tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40618750769802118922024-03-13T21:01:45.897-04:00Christ Formed in YouChrist Formed in You - Excerpts from the new book by Brian G. HedgesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-15743427145767343212011-08-26T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-26T08:00:02.817-04:00Excerpt 4 of 22<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
The Gift of the Spirit</h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">In his resurrection and exaltation Christ did far more
than return to us our humanity. Even as the Son of Man departed from the earth,
he sent us his Spirit. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are
witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having
received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this
that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:32-33). This was a pivotal
event, unprecedented in the history of God’s saving deeds. As Peter points out,
it was also the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that God would pour his Spirit
out in the “last days” (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:17-21). </span></span></span><br />
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</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">True, the Spirit of God was active before the coming of
Christ. Scripture speaks of the Spirit’s involvement in both creation (Gen.
1:2) and redemption (Isa. 63:7-14). From Peter and Paul, we know that the
Spirit was also the agent of God’s self-revelation through Scripture (2 Pet.
1:21; 2 Tim. 3:14-17). But it is especially in the life and ministry of Jesus
that we make our acquaintance with the Holy Spirit. “In the coming of Jesus,
the Day of the Spirit had finally dawned.” [i]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><br /></span></span></a></span></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">The Spirit of the Son</span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Holy Spirit was intimately connected with Jesus
throughout his entire life. Prior to Jesus’ virginal conception an angel said
to Mary, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35; cf. Matt. 1:18, 20). When Jesus was baptized
by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the Father anointed him with the
Spirit (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22). Then Jesus was immediately driven
into the wilderness by the Spirit for a season of testing (Matt. 4:1; Mark
1:12; Luke 4:1). Luke says that Jesus was “full of the Spirit” when this
happened; he afterward returned to Galilee in “the power of the Spirit” (Luke
4:14). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Jesus’ first sermon, he claimed to fulfill Isaiah’s
prophecy of a Spirit-anointed ministry of redemption and restoration to Israel
(Luke 4:16-21). Peter’s summary of Christ’s ministry describes “how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about
doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with
him” (Acts 10:38). When skeptical religious leaders accused him of casting out
demons by satanic power, Jesus said, “if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast
out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">In his death, Jesus offered himself as an atoning
sacrifice through the Holy Spirit (Heb. 9:14). Paul tells us that Jesus was
“declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by
his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). After Jesus’ resurrection he
breathed on his disciples, saying “receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). Then
followed Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out on the
church, <i>as the Spirit of Christ.</i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">The New Age of the Spirit </span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The exaltation of Christ inaugurated the new age of the
Spirit. Jesus, the quintessential Spirit-filled one, the Last Adam, has lived
and died in our place. He is now exalted in glorified humanity. In this exalted
position, the Spirit so identifies with the risen Lord Jesus that Paul speaks
of Christ as “life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45) and the “Lord of the Spirit” [ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a>
(2 Cor. 3:18). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">As Sinclair Ferguson writes, </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">From womb to tomb to throne, the
Spirit was the constant companion of the Son. As a result, when he comes to
Christians to indwell them, he comes as the Spirit of Christ in such a way that
to possess him is to possess Christ himself, just as to lack him is to lack
Christ. [iii]</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is important for us to grasp because <i>the Spirit, as given by our exalted Lord, is
the agent who personally effects our transformation.</i></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">When we embrace Christ revealed in the gospel, he gives
us his Spirit. The Holy Spirit remakes us after Christ’s likeness, changing us
by the sight of his glory into his very image (2 Cor. 3:18). We are dependent on
the Spirit for every inch of progress in our pursuit of holiness and
transformation. As Calvin wrote, </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is the Spirit that inflames our
hearts with the fire of ardent love for God and for our neighbor. Every day he
mortifies and every day consumes more and more of the vices of our evil desire
or greed, so that, if there are some good deeds in us, these are the fruits and
the virtues of his grace; and without the Spirit there is in us nothing but
darkness of understanding and perversity of heart. [iv]</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the life-giving ministry of the Spirit in the new
covenant (2 Cor. 3:4-4:6). Writing with rich biblical insight of how “the
Spirit’s task is to restore glory to a fallen creation,” Ferguson continues: </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">As Calvin well says, this world was
made a theatre for God’s glory. Throughout it he displays visibly the
perfections of his invisible nature. Particularly in man and woman, his image,
that glory was to be reflected. But they refused to “glorify God (Rom. 1:21);
they defiled the reflector (Rom. 1:28) and fell short of his glory (Rom. 3:23).</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">But now, in Christ who is “the radiance
of God’s glory” (Heb. 1:2), that glory is restored. Having become flesh for us,
he has now been exalted in our flesh yet in glory. The eschatological goal of
creation has been consummated in him as its firstfruits. Now he sends his
Spirit, the intimate companion of his entire incarnation, to recover glory in
us. So it is that “we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory, are
being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
from the Lord, who is the Spirit [or, the Lord of the Spirit]” (2 Cor. 3:18).</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The purpose for which the Spirit is given is, therefore, nothing less than the
reproduction of the image of God, that is transformation into the likeness of
Christ who is himself the image of God. To receive the Spirit is to be
inaugurated into the effects of this ongoing ministry. [v]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br clear="all" /></span></span></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] Sinclair
B. Ferguson, <i>The Holy Spirit</i> (Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996) 33.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] As
Ferguson explains, the last phrase of 2 Cor. 3:18, “‘from the Lord, who is the
Spirit’ translates three Greek words: <i>apo
</i>(from), <i>kyrio </i>(Lord, genitive
case following the preposition <i>apo</i>)
and <i>pneumatos </i>(Spirit, also in the
genitive case). The statement is amendable to more than one interpretation: (1)
‘from the Spirit of the Lord’. (2) ‘from the Lord who is the Spirit’; (3) ‘from
the Lord of the Spirit’. The third option may, at first glance, seem to be the
least likely, but it is the most natural rendering and one that is highly
illuminating theologically. Paul is then saying that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Lord of the Spirit. There is no ontological confusion here, but an economic
equivalence; nor is there an ontological subordinationism, but rather a
complete intimacy of relationship between Jesus and the Spirit. In effect, Paul
is teaching that through his life and ministry Jesus came into such complete
possession of the Spirit, receiving and experiencing him ‘without limit’ (Jn.
