Only the gospel can liberate us from our enslaving thirst to control what others think about us.
Just a quick follow up. This is one of the other side effects of being the "smart kid" or the "funny guy". I began to live out of what others liked best about me. It's pretty hard to have others see Jesus Christ when they look at you if you are spending your time trying to desperately control the image other people see. It's not authentic or genuine.
In beginning to learn that my life and worth are defined by what God has done for me rather than the things I do, it blows up the need to control others' perceptions of me. I can rest in the fact that I am enough because of Christ. I find it much easier now to just be me. I have fewer desires to appear like I have it all together. In fact, I find it more liberating to admit my failures. In doing so, deeper conversations can take place because others are disarmed by my admissions of weakness and God's strength is made great when others know that he has sustained me and pursued me through selfishness and sin.
I am caring less what others think and more of what God thinks. I am learning.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
The Greatest Treasure
This just fits right in with what God has been talking to me about so I wanted to post it here. From the book "Justified: Modern Reformation Essays on the Doctrine of Justification."
=====================================================
Scripture is of no use to us if we read it merely as a handbook for daily living without recognizing that its principle purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and his gospel for the salvation of sinners. All Scripture coalesces in Christ, anticipated in the OT and appearing in the flesh in the NT. In Scripture, God issues commands and threatens judgment for transgressors as well as direction for the lives of his people. Yet the greatest treasure buried in the Scriptures is the good news of the promised Messiah.
Everything in the Bible that tells us what to do is “law”, and everything in the Bible that tells us what God has done in Christ to save us is “gospel.” Much like medieval piety, the emphasis in much Christian teaching today is on what we are to do without adequate grounding in the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. “What would Jesus do?” becomes more important than “What has Jesus done?” The gospel, however, is not just something we needed at conversion so we can spend the rest of our Christian life obsessed with performance; it is something we need every day–the only source of our sanctification as well as our justification. The law guides, but only the gospel gives. We are declared righteous–justified–not by anything that happens within us or done by us, but solely by God’s act of crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness through faith alone.
======================================================
The commands in the Bible are like a set of railroad tracks. The tracks provide no power for the train but the train must stay on the tracks in order to function. The law, in other words, never gives any power to do what it commands. It shows us what a sanctified life looks like but it has no sanctifying power. Only the gospel has power, as it were, to move the train. This is why the Bible never tells us what to do before first soaking our hearts and minds in what God in Christ has already done.
The fact is, that any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable. No matter how hard you try, how “radical” you get, any engine smaller than the gospel that you’re depending on for power to obey will conk out in due time.
=====================================================
Scripture is of no use to us if we read it merely as a handbook for daily living without recognizing that its principle purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and his gospel for the salvation of sinners. All Scripture coalesces in Christ, anticipated in the OT and appearing in the flesh in the NT. In Scripture, God issues commands and threatens judgment for transgressors as well as direction for the lives of his people. Yet the greatest treasure buried in the Scriptures is the good news of the promised Messiah.
Everything in the Bible that tells us what to do is “law”, and everything in the Bible that tells us what God has done in Christ to save us is “gospel.” Much like medieval piety, the emphasis in much Christian teaching today is on what we are to do without adequate grounding in the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. “What would Jesus do?” becomes more important than “What has Jesus done?” The gospel, however, is not just something we needed at conversion so we can spend the rest of our Christian life obsessed with performance; it is something we need every day–the only source of our sanctification as well as our justification. The law guides, but only the gospel gives. We are declared righteous–justified–not by anything that happens within us or done by us, but solely by God’s act of crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness through faith alone.
======================================================
The commands in the Bible are like a set of railroad tracks. The tracks provide no power for the train but the train must stay on the tracks in order to function. The law, in other words, never gives any power to do what it commands. It shows us what a sanctified life looks like but it has no sanctifying power. Only the gospel has power, as it were, to move the train. This is why the Bible never tells us what to do before first soaking our hearts and minds in what God in Christ has already done.
The fact is, that any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable. No matter how hard you try, how “radical” you get, any engine smaller than the gospel that you’re depending on for power to obey will conk out in due time.
Monday, October 25, 2010
You Aren't God
"The stamp of the Saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus." - C.S. Lewis
Matt Chandler wrapped up his 20-sermon series on Colossians a few weeks ago and is starting a series on the ultimate authority of God.
Here's the truth...you have no inherent rights.
Psalm 115, Daniel 4, Romans 9.
