They say better late than never...
So here are a couple of points we discussed on Chapter 8: Dependant Discipline.
To Pray and Do
As I read through this chapter, again I felt some familiarity with my time in ‘Charismatic Christianity’. On reflection, maybe I was the ‘spiritual’ person Jerry spoke about on page 132. “Today, we would tend to divide into two camps. The more ‘spiritual’ people would call an all-night prayer meeting. To them, posting a guard would be depending on human effort instead of God.” I often prayed the prayer on page 134 “We often use the expression “Let the Lord live His life through me.” I am personally uncomfortable with this expression because it suggests a passivity on our part. He does not live His life through me. Rather as I depend on Him, He enables Me to live a life pleasing to Him.”
I had even heard people suggest in certain circumstances (especially healing) that it would be a lack of faith, or not trusting God if you did anything other than pray and wait. We sang songs and prayed prayers that pleaded with God to ‘Use me’, ‘Fill me’, ‘Send me’, ‘Make me’. We had ‘faith’ that God would do it. But though we never said it, I think we often thought (or hoped), that he would do it miraculously. That something amazing would happen and we could say ‘It was all God’. “It is the idea that we can do nothing but trust that is particularly troubling to me. I believe that the psalmist – and Nehemiah and Paul – would say, “Man’s part is to trust and work. God’s part is to enable the man or woman to do the work.” … God’s work does not make our effort unnecessary, but rather makes it effective. Paul did not say, “Christ show contentment through me.” Rather he said, “I have learned to be content through Him who give me strength.” Page 135
In the beauty of hindsight I see that God did answer our prayers but the answers usually came through people who were living out their faith, not just praying about it and waiting for God to act.
The results are the Lords
This chapter was a lovely reminder that we must trust and work. It also reminded us through the analogy of the Farmer List of 'must do’s' and 'can’t do’s' that even with all our hard work and obedience, all the results are the Lords. Like the farmers crop, only God can make us grow.
“There are six things farmers must do and only two things they cannot do. They can even to a degree circumvent the weather by irrigating in case of drought. But the one thing they absolutely cannot do is the most critical of all. Without the life that makes things grow, all their disciplines of farming are useless... They will put all their confidence in the performance of their duties, not in God, who makes things grow. As far as they are concerned, their success depends on themselves.
As in the cases of farming, God has ordained certain disciplines or practices that are necessary in order to grow in holiness. We must observe these or we will not grow, just as farmers will not produce a crop if they do not perform their duties. There is only one thing, however we cannot do. We cannot make ourselves grow.” Page 138
Do you take for granted the spiritual life that makes you grow? Is your confidence in God or your own observance of the necessary disciplines and practices or the christian life? We need to be disiplined and dependant.
"Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God's help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christs sake" Jonathan Edwards
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Chapter 7 - Obeying the Great Commandment
Unfortunately quite a few people have been ill over the last few weeks, and the last two meetings there have only been three of us so we haven't discussed chapter 7. We have however decided to move on. So next meeting we will be discussing Chapter 8.
I really enjoyed this chapter and found some of it quite challenging. I particularly related to the analogy of the driver on page 119
" To continue the driving analogy, we press the accelerator pedal of obedience until we have brought our behavior up to a certain level or "speed." The level of obedience is most often determined by the behavior standard of other Christians around us. We don't want to lag behind them because we want to be as spiritual as they are. At the same time, we're not eager to forge ahead of them because we wouldn't want to be different. We want to just comfortably blend in with the level of obedience of those around us.
Once we have arrived at this comfortable level of obedience, we push the "cruise-control" button in our hearts, ease back, and relax. Our particular Christian culture then takes over and keeps us going at the accepted level of conduct. We don't have to watch the speed-limit signs in God's Word, and we certainly don't have to experience the fatigue that comes with seeking to obey Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. This then is what I call "cruise-control' obedience, and I fear it is descriptive of any of us much if not all, of the time."
