knowing that I am justified before God help me love my wife more completely?

We are trusting God to build solid answers to questions like this in this year's Leadership Training Class (LTC) at Summitview. It is our prayer that, as God teaches us to "hold our original confidence firm to the end," we will better encourage one another to not "be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (Hebrews 3:12-14).  Our goal? To become a "city on the hill" that reflects the kingdom of God and lifts up Christ the King so He might draw all men to himself (John 12:32).

Tuesday Night, LTC kicked off with a look at Romans 3:21-28 in a message entitled "What is the Gospel?" You can listen to it here. As you listen, pray that God would root the church in these things and amaze us with His power and grace.

Additional Resources
LTC Schedule:
Summitview Community Church Auditorium, 7:00 - 8:45 pm.
Sept. 7: What is the Gospel? (Romans 3:21-27)
Oct. 5: How is the Gospel An Agent to Change? (Titus 2:11-14)
Nov. 9: Discovering Roadblocks to the Gospel: Asking and Listening Rightly for "The Sentence" (Hebrews 3:12-4:2)
Dec. 7: The Role of Prayer and the Holy Spirit in Change (John 16:4-15)
Jan. 11: How Gospel-Change Addresses Sin (Romans 8:13)
Feb. 8: How Gospel-Change Works With Depression (Phil 4:4-9)
Mar. 8: How Gospel-Change Works in Family Issues (Eph. 5:22-33 and 6:1-4)
Apr. 5: The Role of the Church in the Sanctification of the Believer (Hebrews 10:19-24)
May 3: Set the Captives Free: How the Changing/Freeing Power of the Gospel Affects Our Evangelism (Titus 3:1-8)

The "Nowism" of the Gospel

This post was a bulls eye for me today. Paul Tripp uses a "case study" to unpack how grace is absolutely necessary to be healthy: to be humble and heartened. Without the Gospel "now", we are lost every day.

His main points:

1. Grace will decimate what you think of you, while it gives you a security of identity you've never had.
   
   
2. Grace will expose your deepest sins of heart, while it covers every failure with the blood of Jesus.
   
   
3. Grace will make you face how weak you are, while it blesses you with power beyond your ability to calculate.
   
   
4. Grace will take control out of your hands, while it blesses you with the care of One who plan is unshakable and perfect in every way.

Read the whole thing here. I recommend it for any weary soul.   

The mingling of grace and corruption in our lives... Why?

The last few weeks have been brutal for me. Not because I am a victim, but because I am a sinner. The stubborn pride of my heart and my inability to change has, at times, caused me to despair. But it has occurred to me that this season is one of the "all things" of Romans 8:28. What good could God possibly be working through my own wretchedness? Puritan Richard Sibbes' classic work "A Bruised Reed" has provided tremendous encouragement. I offer this section as encouragement to those who feel overwhelmed by their sin. There is always a mingling of "smoke and fire" in our lives; grace and corruption.  Thankfully, Christ will not snuff out the smoldering wick (Isaiah 42:1-3).

In pursuing his calling, Christ will not quench the smoking flax, or wick, but will blow it up till it flames. In smoking flax there is but a little light, and that weak, as being unable to flame, and that little mixed with smoke. The observations from this are that, in God's children, especially in their first conversion, there is but a little measure of grace, and that little mixed with much corruption, which, as smoke, is offensive; but that Christ will not quench this smoking flax.
 ...

GRACE IS MINGLED WITH CORRUPTION

But grace is not only little, but mingled with corruption; therefore a Christian is said to be smoking flax. So we see that grace does not do away with corruption all at once, but some is left for believers to fight with. The purest actions of the purest men need Christ to perfume them; and this is his office. When we pray, we need to pray again for Christ to pardon the defects of our prayers. Consider some instances of this smoking flax:

Moses at the Red Sea, being in a great perplexity, and knowing not what to say, or which way to turn, groaned to God. No doubt this was a great conflict in him. In great distresses we know not what to pray, but the Spirit makes request with sighs that cannot be expressed (Rom. 8:26). Broken hearts can yield but broken prayers. When David was before the king of Gath (1 Sam. 21:13) and disfigured himself in an uncomely manner, in that smoke there was some fire also. You may see what an excellent psalm he makes upon that occasion, Psalm 34, in which, on the basis of experience, he says, `The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart' (Psa. 34:18). `I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes.' There is smoke. `Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications' (Psa. 31:22). There is fire. `Lord, save us: we perish' (Matt. 8:25), cry the disciples. Here is smoke of infidelity, yet so much light of faith as stirred them up to pray to Christ. `Lord, I believe.' There is light. ‘Help thou mine unbelief.' There is smoke (Mark 9:24). Jonah cries, `I am cast out of thy sight.' There is smoke. `Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.' There is light (Jon. 2:4). `O wretched man that I am!', says Paul, with a sense of his corruption. Yet he breaks out into thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24). `I sleep,' says the church in the Song of Solomon, `but my heart waketh' (Song of Sol. 5:2). In the seven churches, which for their light are called `seven golden candlesticks' (Rev. 2 and 3), most of them had much smoke with their light.

The reason for this mixture is that we carry about us a double principle, grace and nature. The end of it is especially to preserve us from those two dangerous rocks which our natures are prone to dash upon, security and pride, and to force us to pitch our rest on justification, not sanctification, which, besides imperfection, has some stains. Our spiritual fire is like our ordinary fire here below, that is, mixed. Fire is most pure in its own element above; so shall all our graces be when we are where we would be, in heaven, which is our proper element.

From this mixture arises the fact that the people of God have so different judgments of themselves, looking sometimes at the work of grace, sometimes at the remainder of corruption, and when they look upon that, then they think they have no grace. Though they love Christ in his ordinances and children, yet they dare not claim so near acquaintance as to be his. Even as a candle in the socket sometimes shows its light, and sometimes the show of light is lost; so sometimes they are well persuaded of themselves, sometimes at a loss. 

Additional Resources
Complete in Christ - Spurgeon
What should we seek in Scripture? - Calvin

The Gospel does not produce treason

A great answer to the question "If God is the sole Author and Perfecter of faith, if salvation is truly by grace, doesn't that mean, then, we can live however we chose?" The answer: "yes we can" and we, if truly regenerated, will chose to live for his honor.

Is Christ your Prince? This calls for your loyal and faithful service to Christ - who has saved you from Satan's bondage. He has broken Satan's power over you and is able to defend you from his wrath. In a word, who has a right over you besides Christ?
...
He is not a good subject who only seeks what he can get out of his prince, but never thinks what service he can render. He is not a true Christian whose thoughts dwell more on his own happiness than on the honour of his God. Paul was willing to suffer for the furtherance of the gospel, and to wait for his reward later. This makes life worth living, to serve God as a proof of our gratitude for his redeeming love. O Christian, since he has rescued us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, lose not time; what you desire to do for God, do it quickly! Work zealously! If you have your new Prince's sword in your hand, be sure to use it and take heed how you use it, that, when you give an account before God, your sheath will bot be found rusty through sloth and cowardice. Be faithful, attend to your work and labour, for you are his ambassador and shall see his face with joy.

William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

Additional Resources

Coming to Jesus Without Hating What We Have Left

How Does The Gospel Change P0rn Addicts?