Grace-driven effort

"Grace is not opposed to effort. It's opposed to earning". - Dallas Willard

These are my notes from Matt Chandler's sermon on 6/6/10. I have heard the following quote used a lot lately and he unpacks it in this sermon so I thought it was worth writing down as much as I could.

"People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." - D.A. Carson

Nobody accidentally becomes godly. So how do you pursue godliness without stepping outside what has freely been given to you and instead find yourself pursuing a Christian checklist of godly behavior? Christian living requires movement. It's not static. The following are 6 ways that godliness is properly pursued through grace-driven effort.

1) Grace-driven effort comes from a new heart. The idea of regeneration. Romans 1 - walking in darkness and God justifies us and gives us eyes and ears to see and hear. The legalist pursues God out of pride that comes from living up to a certain standard. The motivation is applause of men. The idea of godliness to a legalist usually involves killing one sin with another, i.e. killing lust with self righteousness. But no matter which wins...sin wins.

2) Grace-driven effort uses the weapons of grace...the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13), the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and the promises of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15). Where you have earned the wrath of God, Christ has intervened. The Scriptures are the primary weapon against the residual effects of the old creature. The legalist uses the Law to try to conform to perfection but it has never worked for anyone. It's an arrogant thought to think you are the one who can pull it off.

3) Grace-driven effort attacks the roots and not just the branches. You can't separate your heart from your thoughts and actions. The latter is an indicator of the former. You get to the heart so the behavior may be changed.

4) Grace-driven effort fights for a reason that goes well beyond easing our conscience and finding temporal peace. It's not built on, "Oh, I feel bad about me." It says, "I have grieved the Holy Spirit and have sullied the image of the Creator of the universe." Our hearts break because God has been so good to us and we have mocked Him with our thoughts and actions. David says, "I have sinned against you alone." Conviction is a great indicator of a heart issue. Our motivation sbould not be, "I hate this about me." Paul says to be wary of worldly sorrow as it leads to death in the end. Godly sorrow leads to repentance.

5) Grace-driven effort comes from being dead to sin not just forsaking it. The believer will not serve sin because his nature is contrary to sin. You don't have to say "yes" to your sin. You are not bound to it any longer.

6) Grace-driven effort is rage-filled and violent toward residual sin inside of us. Our holiness wants to murder sin in our heart...mortifying the flesh. The legalist doesn't necessarily want to kill sin...they want to train it. So if they need some comfort it is there to run back to rather than running to God. Sin will eventually turn on you and kill you no matter how much you have tried to control it. We need to understand that when sin takes us out it isn't just about us...there is always collateral damage to others in our lives.

Colossians 3:11 - "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/some-proven-weapons-in-the-fight-for-holiness

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/06/14/gospel-driven-effort/

Great Quote

"In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of work." - AW Tozer

I think every church should have this quote displayed prominently somewhere. Oh how easily and subtly we lose focus on who it is we started working for in the first place.

Also a couple of good thoughts from tonight's Matt Chandler sermon. First, I went through a little mini-depression last week and when I shared that with a few people, I told them I thought it was because I got stuck looking to much at my temporal life and lost my perspective on spiritual matters and Christ. So along comes Colossians 3 tonight:

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Good timing...not a coincidence. It was confirmation that I was on the right path when coming up with a reason for my emotional state. Anyone looking at my temporal life from the outside would probably come to the conclusion that it isn't really going anywhere. I won't argue with that. It is often how I feel if I really get caught up in evaluating it. But spiritually...leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. This was reinforced by one of the guys in my care group on Thursday who said that he has noticed that I have become much more open in the last year. It's a good indication that I am caring less and less about displaying some type of "good image" to others and instead am much more interested in displaying just how weak and flawed I truly am because through that God can get the glory as he convicts, refines and purifies me. That's the growth that I care about. That is the way I want my life to be measured. It's what matters most.

The other piece of the sermon that resonated is something I have heard Chandler say before. I mentioned in an earlier blog that there were times that I was hesitant to immediately come to God for forgiveness after a sin because I felt like I was taking advantage of God's grace - choosing sin over Him one minute before and then coming right back to Him to ask for atonement. Like I am just wanting all of the good stuff God has to offer without any of the sacrifice and obedience.

Matt mentioned that a sign of spiritual maturity is immediately going to God when you have sinned...pressing into Him and pursuing Him even more. A sign of immaturity is pulling away from God when you have sinned so you can go clean yourself up, make yourself look better and then go back and present yourself to God. The latter alternative is a sign that you think you can justify yourself before God in some way, shape or form. On top of that, it will make dark times in your life even darker and more difficult as you become accustomed to only pursuing God when everything is going well.

Chandler Update

Why I Love Sports

Sports can bridge racial, ethnic and socioeconomic divides. Sports can uplift, challenge, encourage and inspire. Sports can bring the human spirit...which is so often obscured and weighed down by the stresses of this life...to the surface where it can be enjoyed and set free.

This was me on Wednesday morning in the office...



This brought a huge smile to my face...to see so many so happy in one common cause.

One day He will wipe every tear from our eyes...

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Controlling vs. Killing Sin

The Southern Baptist Pastor Conference took place on Monday (and maybe other days) this past week. I was able to watch most of Matt Chandler's talk in the morning and then was able to catch part of Francis Chan in the afternoon. I want to talk mostly about Matt's message so I will briefly point out something about Francis. Have you ever been listening to a sermon or teaching when the pastor/teacher stops in the middle and says, "I just really need to pray right now"? That's what Francis did. In the middle of his message to pastors he just stops and says that he really needs to pray for peace, focus and direction on what to say. He sought the Spirit in real time and didn't care if it made him look unprepared or out of control. It was really cool and I wish more pastors would follow his example.

First, you might want to go here and read about what Matt had to say. I haven't found a video that I can post but if I do you can be sure that I will.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100615/young-evangelical-takes-so-baptists-back-to-the-gospel/index.html

I pray that God gives Matt more time on this earth because he preaches the Word without reservation or dilution. This was in front of fellow pastors and he is calling out their watered down teaching, their duplicitous hearts and their rejoicing more in numbers in the pews than deepening and strengthening believers. That is how I would like to think I would preach if I were a pastor although if I did so I know I would struggle with either pride or shame every day depending on how my walk with God was going...even though I agree with Matt 100% that my right standing in front of God has absolutely nothing to do with me.

The part that really spoke to me was when he talked about controlling versus killing our sin. I struggle with this. Let's face it...we sin because we like it...on some level...even if it grieves us before, during and after on another level. So then, trying to kill something that we enjoy is extremely difficult when our flesh, the world and spiritual darkness conspire against us. We put up some fight in the hopes of getting cleaner but we aren't committed to being spotless because we don't really want to give up the comfort and enjoyment that sin provides. But you can't "kinda" give your heart and life to God. You either love him or you don't. God spoke through Matt to remind me He not only desires us to love him completely, but He commands it. I don't want to be one of those desperate souls pleading in Matthew 7.

I will do better.

Softball

Midnight on a Monday night after softball and I am just getting home. If it took 10 years of playing on this team, 4 years of coaching, countless last minute cancellations from team members and added stress on my Mondays...just to give the Gospel presentation that I helped give tonight to a struggling Catholic who is having trouble believing that Jesus Christ is indeed the perfect and complete substitute for all of his sin and offers restoration to God and eternal life...than it has been worth every second.

Thank you God.