I'm sure I've been guilty of pressing the cruise control button at times, and I found this a challenge to be reminded to be more like the racing car driver
"Race-car drivers are totally focused on their driving. Their foot is always on the accelerator as they try to push their car to the outer limits of its mechanical ability and endurance. Their eye is always on the track as they press to its limit their own skill in negotiating the turns on the track and the hazards of other cars around them. They are driving with all their heart soul, and mind.
This is what it means to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. It means to obey Him with all our heart and soul and mind. It means, in the words of Hebrews 12:14 to ' make every effort... to be holy'. Page 119
It was also a great reminder to remember that are whole lives are worship, not just Sunday morning, and as Jerry said on page 120 "God is not impressed with our worship on Sunday morning at church if we are practicing 'cruise-control' obedience the rest of the week. You may sing with reverent zest or great emotional fervor, but your worship is only as pleasing to God as the obedience that accompanies it."
As Christian friends let us encourage each other to switch cruise control off. Let us stir each other up to run the race as described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Let us run with all our hear mind and soul. For as it says in 1 John 5:3 'This is love for God: to obey his commands'.
I really enjoyed this chapter and found some of it quite challenging. I particularly related to the analogy of the driver on page 119
" To continue the driving analogy, we press the accelerator pedal of obedience until we have brought our behavior up to a certain level or "speed." The level of obedience is most often determined by the behavior standard of other Christians around us. We don't want to lag behind them because we want to be as spiritual as they are. At the same time, we're not eager to forge ahead of them because we wouldn't want to be different. We want to just comfortably blend in with the level of obedience of those around us.
Once we have arrived at this comfortable level of obedience, we push the "cruise-control" button in our hearts, ease back, and relax. Our particular Christian culture then takes over and keeps us going at the accepted level of conduct. We don't have to watch the speed-limit signs in God's Word, and we certainly don't have to experience the fatigue that comes with seeking to obey Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. This then is what I call "cruise-control' obedience, and I fear it is descriptive of any of us much if not all, of the time."
I'm sure I've been guilty of pressing the cruise control button at times, and I found this a challenge to be reminded to be more like the racing car driver
"Race-car drivers are totally focused on their driving. Their foot is always on the accelerator as they try to push their car to the outer limits of its mechanical ability and endurance. Their eye is always on the track as they press to its limit their own skill in negotiating the turns on the track and the hazards of other cars around them. They are driving with all their heart soul, and mind.
This is what it means to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. It means to obey Him with all our heart and soul and mind. It means, in the words of Hebrews 12:14 to ' make every effort... to be holy'. Page 119
It was also a great reminder to remember that are whole lives are worship, not just Sunday morning, and as Jerry said on page 120 "God is not impressed with our worship on Sunday morning at church if we are practicing 'cruise-control' obedience the rest of the week. You may sing with reverent zest or great emotional fervor, but your worship is only as pleasing to God as the obedience that accompanies it."
As Christian friends let us encourage each other to switch cruise control off. Let us stir each other up to run the race as described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Let us run with all our hear mind and soul. For as it says in 1 John 5:3 'This is love for God: to obey his commands'.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Chapter 6 - Transformed into His Likeness
Here are just a few of the things we discussed this week about Chapter 6.
The Christian struggle and pursuit of holiness: The picture of sin as waging a guerrilla war on page 106 was particularly helpful to us in helping to understand how sin has been defeated be yet still troubles us. ‘Sin is like a defeated army in a civil war that, instead of surrendering and laying down its arms, simply fades into the countryside, from which it continues to wage guerrilla war of harassment and sabotage against the government forces. Sin as a reigning power is defeated in the life of the believer, but it will never surrender. It will continue to harass us and seek to sabotage our Christian lives as long as we live…. If we are going to pursue holiness, we must accept the fact that there will be continual tension with us between our desires and our performance. As British theologian J.I. Packer so often says, our reach will always exceed our grasp.' We all felt that we could relate to the passage in Romans 7:14-25 when Paul laments that ‘When I want to do good, evil is right there with me'.