3:34), that he is now ‘Lord’ of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). With respect to his
economic ministry to us, the Spirit has been ‘imprinted’ with the character of
Jesus.” Ibid., 55. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a>[iii] Ibid.,
37.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1574342714576734321#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""></a>[iv] John
Calvin, <i>Instruction in Faith (1537), </i>Paul
T. Fuhrmann, trans., (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1977) 52.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">
[v] Ferguson, 91-92.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-67086304021572023992011-08-23T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-23T08:00:18.420-04:00Excerpt 3 of 22<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">....To summarize, Christ died <i>for</i> our sins and <i>in</i> our
place. In his substitutionary work on the cross, Jesus saved us from the
consequences of our sins.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Through propitiation, he became our curse and
bore the wrath we deserved. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">In redeeming us, he paid the ransom that set us
free from slavery. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">He also rescued us from the darkness of this
present evil age. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Through reconciliation, he removed the hostility
separating us from God. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">And he triumphed over our enemies: sin, Satan,
and death. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">These glorious achievements of the cross show why it lies
at the heart of the gospel. </span></div>
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<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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The Power of Christ’s Resurrection</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus, of course, did not remain on the cross or stay in
the grave. The Christian message would not be good news if there were nothing
to report beyond Good Friday. But there <i>is</i>
a report. “He was raised on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures”
(1 Cor. 15:4). The news is good because Jesus is alive!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What did Paul mean when he claimed that Christ was
raised? Did he simply mean the spirit of Jesus had gone to heaven after he
died? That Jesus had passed into life-after-death? Did he mean that he and
others had seen visions of Jesus or had been visited by the spirit of Christ or
had a sense of his abiding presence with them? If asked, as one hymn does, “You
ask me how I know he lives?” would Paul have answered, “He lives within my
heart”? What does resurrection mean?</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">The Resurrection is Physical</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">First, Paul meant that the physical body of Jesus of
Nazareth—the same body that was killed through crucifixion, wrapped in linens,
and laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb—was raised out of death into glorious, <i>physical </i>life. In 1 Corinthians 15:5-8,
Paul named some of the many eyewitnesses of the risen Christ (including
himself) as proof. When he wrote these words, many of those witnesses were
still alive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In one appearance, Jesus ate fish with his disciples,
proving the tangibility and physicality of his resurrection body (Luke
24:33-43). As Luke says, Jesus “presented himself alive after his suffering by
many proofs, appearing to [the apostles] during forty days and speaking about
the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The resurrection means that the body of Jesus emerged
from death in glorious triumph!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">The Resurrection is Eschatological</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The resurrection of Christ is not only physical; it is
eschatological. This means it belongs to, and effectively inaugurates, the age
to come. This is why Paul draws the connection between the resurrection of
Christ in the past and the resurrection of believers in the future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But in fact Christ has been raised from
the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came
death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then
comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying
every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put
all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1
Cor. 15:20-26)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Notice that Paul calls the resurrection of Christ “the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20). This agricultural term
derives its significance from the Old Testament, where worshipers brought their
“firstfruits” sacrifices each year at the beginning of the spring harvest
(Exod. 23:19; Lev. 23:10-11). The firstfruits offering was not only the first
and best offering, it represented the entire harvest.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.do#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[i]</span></span></a></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">His resurrection is not an isolated
event in the past. Rather, in its undeniably full-bodied, past historicity, it
belongs, in a manner of speaking, to the future. It can be said to be from the
future and to have entered the past and to be controlling the present from that
future. In Christ’s resurrection . . . the age-to-come has begun, the new
creation has actually dawned, eschatology has been inaugurated.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.do#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[ii]</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As C. S. Lewis observes,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The New Testament writers speak as
if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind
in the whole history of the universe. He is the “first fruits,” the “pioneer of
life.” He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the
first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is
different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a
new chapter in cosmic history has been opened.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.do#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[iii]</span></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.do#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[i]</span></span></a> Richard B. Gaffin Jr., By Faith, Not by Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2006),
59.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.do#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[ii]</span></span></a> Ibid.,
60-61.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.do#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[iii]</span></span></a> C. S.
Lewis, <i>Miracles </i>(New York, NY:
HarperCollins, 1947) 236-237. </span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-42354319425899275862011-08-20T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-20T08:00:00.317-04:00Excerpt 2 of 22<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Today, we live in the interval between the inauguration of the
new creation and its consummation and completion when Jesus comes again. In
this gap between what has already begun and what is yet to come, we taste the
joy of living under God’s gracious reign as citizens of the new creation…even
as we groan with the tension of living as residents in the world as it now is.
We are <i>truly</i> new, but not <i>completely</i> new. The renovation has
begun, but it is not finished. This is why Paul groaned in the anguish of
childbirth until Christ was formed in his fellow believers (Gal. 4:19). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Our transformation into the image of the Lord is <i>progressive</i>— it happens in stages (2
Cor. 3:18). And though spiritual change is a divine work of God’s Spirit in our
hearts and lives, it demands our <i>participation</i>.
We must refuse to be shaped by this present age and instead be transformed by
the renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:2) as we put sin to death and live in
righteousness (Eph. 4:25-32; Col. 3:5-14). This dynamic process lies at the
heart of the Christian call to holiness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The essence of this holiness is <i>likeness</i> to Jesus Christ</span><span style="font-size: small;">—</span><span style="font-size: small;">what some theologians call
“Christiformity.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4235431942589927586#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""></a>[i] When we
become like Jesus, our lives reflect God’s glory and we live in right
relationship to God, other people, and the world. This is the goal God destined
us for, the vocation he has called us to. This is why we are redeemed. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This also explains why Scripture calls us to imitate Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” In
Ephesians 5:1-2, he writes, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved
children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a
fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” And in Philippians 2:5-11 he urges us
to have the mind of Christ, expressed in humility and selfless service to others.
The Apostle John also exhorts us to follow Christ’s example, walking as he
walked (1 Jn. 2:6), practicing righteousness as he is righteous (1 Jn. 2:29,
3:7), purifying ourselves as he is pure (1 Jn. 3:3), and loving others as he
loved (1 Jn. 3:16-18, 4:16-17). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Charles Wesley captured the heart of Christlikeness in these
prayerful words:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>O for a heart to praise my God,<br />
A heart from sin set free,<br />
A heart that always feels Thy blood<br />
So freely shed for me.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>A heart resigned, submissive, meek,<br />
My great Redeemer’s throne,<br />
Where only Christ is heard to speak,<br />
Where Jesus reigns alone.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>A humble, lowly, contrite, heart,<br />
Believing, true and clean,<br />
Which neither life nor death can part<br />
From Christ who dwells within.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 24pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>A heart in every thought renewed<br />
And full of love divine,<br />
Perfect and right and pure and good,<br />
A copy, Lord, of Thine. </i>[ii] <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4235431942589927586#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This is a book about spiritual formation, the “grace-driven
developmental process in which the soul grows in conformity to the image of
Christ.” [iii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4235431942589927586#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a> The
acid test of all spiritual formation is this: <i>are you becoming more like Jesus?</i> Are the contours of your
character being shaped by his image, formed in his likeness? Do you increasingly
hate sin and love righteousness, as he already does perfectly? Are you growing
in humility and self-giving, which he has practiced flawlessly? Are you making
progress in loving and serving others, as he has always done in perfection? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
Ongoing transformation is possible for you.<i> </i>You can become more and more like Jesus
Christ. But only one way: through your increasing understanding and application
of the gospel. </span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="color: black;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4235431942589927586#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] “In a
word, for the New Testament, sanctification or holiness, is Christlikeness or,
as various theologians throughout the history of the church have described it, ‘Christiformity’.
