Growing in Godliness by Grace

"The remedy for our sin, whether scandalous or acceptable, is the gospel in its widest scope.  The gospel is actually a message: here I am using the word gospel as a shorthand expression for the entire work of Christ in His historic life, death, and resurrection for us, and His present work in us through the Holy Spirit.  When I say the gospel in its widest scope, I am referring to the fact that Christ, in His work for us and in us, saves us not only from the penalty of sin, but also from its dominion or reigning power in our lives.  This twofold aspect of Christ's great work is beautifully captured in Augustus Toplady's great hymn "Rock of Ages," with the words,

Let the water and the blood,

From thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power."

Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 33.

What a wonderful summary of the Gospel's content and action.  

Bridges has been writing on this theme for almost thirty years.  In Respectable Sins, he is dealing with those sins that we as Christians often live with as acceptable and normal.

What sins might these be?

He argues that today's "acceptable sins" are anxiety and frustration, discontent, unthankfulness, impatience and irritability, judgmentalism, and a lack of self-control.  I have not finished the book, but it has been good so far.

What strikes me today is how the gospel is completely 

Christ-centered and Christ-focused.  

The gospel is secure and powerful because Christ's work was finished and perfected with His resurrection.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to add to His finished work. 

Yet, boy do we try.  We are so often guilty of living like somehow we add to Christ's finished work.  So many of us live as if His finished work is not enough.  Instead of resting in Christ's finished work, we are too often marked by incessant labor to fix ourselves and to change our circumstances.

Somehow we have not learned how to appropriate 

Jesus' finished work into our life.

I know some will argue that our labor to fix ourselves and our circumstances flows from "His present work in us through the Holy Spirit."  If we are walking in active repentance and faith, I would agree.  If we constantly remind ourselves of Christ's finished work and claim it as our own, I completely agree.  I just wonder how many of us really live in such dependence?  Why is it so hard to find someone whose life is so marked by such a lifestyle and its resulting grace?

I know all too often my life is marked more by worry and anxiety than repentance, rest, quietness and trust (Isaiah 30:15).  How can I tell?  My inner dialogue runs through my concerns, questions, fears, and doubts more than it turns to constant reflection upon the beauty and grace of Christ.  The irony is that people often tell me that I am marked less with worry and anxiety than most.

Am I just good at hiding it or is anxiety an epidemic among modern folks?

I think many of us have forgotten the gospel of repentance and rest.  I write today to warn and encourage us that when we forget the gospel, we do so to our peril.  To engage in the battle means to be grounded in the finished and perfect work of Christ.  It also means our life will be marked by the struggle of taking what we believe and applying it to our flesh and our worldly thought patterns.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.  Have mercy on us a people who are often marked more by unbelief than by repentance and rest.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

"In repentance and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."

Isaiah 30:15