The doctrine of election: We discussed how as reformed believers we often find ourselves thinking that we need to apologise for the doctrine of election (click here for a brief explanation) . We can understand why its been said that the doctrine of election is a doctrine for believers. People often think that it paints a picture of God, as uncaring and choosing to send multitudes of people to hell, It doesn’t fit into their understanding of a God of love. But when we truly understand sin to be ‘… a rebellion against Gods authority, a despising of his person and a defiance of his commands’ page101… and deserving of judgement, then it changes the whole picture. It reveals Him to be more loving than we suspect. We no longer look on Him as tyrant sending men to their death, but as an incredible loving and merciful God who, though his people are completely deserving of hell and judgement, has chosen to deliver them, reached out to them personally and drawn them out of the fire. It highlights how important it is to start with sin and its offence to God. Why do we hate sin? As Jerry says on page 101 ‘We often hate the consequences of sin (even if it seems to be no more than the guilt feelings that follow sin, but I suspect we seldom hate sin as sin.’ Do you really hate sin? Even the sins that others don’t see in you?
Some of us recalled that in our previous understanding of Christianity, we believed that Christ died potentially for the whole world. We didn’t realise at the time how impersonal this really is. However when we understand biblically the doctrine of election, and that God chose those whom he would save, we realise that Christ’s relationship to us is far more intimate. When Christ was dying on the cross he knew my name, he knew when he was dying that he was dieing for me. His sacrifice didn’t merely make salvation possible, but it actually saved everyone whom the father had given Him. (John 17:9-20, Rom 8:28-39, Eph 1:3-14, John 10:15-18) None whom he died for that day will be lost! Every one of those whom he died for will be saved. He died personally for every person whom the father had given him before time, and His sacrifice is complete. Talk about a real personal relationship with Jesus…
Justification and sanctification in reverse: It is interesting to compare the Charismatic or Pentecostal experience of justification in sanctification to that we read about on page 99 ‘In justification we rely on what Christ did for us on the cross. In sanctification, we rely on Christ to work in us by His Holy Spirit. In justification, as well as regeneration, God acts alone. In sanctification He works in us but elicits our response to cooperate with Him.’
Some of our discussion group have had Charismatic and Pentecostal upbringings, and remember that whilst we were not necessarily taught it, our experience was the reverse of what Jerry stated. We considered Justification and salvation, as something in which we co-operated with God. God was willing to save us and had made salvation possible through Christs sacrifice but He was helpless to actually save us unless we chose Christ (rather than him first choosing us. 1 John 4:19). Belief was a work on our part. God could not save us with out our co-operation. Grace then becomes the reward for our faith or our work of believing in the gospel (salvation by works). But when it came to sanctification and holiness we trusted that God would do all the work in changing our hearts.
The Christian struggle and pursuit of holiness: The picture of sin as waging a guerrilla war on page 106 was particularly helpful to us in helping to understand how sin has been defeated be yet still troubles us. ‘Sin is like a defeated army in a civil war that, instead of surrendering and laying down its arms, simply fades into the countryside, from which it continues to wage guerrilla war of harassment and sabotage against the government forces. Sin as a reigning power is defeated in the life of the believer, but it will never surrender. It will continue to harass us and seek to sabotage our Christian lives as long as we live…. If we are going to pursue holiness, we must accept the fact that there will be continual tension with us between our desires and our performance. As British theologian J.I. Packer so often says, our reach will always exceed our grasp.' We all felt that we could relate to the passage in Romans 7:14-25 when Paul laments that ‘When I want to do good, evil is right there with me'.
