Legalism

“There is nothing in the law of God that will rob you of happiness; it only denies you that which would cost you sorrow." - Spurgeon

"The pursuit of a trivial life is not befitting for creatures made in the image of a weighty God full of glory." - Kevin DeYoung

"To be a disciple of Jesus is to fight sin with sober belief in God's warnings AND abounding delight in his promises."

https://soundcloud.com/askpastorjohn/what-is-legalism-episode-157

As Piper points out in the audio clip above, the word "legalism" is not in the Bible.  However, the Pharisees offer the prime example, as they made their law-keeping behavior the foundation of their right standing with God.  I think my definition would be similar to that..."the concept that our works rather than Jesus' imputed righteousness through the cross gains us approval in the eyes of God".

I went to high school with a couple friends like that.  On one hand they would talk about the Gospel but on the other they were constantly pointing out how wrong it was for other students to talk the way they did or to listen to the music they did.  Of course, they had a point.  Swearing and music that is marked by prideful rebellion are not glorifying to God nor edifying to man.  But they were only concerned about the behavior of these students.  The posture of their hearts or their relationship, or lack thereof, with God seemed to be of little concern.  Their desire to point out bad behavior revealed what an idol their own behavior had become in justifying themselves.  They hadn't been broken yet to understand how God's grace was the ONLY thing that could save them and so they extended little grace to others. (And by his grace, one of those friends, is now one of the most grace- and truth-filled women I know who has a deep love for others and a desire that they would come to know Christ as Lord and Savior.)

I now hear legalism being used in another way.  I recently taught through the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  It was very similar in it's message to David Platt's "Radical".  Both books centered on what it truly meant to be a Christian...and therein lies the rub.  On one hand, the Bible speaks quite clearly about the qualities of someone who is born again - they love God, they bear fruit, they have gifts of the Spirit, etc.  On the other hand, a Christian is not ultimately nor primarily defined by what he/she does but what God has done for them.  It is God who justifies and who grants the gift of faith.  Who we are is not what we do but what has been done for us.

But I don't think this needs to be an either/or argument.  We just need to get the order right.  God absolutely initiates His work through His Spirit into our hearts and lives.  It begins with God and it continues with God.  The cross justifies us in His sight.  It is not a jumping off point for our sanctification where we are handed the baton and God then says, "OK, the rest is up to you.  Because of Jesus you have my approval.  Now go do good so you can keep it."

I haven't read David's book but I can assure you that is not Francis' message.  We were created for relationship with God.  Do we not have a response to Him when He comes to us and initiates saving faith in our hearts?  Are we to just take that gift for granted and become indifferent toward His love for us?  Of course, not!  Yet we seem to so easily fall into the trap of believing that we have no part to play in this story.  We seem content to drift through life, creating what happiness we can on our own...all the while knowing that heaven awaits us like a well-funded retirement account so we can still rest well at night.

We have lost the concept of being a disciple.  We barely see Jesus as teacher let alone Lord.  We don't see the need to sit at His feet and make Him our primary treasure and example.  What we really want Him for is to be there when we run out of options and our illusion of control gets thwarted yet again.  In short, we still think our life is our own and we will do anything to hold on to that mirage.  The original sin remains firmly implanted in our hearts.  We want to be God.

So, when someone like Francis comes along and says, "Wake up, Christian!  Your life was meant to be poured out for God and for others," we immediately get defensive.  "Hey, that sounds awful legalistic Francis.  After all, the Gospel is about grace and not about my behavior.  My Christian life can't be defined by what I do.  All my sins and shortcomings have been forgiven so I don't need to try and be perfect or pursue holiness or live radically...whatever that means."

We have a real problem with the Law.  We either still use it when it suits us, i.e. I am really good at keeping "these" commands so I will use those to make me feel like I am being a good Christian....or I know I can't be perfect no matter how hard I try so why really try at all.  The Law still has an essential part to play in the life of the Christian.  Yes, it shows us our sin and it causes us to run back to the cross of Christ where forgiveness and grace flow like a never-ending stream of life.  But the Law still tells us how we are to live!  It still has a purpose.  It still instructs us on how God designed His creation.  The Law isn't meant to rob us of joy by thwarting our plans but it is meant to give us joy by aligning us with God's will so that we may enjoy blessings rather than the consequences that inevitably flow from our sin.

There are many commands that are good and right for us to pursue and follow.  Notice that I said commands...not suggestions.  This isn't God saying, "If you are really in the mood, give this a shot for me."  No!  Making disciples is not up for debate.  Obeying God is not for just when you are feeling spiritual.  Putting God first and putting yourself last isn't just for the really "holy" people.  These are things that are meant to be part of the Christian life.  Yes, we will do them imperfectly...we will stumble and fall...and we will repent knowing God will never leave us nor forsake us.  But we can't just phone in the part we are called to play.