The point is clear. God can and will do what He wants in whatever way He wants to do it. Not a popular topic to preach. We are much more interested in the verses that make us feel warm and cuddly. We like the verses that help us make God into the image we want rather than explore the depths of His actual being.
Humans have always been keenly interested in their rights and what they deserve. The US Constitution speaks to every human as having certain unalienable rights...right to life, right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. George W Bush also used the idea of "rights to freedom" as one of his many justifications for the Iraqi war. Do we really have any rights?
The right to life seems like a no brainer. But that is a right only in the context that God gives life and it is up to God, and not to man, when that life should end. So, it's not our right we should be fighting for in the war against abortion but rather that humans shouldn't be taking a life that isn't their right to take.
Chandler talked about the modern day understanding of human rights being born in the "Age of Enlightenment" from 18th century France. Jefferson and Franklin were both spectators and students of that movement whose primary purpose was to abolish the authority of state religion and the hereditary aristocracy. In its place, proponents believed that human logic and reason should dictate the rights of the individual rather than some faceless, power-hungry institution. (As a quick aside, the times that Christianity has gotten in the most trouble and strayed furthest from the will of God is when it has aligned itself with the powers of this world.)
So, the language of the Constitution makes sense in that context, as well as the tyranny that the Founders and their families had experienced both in Britain as well as in the wars leading to the founding of this nation. It is pervasive in our culture now. The idea that we are entitled to certain things and that our sense of fairness and justice is rational and justified are as natural as the air we breathe.
How does it make you feel to hear God say that He will do what He wants in whatever manner pleases Him? Does it make you say, "But wait...or what about...or that doesn't seem...?" God's sovereignty will drive you to one of two places. It will either lead to immense anger as you feel yourself being trampled upon by a dictator or it will lead to immense freedom and joy as the benevolent and just Creator of the Universe is on His throne. Your response will be largely determined on whether or not you think you are the center of the story. Most of us think we are...even Christians.
The only right you have is the right of sonship...the right to be called a child of God because of the cross. And guess what? That right wasn't inherent in your being a human. It was a gift of grace and mercy.
Matt Chandler wrapped up his 20-sermon series on Colossians a few weeks ago and is starting a series on the ultimate authority of God.
Here's the truth...you have no inherent rights.
Psalm 115, Daniel 4, Romans 9.
The point is clear. God can and will do what He wants in whatever way He wants to do it. Not a popular topic to preach. We are much more interested in the verses that make us feel warm and cuddly. We like the verses that help us make God into the image we want rather than explore the depths of His actual being.
Humans have always been keenly interested in their rights and what they deserve. The US Constitution speaks to every human as having certain unalienable rights...right to life, right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. George W Bush also used the idea of "rights to freedom" as one of his many justifications for the Iraqi war. Do we really have any rights?
The right to life seems like a no brainer. But that is a right only in the context that God gives life and it is up to God, and not to man, when that life should end. So, it's not our right we should be fighting for in the war against abortion but rather that humans shouldn't be taking a life that isn't their right to take.
Chandler talked about the modern day understanding of human rights being born in the "Age of Enlightenment" from 18th century France. Jefferson and Franklin were both spectators and students of that movement whose primary purpose was to abolish the authority of state religion and the hereditary aristocracy. In its place, proponents believed that human logic and reason should dictate the rights of the individual rather than some faceless, power-hungry institution. (As a quick aside, the times that Christianity has gotten in the most trouble and strayed furthest from the will of God is when it has aligned itself with the powers of this world.)
So, the language of the Constitution makes sense in that context, as well as the tyranny that the Founders and their families had experienced both in Britain as well as in the wars leading to the founding of this nation. It is pervasive in our culture now. The idea that we are entitled to certain things and that our sense of fairness and justice is rational and justified are as natural as the air we breathe.
How does it make you feel to hear God say that He will do what He wants in whatever manner pleases Him? Does it make you say, "But wait...or what about...or that doesn't seem...?" God's sovereignty will drive you to one of two places. It will either lead to immense anger as you feel yourself being trampled upon by a dictator or it will lead to immense freedom and joy as the benevolent and just Creator of the Universe is on His throne. Your response will be largely determined on whether or not you think you are the center of the story. Most of us think we are...even Christians.
The only right you have is the right of sonship...the right to be called a child of God because of the cross. And guess what? That right wasn't inherent in your being a human. It was a gift of grace and mercy.
Friday, October 22, 2010
True Love
I came across this quote by C.S. Lewis this week...
"I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer."