The doctrine of election: We discussed how as reformed believers we often find ourselves thinking that we need to apologise for the doctrine of election (click here for a brief explanation) . We can understand why its been said that the doctrine of election is a doctrine for believers. People often think that it paints a picture of God, as uncaring and choosing to send multitudes of people to hell, It doesn’t fit into their understanding of a God of love. But when we truly understand sin to be ‘… a rebellion against Gods authority, a despising of his person and a defiance of his commands’ page101… and deserving of judgement, then it changes the whole picture. It reveals Him to be more loving than we suspect. We no longer look on Him as tyrant sending men to their death, but as an incredible loving and merciful God who, though his people are completely deserving of hell and judgement, has chosen to deliver them, reached out to them personally and drawn them out of the fire. It highlights how important it is to start with sin and its offence to God. Why do we hate sin? As Jerry says on page 101 ‘We often hate the consequences of sin (even if it seems to be no more than the guilt feelings that follow sin, but I suspect we seldom hate sin as sin.’ Do you really hate sin? Even the sins that others don’t see in you?
Some of us recalled that in our previous understanding of Christianity, we believed that Christ died potentially for the whole world. We didn’t realise at the time how impersonal this really is. However when we understand biblically the doctrine of election, and that God chose those whom he would save, we realise that Christ’s relationship to us is far more intimate. When Christ was dying on the cross he knew my name, he knew when he was dying that he was dieing for me. His sacrifice didn’t merely make salvation possible, but it actually saved everyone whom the father had given Him. (John 17:9-20, Rom 8:28-39, Eph 1:3-14, John 10:15-18) None whom he died for that day will be lost! Every one of those whom he died for will be saved. He died personally for every person whom the father had given him before time, and His sacrifice is complete. Talk about a real personal relationship with Jesus…
Justification and sanctification in reverse: It is interesting to compare the Charismatic or Pentecostal experience of justification in sanctification to that we read about on page 99 ‘In justification we rely on what Christ did for us on the cross. In sanctification, we rely on Christ to work in us by His Holy Spirit. In justification, as well as regeneration, God acts alone. In sanctification He works in us but elicits our response to cooperate with Him.’
Some of our discussion group have had Charismatic and Pentecostal upbringings, and remember that whilst we were not necessarily taught it, our experience was the reverse of what Jerry stated. We considered Justification and salvation, as something in which we co-operated with God. God was willing to save us and had made salvation possible through Christs sacrifice but He was helpless to actually save us unless we chose Christ (rather than him first choosing us. 1 John 4:19). Belief was a work on our part. God could not save us with out our co-operation. Grace then becomes the reward for our faith or our work of believing in the gospel (salvation by works). But when it came to sanctification and holiness we trusted that God would do all the work in changing our hearts.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Chapter 5 - Disciplined by Grace
We had an excellent discussion on Thursday. Here are some of the things that we talked about:
Reassuring and sobering – 'God never saves people and leaves them alone to continue in their immaturity and sinful lifestyles. Those whom he saves he disciplines.’ Page 82 The circumstances and trial in our lives are not ‘random’ events, but that they are part of Gods ‘firm but loving care for our souls.’ Isn’t this reassuring. I loved the picture that was painted in this chapter of God as the loving father training, admonishing, correcting and disciplining his children in order to cultivate spiritual growth and godly Character.
Left to ourselves, we would either be overwhelmed with our utter sinfulness, and not know where to begin the changes needed to make our lives and character godly, or we would not even see the hidden sinfulness of our heart and continue along in our sinful and self righteous ways.
Once again Grace takes the focus off our ability (or rather inability) to achieve godliness, and brings us back to the truth. That we can’t fulfill the call to godliness with our own will-power and that we need to trust God even to guide us in our spiritual Growth.
The slide of the church – ‘One has only to look around at Christendom, particularly the United States, to see that there is a vast multitude of people who claim to have trusted Christ at some time but do not seem to have experienced any of the discipline of grace. They may have walked an aisle, signed a card, or even prayed a prayer, but grace is not teaching them to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, let alone to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Essentially, their lives are no different today than they were before they professed to have trusted Christ.’ Page 83. This lead us to discuss the ‘church’. Some of us could relate that we have encountered ‘Christians’ who don’t appear to be any different to the world. Allowing their beliefs on issues such as morality, sobriety, honesty, marriage, the role of women etc, to slide away from the biblical standard. It has been said that the average life of a true church is only 30 years or one generation. Why does this happen? Why has the ‘church’ slid so far? We felt that at the root of this must be a lack of biblical teaching, an undermining of the authority of scripture and complacency. Could it be true that the next generation has never had to fight for what they believe, stand up for it and work it out for themselves. Sometimes truth is taken for Granted.