It is not legalistic to point out the commands of God on how we are to live.  If we aren't following His Word, the issue is not with the Bible or the one who comes along and points out the disconnect.  The issue lies with us.  If we don't want to make disciples then we need to be seriously praying for the Spirit to ignite that desire and fervently searching for the obstacle preventing us from desiring to follow our Lord.  These are battles we must fight.  These are issues we must tackle.  We can't be passive.  God's ambassadors can't afford to coast along.  We need to wake up while there is still time.


⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. - Ephesians 5:8-17 (NIV)

Jesus. Renew the fight within us today. May we fight to rest. Fight to receive. Fight to be still and believe you love us. Fight to honor you.  Amen.

Desire vs. Reason

Why We Really Sleep In

by Tony Reinke | August 14, 2013

Recent studies say hitting the snooze button is bad for our bodies. But studies won’t get us out of bed.
Elise Snickers was a college student pursuing a career in a psychology when she wrote a letter to 54-year-old C.S. Lewis to ask the question: Can personal sin be avoided — or “cured” — by proving to a patient the un-reasonableness of the sin? In other words, can a discovery of the stupidity of a sin be its cure?
In his response, Lewis used two examples to make his point, beginning with why we sleep in late:

A man’s reason sees perfectly clearly that the resulting discomfort and inconvenience will far outweigh the pleasure of the ten minutes in bed. Yet he stays in bed: not at all because his reason is deceived but because desire is stronger than reason.
A woman knows that the sharp ‘last word’ in an argument will produce a serious quarrel which was the very thing she had intended to avoid when that argument began and which may permanently destroy her happiness. Yet she says it: not at all because her reason is deceived but because the desire to score a point is at the moment stronger than her reason.
People — you and I among them — constantly choose between two courses of action, the one which we know to be the worse: because, at the moment, we prefer the gratification of our anger, lust, sloth, greed, vanity, curiosity or cowardice, not only to the known will of God but even to what we know will make for our own real comfort and security. If you don’t recognize this, then I must solemnly assure you that either you are an angel, or else are still living in a fool’s paradise: a world of illusion. (Letters, 3:330)

Sins like sloth and rage are, of course, always stupid (Psalm 69:5), always unreasonable, always boneheaded mistakes. But is the expression of sin merely faulty reasoning in need of re-education? Lewis’s answer to the question is clearly “no” — sin erupts out of the molten-hot desires and affections churning in the core of our being.
Scientists can explain why hitting the snooze button is bad for our bodies. But we are not creatures merely driven by reason. We are creatures driven by the desire to gratify desires. Which of course means the life of holiness must be profoundly rooted in new desires and new longings.

Reason and Desires

Reason is valuable for sanctification, but reason alone cannot do the job. In fact, spiritual taste — a new desire that draws us toward God’s holiness — produces in us a spiritual taste for holiness that assists our reason, as Jonathan Edwards says in his Religious Affections. The Bible is where relish and meaning converge on the soul. The relish makes the will of God precious, and reason confirms God’s good motive behind his will. Ideally, delight and reason work in tandem, but reason alone cannot move the lazy body when the alarm starts to blare.

Gratifications at War

Because we battle sin on the playing field of the affections, holiness must be rooted in God’s converting grace on a soul and the reorienting of core affections.
Only after conversion can God’s awesome holiness become in any way beautiful and attractive to the sinner (Psalm 29:2). And God’s holiness must become beautiful and attractive to us first before our personal displays of holiness will ever overrule the self-driven lust for inordinate sleep and the self-driven lust to have the final word in a heated debate. Unless our hearts are filled with affection for Christ’s glory and for God’s holiness, our hearts can only be governed by the gratification of the self and its anger, lust, sloth, greed, vanity, curiosity, and cowardice.

Still Perplexed

But this doesn’t resolve the profound mystery about sin in our own lives. Lewis is here talking about sin in the Christian.
A reborn soul — a living soul — feels the sting of sin like a taser shot to the back of the neck. And this sting is something we experience in life on this side of the resurrection, for which we are humbled and drawn closer to the Savior and his all-sufficient work for us on the cross.
This seems to be Lewis’s hard-learned point about why we are tempted to stay in bed ten minutes too long, knowing the consequences are not worth the flesh’s gratification. The final cure for sin, of course, will be found in our future glimpse of Christ’s glory (1 John 3:2), when the Christian’s reason and affections are purified from all remnants of sin. On that day, we will experience a lot of things for the first time, including our first and full spiritual taste of the delight of God’s splendid holiness rushing through glorified senses unclogged by sin.