If I had to sum up what God has been teaching me over the past year this would probably be the best way to do it. I have had a couple conversations with friends lately in which they wondered why God wasn't answering their prayers. It was certainly true that what they were asking for and desiring wasn't sinful and wouldn't be viewed as self-centered. In fact, they were desires that all of us have at one time or another as human beings who need love and rest.
It seems as though that one of their gut reactions was to question God when He didn't come through in the timing or manner in which they thought made the most sense. It wasn't necessarily that they were questioning God's sovereignty or love but certainly His actions, or lack thereof, and His reasoning.
This to me gets right back to Tim Keller's "Prodigal God". Both sons, the younger and the elder, didn't want their father. They wanted only what their father could give them. The elder brother may have even convinced himself that he loved his father but he couldn't fool himself any longer after his father didn't give him what he thought he deserved.
I think C.S. Lewis offers the best insight into the heart of God that I have come across. God may not (I can't know for sure) be answering your prayer(s) because He is waiting for you to want Him more than what you are praying for.
I quote this verse to my friend all the time..."But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33. I remember singing that song in Midweek choir practice when I was a youngster. I loved singing it then but I love it even more now because I understand what it means. By giving you whatever you ask without teaching you to seek Him first, God would simply be enabling you to live a life void of true love for Him. If you have someone in your life that you only keep around because of what they can offer you, you definitely don't have love for them...only for what they can give you.
God is more interested in giving us Himself than anything else. That is what the cross is all about. We keep asking for the Creator to give us His creation when we should just be asking the Creator for more of the Creator. In God you will find rest, relationship, provision, peace and unconditional love and grace. Do you really need anything else?
I am not saying that it is wrong to ask God for other things. The Lord's Prayer makes it clear that it is good and right to bring our petitions and requests to the throne of the Almighty. But we would be well served on every level to start and end our prayers with pleas for the Almighty Himself. You don't glorify God by asking for anything but Him.
"Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much." - John Newton
The gospel exhorts us not to purchase from the world (security, significance, etc.) a false version of what we already possess in Christ.
"I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer."
If I had to sum up what God has been teaching me over the past year this would probably be the best way to do it. I have had a couple conversations with friends lately in which they wondered why God wasn't answering their prayers. It was certainly true that what they were asking for and desiring wasn't sinful and wouldn't be viewed as self-centered. In fact, they were desires that all of us have at one time or another as human beings who need love and rest.
It seems as though that one of their gut reactions was to question God when He didn't come through in the timing or manner in which they thought made the most sense. It wasn't necessarily that they were questioning God's sovereignty or love but certainly His actions, or lack thereof, and His reasoning.
This to me gets right back to Tim Keller's "Prodigal God". Both sons, the younger and the elder, didn't want their father. They wanted only what their father could give them. The elder brother may have even convinced himself that he loved his father but he couldn't fool himself any longer after his father didn't give him what he thought he deserved.
I think C.S. Lewis offers the best insight into the heart of God that I have come across. God may not (I can't know for sure) be answering your prayer(s) because He is waiting for you to want Him more than what you are praying for.
I quote this verse to my friend all the time..."But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33. I remember singing that song in Midweek choir practice when I was a youngster. I loved singing it then but I love it even more now because I understand what it means. By giving you whatever you ask without teaching you to seek Him first, God would simply be enabling you to live a life void of true love for Him. If you have someone in your life that you only keep around because of what they can offer you, you definitely don't have love for them...only for what they can give you.
God is more interested in giving us Himself than anything else. That is what the cross is all about. We keep asking for the Creator to give us His creation when we should just be asking the Creator for more of the Creator. In God you will find rest, relationship, provision, peace and unconditional love and grace. Do you really need anything else?
I am not saying that it is wrong to ask God for other things. The Lord's Prayer makes it clear that it is good and right to bring our petitions and requests to the throne of the Almighty. But we would be well served on every level to start and end our prayers with pleas for the Almighty Himself. You don't glorify God by asking for anything but Him.
"Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much." - John Newton
The gospel exhorts us not to purchase from the world (security, significance, etc.) a false version of what we already possess in Christ.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Follow Up Quotes
"Better a hundred times to have less and have God than to have more and cloud the face of God." - A.W. Tozer
"Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee." ~Saint Augustine
The partner in crime of our sinful nature is an unsatisfied soul.
You will become a bitter, angry, and sad person if you do not see God's love for you behind your suffering.
"God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way." ~ CS Lewis
"Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee." ~Saint Augustine
The partner in crime of our sinful nature is an unsatisfied soul.
You will become a bitter, angry, and sad person if you do not see God's love for you behind your suffering.