A friend who was an elder in a reformed congregation once related to us, that in Sunday school he asked the older students what the acronym T. U. L. I. P. stood for (This being a simple acronym to help them remember the ‘doctrines of grace’). None of the children knew so he sent them home to ask their parents and come back with the answer the following week. None of the parents knew either. This was a wake up call, as they realised that as a congregation they had become complacent and had taken for granted that everyone knew why they where reformed and what it stood for. It was a reminder to re-focus their teaching.
How can we prevent this from happening to us? We thought that it may be helpful to learn biblical truth systematically. We had came up with a few suggestions:
But in doing the above we need to be careful not to fall into the way of thinking that Jerry describes on page 81. ‘No one actually told me that God’s approval of me was based on my performance. Still I developed a vague but real impression that God’s smile or frown depended on whether or not I did my spiritual exercises. … If we fail to teach that discipline is by grace, people will assume, as I did, that it is by performance.
Legalism: What is legalism? In my previous life, as a charismatic, I thought a church was legalistic if it was ‘traditional’ or ‘conservative’, played hymns instead of modern worship songs, and had ordered services. I vaguely thought that this was some kind of adherence to a set of outward rules, and not ‘allowing the Spirit to move’. I realise now that this view came about because of ignorance of what the bible teaches about worship and the life of the church. What do you think legalism is? On page 81 we read the story of a young man who was very diligent in the practice of his daily quiet time. ‘My friend asked the student why he was so rigid in his practice, and the young man responded, “so nothing bad will happen to me.” He was not being disciplined by grace but by legalism’. Page 81 Why do you do your devotions? Are you being disciplines by grace or legalism?
Reassuring and sobering – 'God never saves people and leaves them alone to continue in their immaturity and sinful lifestyles. Those whom he saves he disciplines.’ Page 82 The circumstances and trial in our lives are not ‘random’ events, but that they are part of Gods ‘firm but loving care for our souls.’ Isn’t this reassuring. I loved the picture that was painted in this chapter of God as the loving father training, admonishing, correcting and disciplining his children in order to cultivate spiritual growth and godly Character.
Left to ourselves, we would either be overwhelmed with our utter sinfulness, and not know where to begin the changes needed to make our lives and character godly, or we would not even see the hidden sinfulness of our heart and continue along in our sinful and self righteous ways.
Once again Grace takes the focus off our ability (or rather inability) to achieve godliness, and brings us back to the truth. That we can’t fulfill the call to godliness with our own will-power and that we need to trust God even to guide us in our spiritual Growth.
The slide of the church – ‘One has only to look around at Christendom, particularly the United States, to see that there is a vast multitude of people who claim to have trusted Christ at some time but do not seem to have experienced any of the discipline of grace. They may have walked an aisle, signed a card, or even prayed a prayer, but grace is not teaching them to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, let alone to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Essentially, their lives are no different today than they were before they professed to have trusted Christ.’ Page 83. This lead us to discuss the ‘church’. Some of us could relate that we have encountered ‘Christians’ who don’t appear to be any different to the world. Allowing their beliefs on issues such as morality, sobriety, honesty, marriage, the role of women etc, to slide away from the biblical standard. It has been said that the average life of a true church is only 30 years or one generation. Why does this happen? Why has the ‘church’ slid so far? We felt that at the root of this must be a lack of biblical teaching, an undermining of the authority of scripture and complacency. Could it be true that the next generation has never had to fight for what they believe, stand up for it and work it out for themselves. Sometimes truth is taken for Granted.