Set within the context of justification is the growth of the seed of
regeneration and the outworking of union with Jesus Christ. Man was made as the
image of God and bore his likeness (Gn. 1:26-27). He was called to express it
in every aspect of his being. But he fell from that high estate. Salvation, and
its outworking in sanctification, consequently have in view the restoration of
man as the image of God.” Ferguson, 139.</div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="color: black;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4235431942589927586#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] Charles
Wesley, “O for a Heart to Praise my God,” 1742. The final verse says, “Thy
nature, gracious Lord, impart / Come quickly from above / Write Thy new name
upon my heart / Thy new, best name of Love.”</div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="color: black;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4235431942589927586#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a>[iii] Kenneth Boa, <i>Conformed to His Image:
Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation </i>(Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 2001) 515. Dallas Willard similarly defines spiritual formation as
“the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such
a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.” Dallas Willard, <i>Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the
Character of Christ </i>(Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2002) 22. I’m using
the term synonymously with transformation. </div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-16111505807717108172011-08-17T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-17T08:00:02.362-04:00Excerpt 1 of 22<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">By the time David Garrett was eight years old he was studying
violin with the world’s finest teachers, practicing seven hours a day, and making
solo appearances with legendary orchestras, including the London Philharmonic.
As an adolescent, he studied at the Juilliard School in New York City. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 2003, for the price of one million dollars, Garrett
purchased a Guadagnini, a rare 236-year-old violin made by a student of
Stradivarius. But on December 27, 2007, after a brilliant performance at the
Barbican in London, David Garrett tripped, fell down a flight of stairs, and
landed on the valuable instrument. Though still in its case, the violin was smashed,
sustaining damage to the body, neck, and soundpost. Restoration was predicted
to take eight months and cost more than $120,000. Experts doubted the finely
crafted instrument would ever sound the same.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Garrett’s unfortunate accident and crushed violin recall a
darker tragedy—the Fall of Man and the devastation that followed. We live in
the rubble of the world’s resulting brokenness. Pain, sickness, suffering, sin,
crime, violence, war, alienation from God, shattered relationships, disease,
natural disaster, and death are on every side, the ruins of our broken world.
Can it all be made right? Is restoration possible?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Scripture teaches that restoration is not only possible, but
a certain reality, secured by God himself through the redeeming death and
resurrection of his Son and realized in our lives by the power of his Spirit.
The gospel is about nothing less than the redemption of fallen human beings and
the perfect, complete restoration of our broken world. As Christ himself says
in the closing pages of Scripture, “Behold I am making all things new” (Rev.
21:5).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Restoration through the gospel is the hope of all Christians.
But the practicality of the good news for personal transformation <i>here </i>and <i>now </i>sometimes escapes us. Someday, everything that is wrong with
the world will be made right forever. God will wipe away every tear from our
eyes; mourning, crying, pain, and death will be no more (Rev. 21:4). But is
genuine change in <i>my </i>life possible <i>now</i>? And if so, how does it happen?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I believe transformation is possible. This goal of this book
is to explain how. More than that, I hope to bring together various aspects of
the Christian life in a way that is somewhat unusual in Christian books. As I
mentioned in the Introduction, many books do a wonderful job of clearly
presenting the <i>content</i> of the gospel
so that we might clearly understand what Christ did for us, or helping us grasp
the <i>practical significance</i> of the
gospel for daily life, or offering us <i>fresh
motivation</i> for the Christian life in God’s purpose to glorify himself and satisfy
our souls, or teaching us to embrace the various <i>means of grace</i>—such as spiritual disciplines, suffering, and
community—by which God matures us in the faith. This book attempts to bring all
these approaches together, presenting a single, unified vision for how to
change. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">To best understand and fully experience the transforming
power of the gospel, we must begin with the end in mind. What is God’s ultimate
goal in saving and changing us? To answer this we need to grasp why God created
us in the first place, what has been lost by human sin, and what God through
Christ and the Spirit has done and is doing about it. In other words, we need
to frame our concerns about personal change in the larger story of God’s saving
work: the story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.</span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<hr />
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
See the complete <a href="http://introducingchristformedinyou.blogspot.com/p/table-of-contents.html" target="_blank">Table of Contents</a>, or the author's <a href="http://introducingchristformedinyou.blogspot.com/p/introduction.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>.</div>
<span id="hwContLayer" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% gray; font-size: small; font-style: normal ! important; font-weight: bold ! important; height: 100%; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: auto ! important; position: absolute; top: 285px; width: 5px; z-index: 10000000;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-90674458323189819972011-08-14T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-14T08:00:03.775-04:00Excerpt 22 of 22<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Transformation is a Community Project </span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Having sketched a biblical portrait of the church, let’s now
ask: <i>How does God use relationships
within the body of Christ to help us become more like Jesus?</i> If we are
convinced that “grace is conveyed through the body of Christ along horizontal
channels as well as through the vertical relationship of each believer to God,”[i]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""></a>
and if we can see <i>how this happens, </i>we
will be better equipped to cooperate with God in receiving this grace and
extending it to others. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In Ephesians 4, Paul spells out the implications of one
of the dominant metaphors for the church, that of a body. He tells us that just
as a victorious king dispenses the spoils of war to his people, so has the
ascended Christ granted gifts to his people (Eph. 4:7-10). The purpose of these
gifts is to build up the body of Christ (v. 11-12a). And the goal of “body-building”
is to help us attain to “mature manhood” and “the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ” (v. 13). Without the body-building ministry, we will remain
immature children, as susceptible to false teaching as boats are to storms at
sea (v. 14). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Then Paul gives us the key for how we can together grow into
Christ’s image.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Speaking
the truth in love</i>, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head,
into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint
with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body
grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph. 4:15-16)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Speaking the truth in love! That’s it. To understand what
Paul is saying here is to grasp the key to mutual spiritual growth within local
churches. As it turns out, however, “‘Speaking the truth in love’ is not the
best rendering of his expression, for the Greek verb makes no reference to our
speech. Literally, it means ‘truthing . . . in love’, and includes the notions
of ‘maintaining,’ ‘living’ and ‘doing’ the truth.”[ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""></a></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We might say, therefore, that spiritual maturity is the
result of a mutual, loving, truth-oriented ministry. This is “perhaps the most
important ethical guideline in the New Testament, one that summarizes what
Christian living is about: truth, love, and continual growth into Christ in
everything.”[iii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""></a></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This balance of truth-plus-love is crucial. As Tim
Chester writes, “Love without truth is like doing heart surgery with a wet
fish. But truth without love is like doing heart surgery with a hammer.”[iv]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""></a> We
must embody truth, not just express it. So truth, fused with love, is
incarnated in our lives as we live it out with one another. Tripp and Lane
concur: “God transforms people’s lives as people bring his Word to others . . .