"God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way." ~ CS Lewis
Friday, October 8, 2010
Forgiveness
"The essence of forgiveness is absorbing pain instead of giving it." - Tim Keller
"Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn’t mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness." - Tim Keller
"It's impossible to love someone who has sinned against you grievously unless you're aware that you're capable of the same sin." - Pastor Tullian
"Whatever offense you've received is infinitely smaller than the offense God has received from you. The Gospel frees you to forgive quickly." - Pastor Tullian
"Don't buy the lie of bitterness. It's like drinking poison hoping it will kill the other person, but you're the one who dies." - Jefferson Bethke
“Many of us are being held hostage by bitterness because we are not willing to give to others what we have been given.” -Tony Evans
"When I am bitter and unforgiving what I am really saying in my heart is, 'I am better then you as I would never do what you just did.'" - Tim Keller
"If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more and if they are your enemies, you are under orders to pray for them." - C.S. Lewis
"When someone does you wrong....trying to hold a grudge and wish pain on them is like holding your breath and hoping they suffocate."
From "Captivating" by John Eldredge:
We must forgive those who hurt us. The reason is simple: Bitterness and unforgiveness are claws that set their hooks deep in our hearts; they are chains that keep us held captive to the wounds and the messages of those wounds. Until you forgive, you remain their prisoner. Paul warns us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). We have to let them go.
Forgive as Christ has forgiven you. (Col 3:13)
Now - listen carefully. Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling - don't try and feel forgiving. It is an act of the will. "Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving," wrote Neil Anderson. "You will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made . . ." We allow God to bring the hurt up from our past, for "if your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete." We acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered, and we choose to extend forgiveness to our father, our mother, those who hurt us. This is not saying, "It didn't really matter"; it is not saying, "I probably deserved part of it anyway." Forgiveness says, "It was wrong. Very wrong. It mattered, hurt me deeply. And I release you. I give you to God."
It might help to remember that those who hurt you were also deeply wounded themselves. They were broken hearts, broken when they were young, and they fell captive to the Enemy. They were in fact pawns in his hands. This doesn't absolve them of the choices they made, the things they did. It just helps us to let them go - to realize that they were shattered souls themselves.
http://pastormark.tv/2012/08/14/5-crucial-steps-for-reconciliation
http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2014/03/24/3-things-forgiveness
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/may/forgiving-sins-of-my-father.html
www.bloggingtheologically.com/2014/07/28/when-forgiveness-becomes-a-discipline
http://dailykeller.com/what-is-forgiveness/
"Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn’t mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness." - Tim Keller
"It's impossible to love someone who has sinned against you grievously unless you're aware that you're capable of the same sin." - Pastor Tullian
"Whatever offense you've received is infinitely smaller than the offense God has received from you. The Gospel frees you to forgive quickly." - Pastor Tullian
"Don't buy the lie of bitterness. It's like drinking poison hoping it will kill the other person, but you're the one who dies." - Jefferson Bethke
“Many of us are being held hostage by bitterness because we are not willing to give to others what we have been given.” -Tony Evans
"When I am bitter and unforgiving what I am really saying in my heart is, 'I am better then you as I would never do what you just did.'" - Tim Keller
"If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more and if they are your enemies, you are under orders to pray for them." - C.S. Lewis
"When someone does you wrong....trying to hold a grudge and wish pain on them is like holding your breath and hoping they suffocate."
From "Captivating" by John Eldredge:
We must forgive those who hurt us. The reason is simple: Bitterness and unforgiveness are claws that set their hooks deep in our hearts; they are chains that keep us held captive to the wounds and the messages of those wounds. Until you forgive, you remain their prisoner. Paul warns us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). We have to let them go.
Forgive as Christ has forgiven you. (Col 3:13)
Now - listen carefully. Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling - don't try and feel forgiving. It is an act of the will. "Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving," wrote Neil Anderson. "You will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made . . ." We allow God to bring the hurt up from our past, for "if your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete." We acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered, and we choose to extend forgiveness to our father, our mother, those who hurt us. This is not saying, "It didn't really matter"; it is not saying, "I probably deserved part of it anyway." Forgiveness says, "It was wrong. Very wrong. It mattered, hurt me deeply. And I release you. I give you to God."