A friend who was an elder in a reformed congregation once related to us, that in Sunday school he asked the older students what the acronym T. U. L. I. P. stood for (This being a simple acronym to help them remember the ‘doctrines of grace’). None of the children knew so he sent them home to ask their parents and come back with the answer the following week. None of the parents knew either. This was a wake up call, as they realised that as a congregation they had become complacent and had taken for granted that everyone knew why they where reformed and what it stood for. It was a reminder to re-focus their teaching.
How can we prevent this from happening to us? We thought that it may be helpful to learn biblical truth systematically. We had came up with a few suggestions:
- we could teach our children the Catechism (a small printed version is available called 'Childrens "Prove it" Catechism' published by Truth for Eternity Ministries
- Remember to preach the gospel to ourselves (chapter 3)
- Teach our children as much as we can whilst they are still open
- Memorise scripture. It is our responsibility to know the word of God and be ready to give an answer 2 Tim 4:12
- Read through the confession of faith, or maybe use it as a bible study guide.
- We need to help our children think about the truth so that they can own it themselves.
But in doing the above we need to be careful not to fall into the way of thinking that Jerry describes on page 81. ‘No one actually told me that God’s approval of me was based on my performance. Still I developed a vague but real impression that God’s smile or frown depended on whether or not I did my spiritual exercises. … If we fail to teach that discipline is by grace, people will assume, as I did, that it is by performance.
Legalism: What is legalism? In my previous life, as a charismatic, I thought a church was legalistic if it was ‘traditional’ or ‘conservative’, played hymns instead of modern worship songs, and had ordered services. I vaguely thought that this was some kind of adherence to a set of outward rules, and not ‘allowing the Spirit to move’. I realise now that this view came about because of ignorance of what the bible teaches about worship and the life of the church. What do you think legalism is? On page 81 we read the story of a young man who was very diligent in the practice of his daily quiet time. ‘My friend asked the student why he was so rigid in his practice, and the young man responded, “so nothing bad will happen to me.” He was not being disciplined by grace but by legalism’. Page 81 Why do you do your devotions? Are you being disciplines by grace or legalism?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Sorry
Hi Everyone
To those of you who are following along with the book club, I'm sorry for not posting comments on chapter 4 - 'We died to sin'.
Unfortunately our move happened much quicker than anticipated, and my broadband connection was delayed, so was unable to post.
We did however have a lovely meeting, and we all enjoyed the chapter.
I look forward to our discussions on the next chapter.
I personally found great encouragement in learning that through Christ we have been furnished... 'with all the resources we need to become in fact what we have become in status.' That God has not only ordained our salvation but he has also ordained our good works, our living out of our faith. So let us "'Live out in [our] lives the reality of the gospel. Take advantage of and put to use all the provisions of grace God has given you in Christ'" pg 75
To those of you who are following along with the book club, I'm sorry for not posting comments on chapter 4 - 'We died to sin'.
Unfortunately our move happened much quicker than anticipated, and my broadband connection was delayed, so was unable to post.
We did however have a lovely meeting, and we all enjoyed the chapter.
I look forward to our discussions on the next chapter.
I personally found great encouragement in learning that through Christ we have been furnished... 'with all the resources we need to become in fact what we have become in status.' That God has not only ordained our salvation but he has also ordained our good works, our living out of our faith. So let us "'Live out in [our] lives the reality of the gospel. Take advantage of and put to use all the provisions of grace God has given you in Christ'" pg 75
Friday, February 29, 2008
The Discipline of Grace – Chapter 3
Preach the Gospel to Yourself
These are few points we discussed this week:
What is the Gospel?
As reformed Christians, we have tended to shy away from ‘methods’ of sharing the gospel, such as the wordless book, or the coloured beads, for fear of it leading someone just saying praying the ‘sinners prayer’ and believing that that is enough to guarantee their salvation. But we recognised that given the number of Christians that have difficulty articulating what the ‘gospel’ means that some of these tools could be useful. And we could use them to help explain the gospel.
The Gospel is for believers too.
