Shafia’s Story

(HT: Timmy Brister)

Filed under: Discipleship, Faith, Prayer, Suffering, The Persecuted Church

Pursuing Greater Humility

From Justin Chiders:

How do we cultivate humility and mortify pride?

• We need to spend time thinking about God’s greatness and holiness in comparison to our natural, moral, and moral insignificance.
• We need to think about how much God loves the humble and hates the proud.
• We need to meditate on the way that Christ humbled Himself when He came to earth.
• We need to think seriously on the examples of humility left by the most useful believers who have walked this earth.
• We must consider the example of humility demonstrated by the holy angels.
• We need to carefully reflect on the humility of believers who are now in heaven.
• We need to think about the great imperfections and weakness of our faith, our character, our behavior, our motives, our duties, and our service to God.
• We need to think about the fact that we deserve to experience God’s judgment and wrath because of our sin.
• We need to spend time thinking about the day of judgment.
• We ought to reflect on the pride of Satan and the demons.
• We need to remember that everything that we have or have accomplished comes from God’s hand.
• We must spend time thinking about the sad consequences of pride in other people’s lives.
• We ought to spend time with humble people and avoid as much as possible the company of arrogant people.
• We must spend time in prayer every day, confessing our pride to God and earnestly pleading for greater humility.

Adapted from Wayne Mack’s Humility: The Forgotten Virtue.

Filed under: Christian character, Discipleship, God's Glory, Humility, Jesus Christ, Sanctification, The Christian Life

Getting The Gospel Down Deep

From Tullian Tchividjian:

Thinking out the deep implications of the gospel and applying its powerful reality to all parts of my life is a daily challenge and a daily adventure. Theologically I understand that the gospel didn’t just ignite my Christian life but it’s also the fuel that keeps me going and growing every day. My challenge is understanding how this works functionally. So, here are a few questions I go back to all the time which help me make the connection between what Christ accomplished for me and my daily internal grind:

Since Jesus secured my pardon and absorbed the Father’s wrath on my behalf so that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, how does that impact my longing for approval, my tendency to be controlling, and my fear of the unknown?

How do the life, death, and resurrection of Christ affect my thirst for security, affection, protection, meaning, and purpose?

In other words, how does the finished work of the One “exposed, ravaged, ruined, and resurrected for us” satisfy my deepest daily needs so that I can experience the liberating power of the gospel every day and in every way?

Being able to answer these questions helps me to get the gospel deep into the fabric of my being.

Filed under: Discipleship, Gospel-centred, Jesus Christ, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The Gospel

A Testimony to God’s Goodness in Disability and Suffering

From John Knight :

As a father of a multiply-disabled child, I have consumed dozens of books, articles, and web sites on suffering, disability, and the sovereignty of God.

What I read yesterday morning from a young man with spina bifida may be the best statement I have ever encountered on this subject.  Here is an excerpt:

Both pain and pleasure are meant to point us to the same reality; namely, that Jesus Christ is infinitely beautiful and so much more than enough for our every need. Living for Him, even suffering for Him, is worth every moment of affliction! Why? Because Jesus shows you such beauty in pain, because He is there and He is carrying us through.

(HT: Desiring God Blog)

Filed under: Christ our treasure, Christian hedonism, Discipleship, Jesus Christ, Suffering, The Christian Life

Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and the Not Yet

Just ordered my copy!

.
New covenant believers live between “the already” and “not yet,” a point in redemptive history between the partial and complete fulfillment of God’s promises. This means they are exiles and pilgrims in the divinely ordained overlap of the ages. As Rev. Jason J. Stellman argues in his book Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and the Not Yet, this biblical motif shapes the identity of Christians at every turn and affects their every activity in both the sacred and secular realms. Stellman explores the Christian pilgrimage with deep biblical insight, humor, and relevance to our contemporary context, revealing how Christians are to think of themselves and their role this side of heaven.