. The combination of powerful truth wrapped in self-sacrificing love is what
God uses to transform people.”[v]</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This is all well and good, and absolutely true. But let’s
step back from the theory for a moment to make a practical point: <i>We cannot grow up through “truthing in love”
if we are not together. </i>The body builds itself up in love as its various
parts are “joined and held <i>together</i>.”
A dismembered body does not grow.</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br clear="all" /></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] Lovelace, 168.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a></span><span style="font-size: small;">[ii] John R. W. Stott, <i>The
Message of Ephesians: God’s New Society </i>(Downers Grove, IL.: Inter-Varsity
Press, 1979) 172. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a>[iii] Klyne
Snodgrass, <i>The NIV Application
Commentary: Ephesians </i>(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996) 206. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""></a>[iv] Tim
Chester, <i>You Can Change </i>(Nottingham,
England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008) 158. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9067445832318981997#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""></a>[v] Tripp, <i>Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, </i>21.
</span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-69822905538532430922011-08-11T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-11T08:00:02.072-04:00Excerpt 21 of 22<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">At various points in this book we have discussed how, on the
individual level, sins such as pride, selfishness, and fear incline us to
isolate ourselves from one another spiritually and psychologically. In this
closing chapter I want to look at obstacles to community on the cultural level.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Every culture and every age has its unique challenges to
community. Let’s briefly consider four of the most common phenomena in modern
Western society that work against biblical community. These are individualism,
compartmentalization, busyness, and misleading expectations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><b style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1. Individualism...<br /><br />2. Compartmentalization...<br /><br />3. Busyness...<br /><br />4. Misleading Expectations</b></span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Have you ever imagined what the ideal church would look
like? We would all love to take the best people and the best moments of our
Christian experience (isolated, of course, from all the<i> other</i> moments and all those <i>other</i>
people) and bring them together in one warm and loving place…where seldom is
heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Of course, that’s nothing but fantasy. The ideal church
doesn’t exist. How could it? We don’t live in an ideal world, and there are no
ideal people. We live in the real world, where real people are sinners and
relationships are inherently messy and difficult. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The reason relationships are so difficult is because none
of us are yet fully conformed to the image of Jesus. Sin remains within us. The
process of change has only begun. Though we are saved by grace, the church on
this side of glory is still a society of sinners. The failure to realize this
sets us up for huge disappointments. If you are easily disillusioned with the
church, perhaps you have lost sight of this. But that reality check, even if we
have to go through it again and again, is vital to both our own spiritual
maturity and the growth of others. If God is going to use us in one another’s
lives, we must be part of the church that truly exists, not the church we wish
would exist. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The serious Christian, set down for
the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very
definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize
it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams . . . Every human wish dream
that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine
community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves
his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a
destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so
honest and earnest and sacrificial.[vi]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=6982290553853243092#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><sup><sup></sup></sup></a></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So, no one in your church is perfect. But they <i>are</i> “instruments in the Redeemer’s hands
– people in need of change helping people in need of change.”[vii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=6982290553853243092#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""></a>
They can help you, and you can help them. After all, spiritual transformation
is inescapably a community project, a shared task. We need each other. God
planned it that way. </span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br clear="all" /></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn6">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=6982290553853243092#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""></a>[vi] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, <i>Life Together: The
Classic Exploration of Faith in Community</i> (San Francisco, CA.:
HarperSanFrancisco, 1954) 26-27. Similarly, Jean Vanier wrote, “There is no
ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but
also with their weakness and poverty, of people who accept and forgive each
other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more at the
foundation of community than perfection” (Quoted in Ortberg, 48). </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=6982290553853243092#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""></a>[vii] Paul David Tripp, <i>Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change</i> (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2002).</span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-37112764091299085652011-08-08T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-08T08:00:10.276-04:00Excerpt 20 of 22<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Lots of things were on my mind that morning in the cafe. The
last thing I wanted was some cheerful stranger invading my privacy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Along with several men from our church, I was out of town
attending a conference. I had gotten up early and slipped away to a pleasant
café to read Scripture, eat breakfast, and catch up with e-mail. The whirlwind
of the conference would resume shortly. Then there would be the long drive home
and my return to a life wonderfully blessed by God, yet busier than I had once
imagined adulthood could be. Looming especially large was the sermon I was set
to give on Sunday, a message focusing on community, relationships, and the
importance of small groups. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So when a man strolled up to my table and asked if he could
join me—taking a seat before the words were even out of his mouth—I was
honestly a bit annoyed. I faked a smile and tried to be friendly. We exchanged
names (his was Kevin) and began talking. He learned that I was a pastor and I
discovered that he was a Christian, a businessman, a poet, and close friends
with an author whose work had significantly affected me several years before.
But while it turned out to be an interesting conversation, I was still irked by
the loss of solitude. After all, I was trying to do my devotions! I really
didn’t have time for interruptions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">That’s when God sent me a message through this brother in
Christ. As I was describing our church, I mentioned that we put a high value on
community. Then Kevin, who knew nothing about the sermon incubating in my mind,
looked at me and said, “The next time you are standing before your
congregation, remember that people are hungry to be less selfish than they are,
to be more connected to others than they are, to have deeper relationships than
they have, and to feel less isolated than they feel – <i>and they’re not going to get any of it if they are looking at you all
the time.</i>” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It was exactly what I needed to hear. It was exactly the
attitude I needed to take to the pulpit the following Sunday. And it was
exactly the gentle rebuke I needed from God regarding my bad attitude about
this violation of my precious agenda.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Sometimes God sends us messages when we least expect it.