‘I [Jerry] believe part of the problem is our tendency to give an unbeliever just enough of the gospel to get him or her to pray a prayer to receive Christ. Then we immediately put the gospel on the shelf, so to speak, and go on to the duties of discipleship. As a result, Christians are not instructed in the gospel. And because they do not fully understand the riches and glory of the gospel, they cannot preach it to themselves, not live by it in their daily lives.’ pg 46.
I think this describes the climate of most of the Christian world today. It was certainly the experience of church that I grew up in. We discussed how a poor understanding of the Gospel and of Grace, effects the way we live our Christian lives. As Jerry says ‘The gospel is not only the most important message in all history; it is the only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing Christians to live their entire lives without clearly understanding it and experiencing the joy of living by it.’ Page 46
Why do we act as though we can live lives acceptable to God?
Sadly I think this is true of most of us, even ‘reformed’ Christians. ‘We readily acknowledge that we can never through our own obedience attain a righteousness that is sufficient for salvation. But then as believers we act as if we can live lives acceptable to God. pg 48 This is one reason why we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily to remind ourselves that our obedience to God is not what keeps us saved, but it is Christs righteousness, imputed to us. As Jerry puts it when expounding Romans 3: 19-26. ‘Because we cannot attain a sufficient righteousness on our own, God has provided it for us. This righteousness from God is non other than the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, who through His sinless life and His death in obedience to the Father’s will, perfectly fulfilled the law of God.’ Pg 49
Faith is not a verb.
We were surprised to learn that … ‘The word faith is a noun and has no verbal form in English. Instead the word believe is used.’ Pg 51. In many Christian circles today faith has become a verb. In some cases where people are ill it has been said that they are ill because they don’t have enough faith, or that they don’t have the answer to their prayers because they don’t have enough faith. It has also become a ‘magical’ formula; if you can produce enough faith, or believe in something enough, then God will answer your prayers. But this way of thinking is offensive to God. It makes the action of faith the conduit of blessing. It makes God powerless to overcome our lack of faith. Faith becomes a work.
This is also true of how many view salvation, as though salvation is due to our own ability to produce enough faith to believe in God. This is not the Gospel. Jerry puts it very well on page 51 ‘Jesus Himself is always to be the object of our faith. We sometimes say we are saved by faith alone, meaning apart from works. That expression, however can be somewhat misleading, as though faith itself has some virtue that God respects. It is more accurate to say we are saved by God’s grace through faith. Faith, again, is merely the hand that receives the gift of God, and God through His Spirit even opens our hand to receive the gift.’ There is no action on our behalf, we do not have enough faith to receive grace. Grace is not a reward for faith. But we are saved by Grace, through the free gift of faith. We should be careful, not to make ‘Faith’ a work. But remember that it is a gift. Ephesians 2:8-9 ‘For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’
Christ was thinking of me on the cross.
We discussed one of the biblical doctrines of grace, Particular Redemption. How knowing that Christ died particularly for his chosen people, the elect, is much more personal than the idea of a universal potential atonement. Whilst on the cross, Christ was thinking of ‘me’ (and you), not just some vague idea of those who might accept him. It also shows how powerful God is in that he has already accomplished the salvation of all his people, even those who have not been born yet. And he has also accomplished for them righteousness, and he is powerful enough to uphold them till the end. Amazing Grace! Christ death was absolutely perfect and none whom he died for will be lost. If we believe that he only died potentially for all men, then we devalue the sacrifice he made. We imply that his sacrifice was not enough, because it was not able to cover the sin of unbelief, and he was not powerful enough to overcome our lack of faith.
These are few points we discussed this week:
What is the Gospel?
As reformed Christians, we have tended to shy away from ‘methods’ of sharing the gospel, such as the wordless book, or the coloured beads, for fear of it leading someone just saying praying the ‘sinners prayer’ and believing that that is enough to guarantee their salvation. But we recognised that given the number of Christians that have difficulty articulating what the ‘gospel’ means that some of these tools could be useful. And we could use them to help explain the gospel.