Retail $18.00 | Ligonier’s Price $14.40
Hardcover 6.25 x 9.25 | 193 Pages
ISBN 1-56769-119-6 | Released August 2009

Order for $14.40
Table of Contents and Sample Chapter
High-Res Image: Front Cover | Back Cover

(HT: Ligonier Ministries)

Filed under: Already Not Yet, Biblical exposition, Discipleship, Doctrine, The Christian Life, Theology

Why I Abominate the Prosperity Gospel

John Piper explains why the so-called “prosperity gospel” is not the gospel.

Filed under: Biblical exposition, Christ our treasure, Discipleship, Evangelical, John Piper, Prosperity gospel, Worldliness

No Condemnation!

“…when the devil comes and says, ‘You have no standing, you are condemned, you are finished’, you must say, ‘No! my position did not depend upon what I was doing, or not doing; it is always dependant upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Turn to the devil and tell him, ‘My relationship to God is not a variable one. The case is not that I am a child of God, and then again not a child of God. That is not the basis of my standing, that is not the position. When God had mercy upon me, He made me His child, and I remain his child. A very sinful, and a very unworthy one, perhaps, but still his child!

And now, when I fall into sin, I have not sinned against the law, I have sinned against love. Like the prodigal, I will go back to my Father and I will tell Him, “Father, I am not worthy to be called your son.” But He will embrace me, and He will say, “Do not talk nonsense, you are My child,” and He will shower his love upon me! That is the meaning of putting on the breastplate of righteousness! Never allow the devil to get you into a state of condemnation. Never allow a particular sin to call into question your standing before God. That question has been settled.”

Martyn Lloyd Jones, The Christian Soldier, p. 255

(HT: John Fonville)

Filed under: Christ our righteousness, Discipleship, Doctrine, God the Father, Grace, Jesus Christ, Justification, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Salvation, The Christian Life

A Great Disturbance: repentance as a way of life

“Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying ‘Repent,’ intended that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” Martin Luther, Thesis 1

According to Schaff, History of the Christian Church, VII:160, Luther was attacking the medieval notion of sacramental penitence. That kind of “repentance” could be limited to isolated outward acts, leaving the rest of our lives safe from the mega-upheaval of true repentance. Luther contended that real repentance opens us up to endless personal change, leaving nothing about us untouched.

When Luther posted his Theses, he undermined self-reinforcing Christianity, which is no Christianity, and he launched a new era of self-challenging Christianity, which is the power of the gospel.

In Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans, he entitles his section on Romans 12-15 “The Great Disturbance.”

The whole world needs gospel disturbance.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, Repentance, Sanctification, The Gospel

GOLLUM AND SLAVERY TO SIN

From Josh Harris:

I’m reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring to my two older kids. Last night we read the passage in which Gandalf explains the history of the pathetic Gollum as well as story of the One Ring to Frodo. I thought the following description of Gollum’s wretched state as a slave to the ring was an apt description of what it’s like to be a slave to sin:

“All the ‘great secrets’ under the mountains had turned out to be just empty night: there was nothing more to find out, nothing worth doing, only nasty furtive eating and resentful remembering. He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything ,and the Ring most of all.

 

“What do you mean?” said Frodo. “Surely the Ring was his precious and the only thing he cared for? But if he hated it, why didn’t he get rid of it, or go away and leave it?”

“You ought to begin to understand, Frodo, after all you have heard,” said Gandalf. “He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter.” (page 54)

 

Isn’t that what it’s like when you’re ruled by your sinful desires? (Eph. 2:1) All the promises of sin and illicit pleasure turn out to be “empty night” and the very things you once thought would satisfy you learn to despise. And yet you can’t turn away. You have a desire to be free, a desire to do what’s right, but lack “the ability to carry it out” (Rom. 7:18).

Without Jesus I am Gollum–calling what is killing me “my precious” and all the while hating myself. Praise be to God that Jesus Christ came to redeem sinners like me. He gave up his life on the cross so that I could be forgiven and freed to know and serve God forever.