Often he does it through others. Both <i>what</i>
Kevin said, and the fact that <i>another
person</i> said it, illustrate the important truth we will focus on in this
final chapter. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Transformation is a community project. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-14341807169599157812011-08-05T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-05T08:00:16.558-04:00Excerpt 19 of 22<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tailor-made Trials</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The problem is that suffering usually seems so random. It
appears to be without purpose. It feels harmful to us, not helpful. While we
want to thank God for the good things, we sometimes forget that his providence
embraces bad things, too.[i] We
often talk about how God's timing is perfect with respect to blessings, but
somehow we don’t see our trials that way. But it's really all one package, one
purpose, with all things pointing in one direction: God is at work to conform
us to the image of his Son.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Of course, discerning the loving purposes of God in the
afflictions of someone else often seems easy! (Although we are as often wrong
as we are right in our diagnosis – remember Job’s friends?) But it is not so
easy to trust the Lord when the heat is on in our own lives. Our own trials
always seem unusually difficult. Why is this? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Because God tailor-makes our sufferings. Gene Edwards
writes, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">What kind of person can best endure
suffering? Quite frankly, once suffering takes up residence, it seems none of
us are qualified. Why? Suffering that comes from the hand of God seems to be so
selected, so tailored for the one to whom it is sent. The thing you might
shoulder the easiest may never come to you; but that one weakness you were
never prepared for, that one hidden portion of your life you probably didn’t
even know about – <i>there</i> is where the
blow will fall . . . What kind of Christian can best endure suffering? He
doesn’t exist. I could handle your problems easily. You could handle mine with
a yawn. But it didn’t happen that way. I got the ones <i>I </i>couldn’t handle; so did you.[ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1434180716959915781#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""></a></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I find this helpful. It reminds me that the tough stuff
in my life <i>doesn’t</i> just happen. No,
my circumstances are sifted through the fingers of a wise and loving Father. As
a master artisan who designs to restore his image within me, he knows which
tools to use in my life, precisely where to use them, and exactly how much
pressure to apply. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>God
is too wise to be mistaken. <br />
God is too good to be unkind. <br />
So when you don’t understand, <br />
when you don’t see His plan, <br />
When you can’t trace His hand,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Trust
His heart.</i>[iii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1434180716959915781#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>A Gospel-Shaped Perspective on Trials</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">But how do we know we can trust God’s heart? Because of
the gospel. The promise of Romans 8:28-29 isn’t built on sand, but on the rock
who is Christ. The cross and empty tomb of Jesus are the ultimate unveiling of
God’s love for us. God has shown his love in giving us his Son, and he has
shown his infinite power in raising Jesus from the dead. That is why we can
rest with confidence in God’s goodwill toward us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The language immediately following Romans 8:28-29 is
lavishly embedded with promises that are ours in the gospel. Consider these: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">• <span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>God
has not only predestined us to become like Jesus, he has called, justified, and
glorified us (v. 30).</span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">• <span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>God
is <i>for us </i>(v. 31). He is in our side!</span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">•<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>God
has demonstrated his love for us by not sparing his Son, but giving him up for
us. Since he has already given his greatest gift, we know he will graciously
give us everything else we need (v. 32). </span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">•<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>No
charge can be brought against us, for we are justified. The verdict of the
judge is in. We are declared not guilty (v. 33) </span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">•<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>No
one can condemn us, for Christ has died and was raised on our behalf (v.
34a).</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">•<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>More
than that, he is our advocate at God’s right hand, pleading our case (v. 34b). </span></div>
<div class="Headings7" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">•<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Therefore
adversity should never threaten us, for nothing can separate us from the love
of God revealed in Christ (v. 35-39). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We cannot always readily perceive the love and goodness of
God in our circumstances. But the gospel invites us to look beyond our
situation to the sacrificial love of our saving Lord. As one author discovered:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">More than anything else I could ever
do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position
myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great
permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life
is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view
my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece
of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize
instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of
my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that
God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by
improving my character and making me conformed to the image of Christ.[iv]</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></h1>
<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">How God Uses Suffering</span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So the cross and resurrection are the ultimate answer to
suffering. And we really can trust the good purposes of God in using suffering
to make us more like Jesus. But it is still helpful to inquire further into the
specific ways God uses trials in our lives. Understanding God’s various
purposes will help us better cooperate with him in our responses. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Let’s explore Scripture to discover six ways God utilizes
suffering in our lives, understanding that each of these uses serve God’s
ultimate purpose of glorifying himself by restoring his image within us.</span><span style="font-size: small;">... </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1434180716959915781#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small;">[i] Jerry Bridges notes two errors we often make when we
talk about the Providence of God. First, “we almost always use the expression
‘the providence of God’ in connection with apparently ‘good’ events . . . But
you almost never hear anyone say something such as, ‘In the providence of God I
had an accident and was paralyzed from my waist down’. . . The second problem
with our popular use of the expression ‘the providence of God’ is that we
either unconsciously or deliberately imply that God intervenes at specific
points in our lives but is largely only an uninterested spectator most of the
time.” Jerry Bridges, <i>Trusting God: Even
When Life Hurts</i> (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1994) 24-25.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1434180716959915781#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] Gene
Edwards, <i>The Inward Journey: A Story of
God’s Transforming Love </i>(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993)
61-62. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1434180716959915781#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a></span><span style="font-size: small;">[iii] Babbie Mason and Eddie
Carswell, “Trust His Heart,” 1989 Dayspring Music, LLC (a div. of Word Music
Group, Inc.).</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1434180716959915781#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""></a>[iv] Milton
Vincent, <i>A Gospel Primer for Christians:
Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love </i>(Bemidji, MN: Focus Publishing,
2008) 31-32. </span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-47415367582732614862011-08-02T08:00:00.000-04:002011-08-02T08:00:15.100-04:00Excerpt 18 of 22<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hope in Suffering</span></b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The pathways of our lives are far more often paved with
adversity than strewn with flowers. The older I get, the clearer this becomes.
Though I have so far been spared much physical suffering, I have felt the dull
ache of disappointment, the sharp sting of criticism and betrayal, and the
relentless weight of burdensome circumstances. As a pastor, I have often had a
front-row seat to suffering. Couples looking for a shred of hope in a failing
marriage; parents anxious about the choices of wayward children; saints
grieving the loss of loved ones through death. I’ve now been in the ministry
long enough to have buried quite a few people, sometimes after watching their
bodies waste away over weeks or months. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">From near and far, we have all seen people endure trials
of every sort:</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">• Financial
(poverty, debt, bankruptcy)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">• Vocational
(unemployment, unremitting stress, business-related lawsuits)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">• Relational
(strained friendships, communication struggles, recurring conflict, wayward
children, infidelity, divorce)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">• Emotional
(guilt, fear, disillusionment, discouragement, depression)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">• Physical
(chronic pain, terminal disease, suicide, death)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In most lives, of course, suffering is not so neatly
compartmentalized. Financial pressures may be due to unemployment and can
easily bleed over into emotional distress, marital conflict, and health
problems. Emotional suffering is almost always tied to other situations in
life, as either cause or effect. Marriage difficulties take a huge emotional
toll and always affect other relationships. Persecution can happen in any or
all of these ways.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But none of us are mere observers. We are all
participants in pain. Even as I write this, there are three situations in my
life I would change in a minute if given the option. Life is hard. For
everyone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">All this adversity, affliction, pain, and death stems
from one basic cause: the world is fallen. Since the moment of man’s initial
rebellion against God we have lived under a curse (Gen. 2:17; 3:16-19). Though
unwillingly subjected to futility, even the material creation groans as it
awaits eventual rebirth (Rom. 8:20-22). But for the present, as Bob Dylan’s
ballad captures well, “Everything is broken.”</span><span style="font-size: small;">[i]</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Yet there is good news in the middle of this mess. God’s
answer to the brokenness of our world was not to abandon and give up on it, but
to redeem it. By sending his Son to bear the dreadful curse of our sin (Gal.
3:13), and then raising him from the dead, God has inaugurated the new creation
(1 Cor. 15:20-28). </span></div>
<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our God is a Suffering God</span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Any discussion of human suffering rightly begins with a
two-part recognition. First, suffering is an alien invasion into God’s good
creation that results from human rebellion and sin. Second, suffering is
addressed by our saving God in the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. This second reality
asserts something remarkable: when God allowed sin to enter this world, even he
was affected. It is not only humanity that has suffered as a result of sin. God
himself chose to suffer both with us and for us, in order to rescue and redeem
the good world he created.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> As D. A.