The Gospel is for believers too.
‘I [Jerry] believe part of the problem is our tendency to give an unbeliever just enough of the gospel to get him or her to pray a prayer to receive Christ. Then we immediately put the gospel on the shelf, so to speak, and go on to the duties of discipleship. As a result, Christians are not instructed in the gospel. And because they do not fully understand the riches and glory of the gospel, they cannot preach it to themselves, not live by it in their daily lives.’ pg 46.
I think this describes the climate of most of the Christian world today. It was certainly the experience of church that I grew up in. We discussed how a poor understanding of the Gospel and of Grace, effects the way we live our Christian lives. As Jerry says ‘The gospel is not only the most important message in all history; it is the only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing Christians to live their entire lives without clearly understanding it and experiencing the joy of living by it.’ Page 46
Why do we act as though we can live lives acceptable to God?
Sadly I think this is true of most of us, even ‘reformed’ Christians. ‘We readily acknowledge that we can never through our own obedience attain a righteousness that is sufficient for salvation. But then as believers we act as if we can live lives acceptable to God. pg 48 This is one reason why we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily to remind ourselves that our obedience to God is not what keeps us saved, but it is Christs righteousness, imputed to us. As Jerry puts it when expounding Romans 3: 19-26. ‘Because we cannot attain a sufficient righteousness on our own, God has provided it for us. This righteousness from God is non other than the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, who through His sinless life and His death in obedience to the Father’s will, perfectly fulfilled the law of God.’ Pg 49
Faith is not a verb.
We were surprised to learn that … ‘The word faith is a noun and has no verbal form in English. Instead the word believe is used.’ Pg 51. In many Christian circles today faith has become a verb. In some cases where people are ill it has been said that they are ill because they don’t have enough faith, or that they don’t have the answer to their prayers because they don’t have enough faith. It has also become a ‘magical’ formula; if you can produce enough faith, or believe in something enough, then God will answer your prayers. But this way of thinking is offensive to God. It makes the action of faith the conduit of blessing. It makes God powerless to overcome our lack of faith. Faith becomes a work.
This is also true of how many view salvation, as though salvation is due to our own ability to produce enough faith to believe in God. This is not the Gospel. Jerry puts it very well on page 51 ‘Jesus Himself is always to be the object of our faith. We sometimes say we are saved by faith alone, meaning apart from works. That expression, however can be somewhat misleading, as though faith itself has some virtue that God respects. It is more accurate to say we are saved by God’s grace through faith. Faith, again, is merely the hand that receives the gift of God, and God through His Spirit even opens our hand to receive the gift.’ There is no action on our behalf, we do not have enough faith to receive grace. Grace is not a reward for faith. But we are saved by Grace, through the free gift of faith. We should be careful, not to make ‘Faith’ a work. But remember that it is a gift. Ephesians 2:8-9 ‘For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’
Christ was thinking of me on the cross.
We discussed one of the biblical doctrines of grace, Particular Redemption. How knowing that Christ died particularly for his chosen people, the elect, is much more personal than the idea of a universal potential atonement. Whilst on the cross, Christ was thinking of ‘me’ (and you), not just some vague idea of those who might accept him. It also shows how powerful God is in that he has already accomplished the salvation of all his people, even those who have not been born yet. And he has also accomplished for them righteousness, and he is powerful enough to uphold them till the end. Amazing Grace! Christ death was absolutely perfect and none whom he died for will be lost. If we believe that he only died potentially for all men, then we devalue the sacrifice he made. We imply that his sacrifice was not enough, because it was not able to cover the sin of unbelief, and he was not powerful enough to overcome our lack of faith.
Monday, February 18, 2008
This book was recommended by Deb in our book discussions on 'The Displine of Grace', as an excellent book for all those tough questions.
From the Publisher: 'R. C. Sproul, a distinguished theologian and educator, addresses doctrinal points and contemporary issues such as euthanasia, evolution, and abortion.
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