It might help to remember that those who hurt you were also deeply wounded themselves. They were broken hearts, broken when they were young, and they fell captive to the Enemy. They were in fact pawns in his hands. This doesn't absolve them of the choices they made, the things they did. It just helps us to let them go - to realize that they were shattered souls themselves.
http://pastormark.tv/2012/08/14/5-crucial-steps-for-reconciliation
http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2014/03/24/3-things-forgiveness
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/may/forgiving-sins-of-my-father.html
www.bloggingtheologically.com/2014/07/28/when-forgiveness-becomes-a-discipline
http://dailykeller.com/what-is-forgiveness/
Opening Up My Eyes
You fought but you were just too weak
So you lost all the things you tried to keep
Now you're on your knees
You're on your knees
But wait everything can change
In a moments' time
You don't have to be afraid
'Cause fear is just a lie
Open up your eyes
And He'll break open the skies to save
Those who cry out His name
The one the wind and waves obey
Is strong enough to save you
I have heard this Tenth Avenue North song a number of times and have always liked it but tonight it hit deeper, right at my core. It's spot on. I have come to realize that the biggest idol in my life is me. Not just me...but what I can do. Ever since I was in 2nd grade I have known that I had special gifts. My above average intelligence led to straight A's, teacher approval, numerous academic awards, the pride of my parents, scholarships, special opportunities, and on and on I could go.
We talked a little bit about "cause and effect" last night in care group and I have touched upon it here before. How can you not become a slave to it when it is all you knew during your formative years? My success and my achievements were a function of my abilities and my hard work. I validated myself. I took a lot of abuse growing up because I was the smart kid. But I still knew...at the end of the day and deep inside...no one could take from me the gifts that I had.
So, although I wasn't one to go around and brag about my achievements (quite the opposite, in fact), I still found my worth in them. It was a big reason why I kinda went the opposite direction in college. I got tired of being known as the "smart kid". I wanted people to define me another way but, in the end, I still defined myself that way because it was always something I could fall back on. It was safe and comfortable and proven.
So, now I am 37 and anyone taking an objective look at my professional path would say that I am far from successful. My achievements in the workplace have been minimal. My personal attempts at trading have been met with mixed success. No promotions, no monetary increases, no largely successful firm. Whatever it was that used to bring me worth and affirmation is no longer there.
"All of the suffering of God's children happens ultimately because God loves us and has as his goal for us our spiritual enlargement." - Pastor Tullian
So God thwarts that which we have made an idol. God intervenes. And thank Him that He does. God takes away those things that have replaced Him...those things that we use to define who we are rather than defining who we are by what He has done for us. That is what He has done to me. It hasn't been fun or easy or comfortable. It's still not. But it is good...and right...and praiseworthy.
Everything can change. The One the wind and waves obey...is strong enough to save me.
So you lost all the things you tried to keep
Now you're on your knees
You're on your knees
But wait everything can change
In a moments' time
You don't have to be afraid
'Cause fear is just a lie
Open up your eyes
And He'll break open the skies to save
Those who cry out His name
The one the wind and waves obey
Is strong enough to save you
I have heard this Tenth Avenue North song a number of times and have always liked it but tonight it hit deeper, right at my core. It's spot on. I have come to realize that the biggest idol in my life is me. Not just me...but what I can do. Ever since I was in 2nd grade I have known that I had special gifts. My above average intelligence led to straight A's, teacher approval, numerous academic awards, the pride of my parents, scholarships, special opportunities, and on and on I could go.
We talked a little bit about "cause and effect" last night in care group and I have touched upon it here before. How can you not become a slave to it when it is all you knew during your formative years? My success and my achievements were a function of my abilities and my hard work. I validated myself. I took a lot of abuse growing up because I was the smart kid. But I still knew...at the end of the day and deep inside...no one could take from me the gifts that I had.
So, although I wasn't one to go around and brag about my achievements (quite the opposite, in fact), I still found my worth in them. It was a big reason why I kinda went the opposite direction in college. I got tired of being known as the "smart kid". I wanted people to define me another way but, in the end, I still defined myself that way because it was always something I could fall back on. It was safe and comfortable and proven.
So, now I am 37 and anyone taking an objective look at my professional path would say that I am far from successful. My achievements in the workplace have been minimal. My personal attempts at trading have been met with mixed success. No promotions, no monetary increases, no largely successful firm. Whatever it was that used to bring me worth and affirmation is no longer there.
"All of the suffering of God's children happens ultimately because God loves us and has as his goal for us our spiritual enlargement." - Pastor Tullian
So God thwarts that which we have made an idol. God intervenes. And thank Him that He does. God takes away those things that have replaced Him...those things that we use to define who we are rather than defining who we are by what He has done for us. That is what He has done to me. It hasn't been fun or easy or comfortable. It's still not. But it is good...and right...and praiseworthy.
Everything can change. The One the wind and waves obey...is strong enough to save me.
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