Filed under: Christ our Mediator, Christ our sin bearer, Christ our treasure, Discipleship, Gospel-centred, Idolatry, Jesus Christ, Sin, The Christian Life, The Cross, The Gospel

The gospel of unconditional grace

“To preach the Gospel of the unconditional grace of God in that unconditional way is to set before people the astonishingly good news of what God has freely provided for us in the vicarious humanity of Jesus. To repent and believe in Jesus Christ and commit myself to him on that basis means that I do not need to look over my shoulder all the time to see whether I have really given myself personally to him, whether I really believe and trust him, whether my faith is at all adequate, for in faith it is not upon my faith, my believing or my personal commitment that I rely, but solely upon what Jesus Christ has done for me, in my place and on my behalf, and what he is and always will be as he stands in for me before the face of the Father. That means that I am completely liberated from all ulterior motives in believing or following Jesus Christ, for on the ground of his vicarious human response for me, I am free for spontaneous joyful response and worship and service as I could not otherwise be.”

- TF Torrance

(HT: Of First Importance)

Filed under: Christ our Mediator, Christ our righteousness, Christ our treasure, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's grace, Jesus Christ, Union with Christ, Worship

What is true of Him

 

“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

We must think of suffering in a new way, we must face everything in a new way. And the way in which we face it all is by reminding ourselves that the Holy Spirit is in us. There is the future, there is the high calling, there is the persecution, there is the opposition, there is the enemy. I see it all. I must admit also that I am weak, that I lack the necessary powers and propensities. But instead of stopping there . . . I say, “But the Spirit of God is in me. God has given me his Holy Spirit.” . . . What matters . . . is not what is true of us but what is true of Him.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, page 100.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Discipleship, Evangelical, God centredness, Holy Spirit, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Warfare, The Christian Life, The word of God

God’s Greatest Adversaries Are His Gifts

John Piper, A Hunger for God | “The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ills that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, ‘as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life’ (Luke 8:14). In another place he said, ‘The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful’ (Mark 4:19). ‘The pleasures of this life’ and ‘the desires for other things’—these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God.”

(HT: Symphony of Scripture)

Filed under: Discipleship, God centredness, Holiness, Idolatry, John Piper, Sanctification

What is an Idol?

From Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods:

What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning in life is to fix someone else’s life, we may call it “codependency” but it is really idolatry. An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

Filed under: Discernment, Discipleship, God centredness, Gospel-centred, Idolatry, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sanctification, The Christian Life, Tim Keller

The Spirit of Love

“When we thus think of the Holy Spirit we properly think of Him as the one who generates love towards God in our hearts…When we are thinking of the biblical ethic as motivated by and fulfilled in love to God and our neighbour, it is a caricature and travesty of this love that we entertain unless it is a love generated in us by the apprehension of the love that passes knowledge, the love of God in Christ…How vacuous and hypocritical are the pretensions of those whose religion and ethic consist in the maxim, ‘As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them (Luke 6:31), but who know nothing of the constraint of the love of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and therefore as the Spirit of love He captivates our hearts by the love of God and of Christ to us. In the diffusion of that love there flows also love to one another. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). The biblical ethic knows no fulfillment of its demands other than that produced by the constraint and claim of Christ’s redeeming love (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15;Galatians 2:20). Our love is always ignited by the flame of Christ’s love. And it is the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad in our hearts the igniting flame of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The love that is ignited is the fruit of the Spirit”

John Murray, Principles of Conduct, p. 226

(HT: John Fonville)

Filed under: Affections, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Love for Christ, Love for God, Sanctification, The word of God

D. A. Carson on the Gospel and Personal Devotions

This is the most important way to consider all aspects of Christian discipleship:

D. A. Carson applies the Gospel and the Glory of the transcendent Christ to the Christian life to promote change.

Filed under: Biblical Counseling, Biblical disciplines, Christ our treasure, Christ-centred, DA Carson, Discipleship, Doctrine, Jesus Christ, Sanctification, The glory of Christ