Idolatry Part 3

Saying Goodbye

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." - John Wooden

I haven't posted for almost a month but there is a good reason.  16 days ago I accepted a job on staff at the church in which I grew up in Iowa.  I believe God brought the right opportunity at the right time although there have been many days over the past few years when I wouldn't have minded this opportunity.  But His timing is right while mine is often colored by frustration, impatience and selfishness.  He had more work to do in me here and for me to do here before it was time to move on.  Now is that time.

It's been bittersweet saying goodbye to so many friends over the past two weeks.  One thing God had convicted me of many years ago was to always act with integrity, honesty and consistency.  Basically, He told me to stop being one person to one group of friends and somebody different to another group just to find acceptance.  The truth is that people accept you and are drawn to you when you bring two things to the table - authenticity and a sincere desire to simply be their friend and care about them without expecting anything in return.  It was very reassuring as I have spent time with many circles - old church friends, softball teammates, co-workers, neighbors, men's small group - that I was able to simply be the same person in every situation.  I was able to feel comfortable not because each of them affirmed the person I am but because God made me the person I am.

There have been lots of ups and downs here - financially, professionally, socially and spiritually.  I have had lots of things go wrong.  I have had the idea that I was in control shattered.  I have had the notion that I would have nothing but success turned upside down.  There is a great scene from the movie "Instinct" in which Anthony Hopkins' character attacked Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character.  As he had this man's life in his hands, he asked him what he had taken from him.  After a couple of unsuccessful answers and given one last chance, he finally answered, "My illusions."  My illusion that I am the center of the story and that things should turn out the way I envision has been taken away...and I am infinitely richer because of it.

The most important experience I had in St. Louis probably happened my second year here when I joined a small group from the church in which I was taking new member classes.  My understanding of Christianity up to that point was mostly head knowledge and a belief that restrictions outweighed freedoms when it came to living a holy and God-pleasing life, which they do, by the way, if you are basing your relationship with God strictly on your behavior, which I would argue is no relationship at all.

But then I walked in on a group of people my age who not only pursued God but delighted in Him.  It wasn't a counterfeit love that many Christians default to when their heart isn't really with their Lord.  It was real.  It was vibrant.  It was beautiful.

 “In your presence is the fullness of joy,
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” - Psalm 16:11

As Matt Chandler often says, God isn't after our begrudging submission.  That brings him NO glory.  He is after our joy - our absolute and complete joy IN HIM.  Happiness is based on circumstances.  It can be taken away in a heartbeat.  Joy runs so much deeper.  It endures and it strengthens and it is living water to the thirsty.  God has taught me a lot about where joy is found.  My heart still wanders from Him all too often but I am convicted almost immediately now that nothing good can be found where I am looking.  My spirit aches for my eyes to return above.

So, God worked and continues to work.  My love for Him is deeper and wider, and consequently, my love for others has grown in step.  My men's group just finished a book called "Man Alive".  I highly recommend it.  When do you feel most alive?  The answer may say a lot about the gifts God has given you and the calling that He has placed on this season of your life.  I feel most alive when I am helping and loving someone else...when the conversation turns deep, when heartaches and struggles surface, when defenses and walls are laid down and a broken sinner, just like me, aches to be reconciled with their Creator.  I love taking people as far in their walk with Jesus as they desire and then stepping back and witnessing the almighty power of the Comforter work.  I love being a part of God's redemptive work.  It still amazes me every day that He lets a rebellious traitor like me act as His ambassador.

But He does...and it is good...and I can't wait to see what He has in store for me next.

This Blog Part 2

I haven't posted lately as I find myself stuck with two many big topics in the hopper and not enough time to whittle down all of the resources I have accumulated for each one.  I am hoping that will change in the near future.

But for right now, I came across this today which was taken from a brief blog written by Mike Donehey in conjunction with Tenth Avenue North's release of The Struggle.

 Psalm 49:4
“I will incline my heart to a proverb;
I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre”

After 11 or so years of playing and writing songs,
I’ve finally come to understand that I don’t write,
because I know what I’m talking about,
I write precisely because I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I write to understand.
I write to unriddle my heart.

This was very well said and I can completely relate.  I don't blog because I know what I am talking about.  I don't lead a men's small group because I have all the answers.  I don't witness my faith because I will have a compelling answer for every objection that is raised.

I do those things because I feel called by God to do them and because He is constantly teaching me through them while He is teaching others through me.  He is the source of all wisdom and these are simply some of the venues in which He unleashes His insights and understanding.  Even more so, these are times when I am still, submitting and ready to listen to what He has to say.