Carson thoughtfully writes:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When Christians think seriously about
evil and suffering, one of the paramount reasons we are so sure that God is to
be trusted is because he sent his Son to suffer cruelly on our behalf. Jesus
Christ, the Son who is to be worshiped as God, God’s own agent in creation
(John 1:2-3), suffered an excruciatingly odious and ignominious death. The God
on whom we rely knows what suffering is all about, not merely in the way that
God knows everything, but by experience.[ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4741536758273261486#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The ultimate answer to human suffering, then, is in the
suffering of God himself through the cross. The letter of Hebrews says that
Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). God,
the eternal one, the source of all life, suffered the taste of death; his plan
for bringing many sons to glory was only accomplished by making “the founder of
[our] salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:10; cf. 5:10). This means
Jesus is a high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, since “in every
respect [he] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15; cf. 2:18).
Jesus knows our pain.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Our God, revealed in Jesus Christ, is unique among the
religions of the world. He alone has entered into the reality of our suffering.
</span>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br clear="all" /></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4741536758273261486#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] Bob
Dylan, “Everything is Broken,” Copyright ©1989 Special Rider Music. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4741536758273261486#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] D. A.
Carson, <i>How Long, O Lord? Reflections on
Suffering and Evil </i>(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2<sup>nd</sup>
Edition, 2006) 159. </span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-83110523566326754862011-07-30T08:00:00.000-04:002011-07-30T08:00:05.759-04:00Excerpt 17 of 22<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Banks Vaults and Movie Heroes</span></b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">From his home the man had an unobstructed view of the new
construction site. It appeared to be a commercial building of some kind. And
though the work had begun normally enough, the man’s curiosity was soon aroused
by something odd. With the help of a crane, a silver box was maneuvered into
the center of the slab. It was the size of a large living room, and taller than
any of the men. In the days that followed, as the crew began to frame the
building and add drywall, the huge, glistening box was gradually hidden from
view. Still curious, the man decided to walk over and ask what it was. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">He learned that the building was to be a bank, and the
silver box was its vault. The vault was not only large in size, it was central
to everything the bank stood for. The building was therefore being constructed
around it. The vault lay at the heart of the bank, defining its purpose, giving
it value, and making it distinct from every other building in the area. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Discipleship is about building our lives around Jesus. He
is our treasure and great reward. And like the construction of a bank around
its vault, all the various parts of our lives should be built around Christ and
the certain hope of eternal, unfading riches that are ours in him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Why is it, then, that we who claim to follow Jesus so
often fail to organize our lives around him? If he really holds the center of
gravity in our souls, then our thoughts, habits, schedules, and routines should
orbit around him. The spiritual disciplines enable us to center our lives on
Jesus, becoming like him in his self-giving love. The disciplines are not the
end themselves. They are practices that help us remember the gospel and apply
it to our lives as we develop our relationship with God. They are also our
focus of this chapter.</span></div>
<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A Rocky Wannabe</span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As a boy, I had a powerful attachment to the <i>Rocky</i> movies. Sylvester Stallone’s
character may have been an unlikely role model for a scrawny twelve-year-old
kid living on a dusty farm in West Texas, but that didn’t stop me from making
him an idol. I owned a scratchy tape recording of the first <i>Rocky</i> soundtrack, and I listened to it
for inspiration as I did push-ups, strained through sit-ups, and sweated
through jumping rope and lifting weights. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Why in the world was I doing this? Being twelve, I never
got far enough in my thinking to have a clearly defined goal. If you had asked,
I probably would have said, “I want to look like Rocky,” or, “I want to be the
heavyweight champion of the world.” Needless to say, I never achieved either.
Why? Probably lots of good reasons. But for our immediate purposes, I want to
focus on just one: Apparently, two weeks isn’t long enough to transform a
skinny weakling into a stallion, and that’s about as long as I stuck to my
vague plan. I never became Rocky because I didn’t keep up the exercise routine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Too often the same could be said of our spiritual lives. You
hear a sermon, attend a conference, are inspired by a missionary, or read a
stirring book. An image forms in your mind of who you could become. You
envision yourself as a genuinely Christ-like person, a spiritual giant, marked
by the depth of your love, the maturity of your faith, and your unruffled joy
and peace. As the music rises in your soul, you resolve to get disciplined:
read through the Bible in a year, memorize a verse of Scripture each day, pray
thirty minutes every morning, fast every Thursday, increase your giving by 10
percent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But before long, like a twelve-year-old briefly obsessed
with body-building, you quickly lose steam and your new routines sputter to a
halt. Consequently, you never become the spiritual giant you envisioned. Sound
familiar? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If talk about spiritual disciplines is more intimidating
than inviting, I understand. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Yet there is also something inside me that finds
discipline attractive. I respect disciplined people who eat nutritious meals
and exercise regularly. I also admire people who practice these calisthenics
for the soul called spiritual disciplines – and I’ve slowly discovered how
important these practices are to my ongoing spiritual transformation.</span></div>
<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Training vs. Trying </span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Suppose you were to ask me to run with you in a marathon
next week. I could say yes, and have every intention of doing so. But I would
never make the finish line. My good intentions couldn’t possibly compensate for
the lack of training. Now if you asked to me to run a marathon that is ten
months away, I could do it – if I spent adequate time in training. But trying
harder simply wouldn’t work because, as John Ortberg observes, “There is an
immense difference between training to do something and trying to do
something.”[i]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=8311052356632675486#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""></a></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Respecting the distinction between
training and merely trying is the key to transformation in every aspect of
life. People sometimes think that learning how to play Bach at the keyboard by
spending years practicing scales and chord progressions is the “hard” way. The
truth is the other way around. Spending years practicing scales is the easy way
to learn to play Bach. Imagine sitting down at a grand piano in front of a packed
concert hall and having never practiced a moment in your life. That’s the hard
way.[ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=8311052356632675486#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Living the Christian life is about training, not trying.
But we often forget this. We try to be patient with our children, to show love
to people who irritate us, to refrain from lust when confronted with
sensuality, and to not feel anxious about difficult circumstances. But try as
we will, we won’t succeed if we haven’t strengthened and shaped our souls
through spiritual training. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Listen. You’ll never become like Christ by simply
exerting more effort in trying harder to be a better person. You have to
develop new capacities in your character. And that requires the power of the
Spirit in forming your soul through disciplines. Spiritual disciplines, “those
personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth,”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=8311052356632675486#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""></a>[iii] are the means God has given us for training to live as Jesus lived. These
practices are called <i>disciplines</i>
because they involve our deliberate participation in training for the purpose
of godliness. They are called <i>spiritual</i>
disciplines because their effectiveness depends on the gracious work of the
Spirit of God. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So, the key word is <i>train.</i>
As Paul says to Timothy, “<i>Discipline</i>
yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7, </span><span style="font-size: small;">NASB). The Greek word for “discipline”
is <i>gumnazo</i> (our words gymnastics and
gymnasium derive from its root). Translated “train” (</span><span style="font-size: small;">ESV, </span><span style="font-size: small;">NIV), “exercise” (</span><span style="font-size: small;">KJV), and “discipline” (</span><span style="font-size: small;">NASB), <i>gumnazo</i> was used to describe the intense
discipline of athletes in first century Greco-Roman culture. Competitors in the
Olympic or Isthmian games were so relentless in pursuit of a champion’s wreath
that they trained in the nude, part of a strict environment that eliminated all
non-essentials. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The New Testament urges us to adopt a similarly radical
regimen in the spiritual life. We are called to discipline our bodies, keeping
them under control as we pursue an imperishable crown (1 Cor. 9:24-27). We must
strip off “every weight” and the “sin which clings so closely” and run the race
set before us (Heb. 12:1). We should forget what is behind and strain forward
to what lies ahead as we “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philip. 3:13-14). As we have learned, God’s
ultimate goal is to glorify himself through transformed human beings. We
further that goal as we deliberately engage in practices that train us for
godliness. If we’re serious about this pursuit we will train with intensity,
like an Olympic athlete. </span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br clear="all" /></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=8311052356632675486#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] John
Ortberg, <i>The Life You’ve Always Wanted:
Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People</i></span> (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2002) 43. All of my thinking on training vs. trying, including the marathon
illustration, is dependent on Ortberg. His book is a helpful and accessible
introduction to spiritual disciplines. </div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=8311052356632675486#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] Ibid.,
44. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=8311052356632675486#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a>[iii] Donald
S. Whitney, <i>Spiritual Disciplines for the
Christian Life</i> (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991) 15. </span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-42316767210700919202011-07-27T08:00:00.002-04:002011-07-27T09:47:20.704-04:00Excerpt 16 of 22<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Fighting Sin with the Promises of God</span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So, the desire for happiness is the motivation for pursuing
holiness. God’s promises of satisfaction in Christ appeal to this motive over
and again. But this doesn’t imply that you can somehow become immune to
temptation or completely freed from the battle against sin. No, understanding
the motivation for holiness <i>relocates the
battle</i>. It reminds us that the life-long battle for holiness is a battle
for our affections fought on the terrain of our hearts. Holiness is not just
the <i>quest</i> for joy; it is the <i>fight</i> for joy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">How, then, does this work on a practical level? How do God’s
promises help us in the actual battle against specific sins? Let’s see how
God’s promises – what John Piper calls “future grace” – empower us for battle
against three common sins.[i]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b>Greed</b> </span></span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">How do God’s promises effectively combat the seductive power
of greed? The Psalmist fought covetousness by praying that God would turn his
heart toward the Word. “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to
selfish gain!” (Psa. 119:36) Notice that this is a battle for right desires and
inclinations, fought on the battle ground of the heart. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Consider Jesus’ words and notice how he points us to the
promise of God’s pleasure in giving us the kingdom. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Fear not, little flock, for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give
to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a
treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no
moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke
12:32-34) </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Similarly, the writer to the Hebrews countered covetousness
with the wonderful promise of our Lord’s presence: “Keep your life free from
love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never
leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5). </span><span style="font-size: small;"> We can be free from love of money and content
with what we have because the Lord promises his abiding presence. The presence
and faithfulness of Christ is more satisfying than money! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In contrast, ponder the sad life of Guy De Maupassant, the
19<sup>th</sup> century French author and a father of the modern short story. De
Maupassant was famous and affluent. His stories were widely read and he lived on
an extravagant yacht. Having rejected religion as a young man, however (he
purposely got himself expelled from seminary), he became increasingly fearful
of death. He also suffered from syphilis – a sexually transmitted disease which
left untreated can unravel the mind. By age 41 De Maupassant was considered insane.
He died two years later. In spite of his wealth and success, his own words
became his epitaph: “I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing.”[ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4231676721070091920#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""></a></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">Anxiety...</span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> </span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">Lust...</span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4231676721070091920#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] John
Piper’s <i>Future Grace </i>contains nearly
450 pages of extensive meditation and application on how God’s promises sever
the promises of sin. Most of what I have written in this chapter I first
learned from Piper. The theological debt I owe to him is incalculable. I hope
my readers will savor the rich feast of both <i>Desiring God </i>and <i>Future Grace
</i>for themselves. For more on how to fight specific sins with the promises of
God, see also Piper’s <i>Battling Unbelief:
Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure </i>(Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 2007),
an abridgement of <i>Future Grace</i> which teaches
how to battle the unbelief of anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience,
covetousness, bitterness, despondency, and lust. <i> </i></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=4231676721070091920#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] For a
short biographical sketch see: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Maupassant">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Maupassant</a>.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Accessed March 25, 2008.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-14106060384710703212011-07-24T08:00:00.000-04:002011-07-24T08:00:06.850-04:00Excerpt 15 of 22<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pursuing Joy</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"></span><br />
</span><br />
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<div style="color: #b45f06;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">How good is your grip on the doctrine of sin? If you've made
it this far in this book, you probably recognize and accept that you are a
sinner. You acknowledge, along with Paul, that despite your underlying desire
to be holy you still want some things you should not want, think some things
you should not think, like some things you should not like, say some things you
should not say, and do some things you should not do. All this sinful thinking
and acting is bound up with your desire for some kind of satisfaction, some
taste of happiness. Me, too. You and I sin because we believe it will make us
happier, even if only for a moment. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">You could easily then conclude that there must be something
wrong with happiness. You might even think that wanting to be happy, or seeking
satisfaction for yourself, are suspicious, questionable activities—flirtations
with the unholy, self-indulgence run amok. How can you have a heart that races
after joy without also racing after sin? Holiness, after all, requires
self-denial, doesn’t it?</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Yes, it does. But consider this. Have you ever heard a
well-intentioned Christian leader say, “God is more concerned with your
holiness than your happiness”? In a sense, this is true. God certainly places a
high premium on holiness. But the problem lies in what this statement implies.
The balanced, biblical reality is that the pursuit of holiness and the quest
for joy are not at odds. The two goals are really one. </span></div>
<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Holy Pursuit of Joy</span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So, everyone longs for happiness. And believers in Jesus
thirst for holiness. But holiness and happiness are not mutually exclusive. God
is not a cosmic killjoy who is indifferent to the joy of his children! To
suggest that God doesn’t want us to be happy rips the heart out of biblical
statements like, “<i>Blessed [happy]</i> are
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be <i>satisfied</i>” (Matt. 5:6, emphasis added). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">God is concerned with both our holiness and our joy. On one
hand, God knows we can never find true and lasting happiness apart from
holiness, because holiness is the pure oxygen that happiness breathes. Without
holiness, joy suffocates, withers, and dies. Sin kills joy. But when we cherish
righteousness and detest sin, joy will flourish and grow. As Scripture says of
Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your
God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Heb.