There is no doubt that many of my heart's questions, longings and struggles come out on these digital pages.  It is a place where the wrestling is plain to see and where God's promises of seeking Him first resulting in all that we need are put on display.  I don't write because I understand.  I write because He understands.

C.S. Lewis

"The sweetest thing in all my life, has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from.." - C.S. Lewis

"God is basic Fact. He must not be thought of as a featureless generality. He is the most concrete thing there is." - C.S. Lewis

This from a man who at one time scoffed at the very notion that God existed.

There has been lots of darkness lately.  The headlines scream of man's rebellion to God.  Broken lives testify to God being long forgotten.  Hardened hearts remind us that many have no knowledge of God.  I feel it in moments when the quiet drowns out the noise.  The burden in my soul for the lost is pervasive.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of it.

And then I hear a story of redemption.  I hear a story of God breaking through and changing a life forever.  I read about the lost being found.

And I find renewed strength because God is not dead nor doth He sleep.  He is still in the miracle business and He still pursues mockers, loves sinners and pleads with the rebellious.  He is not overwhelmed.  He is at work.  Always.  Therein lies hope.

And so it is with our friend C.S. Lewis.  A changed man and a changed life that God has used to change countless others.  We can not have an encounter with God and remain the same.  Nothing is ever the same again.

Thank you Lord for the modern day Paul...a man who once argued against you to a man who ended up arguing for you every day thereafter.







http://good-report.com/4130/c-s-lewis-time-cover-story-from-the-archive-sep-8-1947

http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf

http://good-report.com/6989/top-50-c-s-lewis-quotes-full-list-gallery

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765605350/CS-Lewis-still-has-much-to-offer-us.html

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/new-publications-relating-to-c-s-lewis

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/books/enduring-legacy-cs-lewis

An article on C.S. Lewis' brother:

http://good-report.com/5475/profiles-in-faith-major-warren-hamilton-lewis-1895-1973

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/2012/07/25/the-beauty-of-conversion/

http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2012/08/13/the-miracle-of-salvation/

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/


"The intellectual life is not the only road to God, nor the safest, but we find it to be a road, and it may be the appointed road for us. Of course it will be so only so long as we keep the impulse pure and disinterested; we may come to love knowledge - our knowing - more than the thing known: to delight not in our talents but in the fact that they are ours, or even in the reputation they bring us. Every success in a scholar's life increases this danger. If it becomes irresistible, he must give up his scholarly work. The time for plucking out the right eye has arrived. " - C. S. Lewis

Aurora, Colorado

I awoke Friday morning, as many others did, to stories regarding the theater shooting at the midnight showing of the latest "Dark Knight" installment in Aurora, Colorado.  My first thought went to my brother and his wife knowing they live nearby and that while it was unlikely they attended the movie, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.  Thankfully, my brother quickly replied to my text message and he was fine.  But many others were not fine...

I have already read people who are blaming video games and a lack of gun control among the reasons why this tragedy happened.  That is not surprising given a society that is moving toward the viewpoint that evil does not exist.  But it does.  Without a belief in absolute truth and objective morality, evil seems like an outdated notion.  But it isn't.  Without the category of evil, we will forever search in vain for reasons to explain tragedy.  It will be a search with no end.

Oprah sent a tweet out this morning asking for a coordinated moment in which her followers should send "love vibes" to the victims and their families.  I am glad that Oprah was moved by this event.  I am glad she wants to help those who have been affected.  But I am utterly dismayed at the belief that love vibes, positive energy or thoughts of light will bring one moment of peace, heal one heart or dry one tear.

I understand the desire to want to help in any way possible.  Humanity cries out in moments like this.  But let us cry out to the God of the Bible rather than to ourselves.  Pray to the God who can heal inside and out.  Pray to the God who offers peace beyond all understanding.  Mourn with those who mourn.  Weep with those who weep.  But always point back to the God who has promised us that one day there will be no more tears.


http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-think-god-is-a-merciful-god/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/07/21/tragedy-and-moral-language/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/07/20/the-true-knight-is-risen/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/lee-strobel-probes-why-during-first-sunday-service-after-colorado-shooting-78727/

http://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-in-tragedy.html
 
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/how-shall-we-minister-to-people-after-the-world-trade-tower-terrorism-of-september-11-2001

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/04/my-faith-the-danger-of-asking-god-why-me/

http://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/07/why-does-god-allow-tragedy-and-suffering/

http://thisoughtabegood.blogspot.com/2008/08/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-1918-2008.html