1:9). In the words of Thomas Brooks, an English pastor in the seventeenth
century, “Holiness differs nothing from happiness but in name. Holiness is
happiness in the bud, and happiness is holiness at the full. Happiness is
nothing but the quintessence of holiness.”[i]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1410606038471070321#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">On the other hand, the quest for joy is one of the primary
motivations for pursuing holiness. Over and over, Scripture appeals to our
desire for joy and satisfaction by promising blessing for those who seek
Christ. And Scripture repeatedly warns that misery will come to those who
refuse Christ and choose sin instead. Seeking satisfaction outside of a
relationship with God simply won’t work. As C. S. Lewis wrote, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">God made us: invented us as a man
invents a machine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run
properly on anything else. Now God designed the human race to run on Himself. He
Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits
were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good
asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion.
God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not
there. There is no such thing.[ii] <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1410606038471070321#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""></a></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Only as we seek our satisfaction in God will we begin to
break free from the gravitational pull of sin’s lower pleasures. In the words
of Matthew Henry, “The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our
spiritual enemies and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with
which the tempter baits his hooks.”[iii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1410606038471070321#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"></span></span></a></span> </div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1410606038471070321#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] Thomas
Brooks, <i>The Crown and Glory of
Christianity, or Holiness the Only Way to Happiness, </i>in Alexander B.
Grosart, ed., <i>The Works of Thomas Brooks,
</i>vol. 4 (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2002 reprint of 1861-67
edition) 37.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1410606038471070321#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] C. S.
Lewis, <i>Mere Christianity </i>(San
Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1952) 50. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=1410606038471070321#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a>[iii] Quoted
in John Piper <i>Desiring God: The Meditations of a Christian Hedonist </i>(Sisters,
Oregon: Multnomah Books, Third Edition, 2003) 12.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061875076980211892.post-91473219549017152492011-07-21T08:00:00.000-04:002011-07-21T08:00:03.023-04:00Excerpt 14 of 22<h1 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Five Characteristics of Spiritual Growth</span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The mystery of the Christian life, then, is the mystery
of how God’s Spirit works in us and through us. His role is to regenerate us,
cleanse us, renew us, fill us, transform us, and strengthen us.[i]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9147321954901715249#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""></a>
Our role is to keep in step with him. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also
walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). The following passage and its surrounding context
provide a clear picture of what walking by the Spirit looks like and suggests
several important insights about the nature of spiritual growth. </span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For you were called to freedom,
brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but
through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one
another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will
not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against
the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are
opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if
you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the
flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, </span><span style="font-size: small;"> idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,
fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,
and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live
by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
provoking one another, envying one another. (Gal. 5:13-26)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">My purpose isn’t to give a detailed explanation of these
two lists (the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit), but to briefly
discuss five characteristics of spiritual growth.[ii]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9147321954901715249#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""></a></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">1. Spiritual Growth is Relational</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">First, <i>spiritual
growth always happens in a relational context</i>. Did you notice how this
passage is framed with “one another” commands? Paul commands us to serve one
another through love (v. 13) and warns us to not devour one another or become
conceited, provoking and envying one another (v. 15, 26). Many of the virtues
he lists as fruit of the Spirit have a strong relational dimension – love,
patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness. “Spiritual growth is not
something that is normally expected to take place in isolation from other
believers.”[iii] <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9147321954901715249#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""></a> So
how are your relationships with others? Are you serving others in love? Do you
demonstrate patience and gentleness to your spouse and children? Are you kind
to strangers? Genuine transformation will always affect how we treat others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">2. Spiritual Growth Involves Conflict</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">On the other hand, we also learn that <i>spiritual growth involves conflict</i>. It
never happens in ideal conditions. Expect a fierce contest between the Spirit
and the flesh (v. 16-17)! Conflict is normal in Christian experience. No one
walks in the Spirit without waging warfare against unruly passions and desires
(cf. 1 Pet. 2:11). The flesh with its passions and desires must be nailed to
the cross (v. 24). The Spirit leads us to put sin to death (Rom. 8:13-14).
Though the mortification of sin isn’t the same as positive growth in grace, we
will never outgrow our need for it this side of glory.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> 3. Spiritual Growth is Inside-Out...</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />4. Spiritual Growth is Symmetrical<br /> </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">5. Spiritual Growth is Supernatural...</span></b></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9147321954901715249#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a>[i] It would
be difficult to overstate the significance Scripture gives to the Spirit and
his role in our lives. Meditate for a moment on the Spirit’s work. </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Christ bore our curse and died in our place so
we could receive the promised Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:2-3, 5, 14).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Jesus teaches that we must be born of the Spirit
in order to see and enter the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:1-8). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The Spirit gives us understanding of the gospel
and makes it effective in our lives (1 Cor. 2:4, 12; 1 Thess. 1:4-5). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The ministry of the new covenant is a ministry
of the life-giving Spirit who brings freedom and transformation (2 Cor.
3:5-18).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The Spirit is the agent of our sanctification,
spiritual cleansing, and renewal (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Cor. 6:11; Titus 3:5).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The kingdom of God consists of life and joy in
the Spirit (Rom. 14:17), and the Spirit causes us to abound in hope (Rom.
15:13). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Our access to God is in the Spirit (Eph. 2:18);
in the Spirit we worship God (Philip. 3:3) and pray (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>We are joined to the body of Christ by the
Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13) and God inhabits us as his new temple through the
Spirit’s indwelling of the church (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:22). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>We know that we abide in God and God in us,
because he has given us his Spirit (1 Jn. 3:24; 4:13). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The Spirit secures our salvation by sealing us
for the future day of redemption (Eph. 1:13, 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:22).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>God gives his Spirit as the down-payment and
guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. The Spirit assures us that all of God’s
promises will be fulfilled (Eph. 1:13-14; 2 Cor. 1:19-22; 2 Cor. 5:5).</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>God pours his love into our hearts through his
Spirit (Rom. 5:5), and gives us assurance of our sonship by causing us to cry,
“Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15-16; Gal. 4:6).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
set us free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>We now serve God not under the old written code
of the law, but in the new life of the Spirit (Rom. 7:6).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>We walk in the Spirit and set our minds on the
things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:4-6).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>God’s glorious Spirit rests on us when we suffer
for Christ (1 Pet. 4:14). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts to know
God better (Eph. 1:16-19), strengthens us in our inner being (Eph. 3:14-16),
and fills us with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-21; 5:18). </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in our hearts and enables us to put sin to death, promising to give life
to our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:9-14). </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9147321954901715249#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""></a>[ii] My
understanding and explanation of this passage was shaped by a helpful sermon by
Tim Keller on Galatians 5:16-18, 23-25 called “How to Change.” This sermon is
available for download at <a href="http://download.redeemer.com/rpcsermons/storesamplesermons/How_to_Change.mp3">http://download.redeemer.com/rpcsermons/storesamplesermons/How_to_Change.mp3</a>.
Accessed 3 September 2008. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4061875076980211892&postID=9147321954901715249#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""></a>[iii] David Peterson, <i>Possessed by God: A New Testament Theology of Sanctification and Holiness</i> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995) 135.</span></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com