Justice in an Unjust World

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, 

so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts 

and flog you in their synagogues. ...

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, 

and the servant like his master.  

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, 

how much more will they malign those of his household.

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed,  

or hidden that will not be known. 

Jesus, Matthew 10:16-17; 24-26

We live in a fallen world.  A place where injustice and evil often appear to rule.  I thank God today that what appears to be true is not.

God is a God of justice.  
He will bring about final and complete justice for all wrongs.

Friends, we can take hope in this truth.  Whatever wrong you have experienced, whatever injustice you have endured, whatever slight you have experienced, God knows.  

Furthermore, if we have experienced any of these in the name and service of Jesus, we should not be surprised.  Jesus suffered the same treatment.  Take heart, even the secret sins of those who malign you and Jesus will be made known.  

Because God is a God of justice, eventually, we reap what we sow.

Where is grace in all this?

It is ever-present.  Grace reveals truth.  It faces it full on.  Grace grants pardon for those in Christ, but it does not diminish truth and justice.  

So, in the midst of injustice, I encourage you to take heart.  Trust in the God who will brings justice.  Pray it comes swiftly, but know it will come.  Thank God that He can even use injustice to bring about His Kingdom work.  This is true on a broad scale, but also in your life.  

I know it does not feel like it.  Injustice and wrong against us feels so wrong.  Why?  Because it is!  Yet, as we learn to lean into God, as we trust He will bring justice, we grow deeper.

How?

As James put it, "We should count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, 

for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  

And let steadfastness have its full effect, 

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." 

James 1: 2-3

Justice is coming!  

How are we Transformed as Believers?

Q. If the spiritual disciplines are a means of transformation, what is the role of the HS?

Transformation is always grace.  We sometimes think that although we're "saved by grace," we're supposed to change by effort.  Either that, or people become passive.

One of the analogies that's kind of been helpful to me is the difference between a motorboat, a raft, and a sailboat.

In a motorboat I'm in charge.  I determine how fast we're going to go, and in what direction.  Some people approach spiritual life in that way.  If I'm just aggressive enough, if I have enough quiet times, I can make transformation happen on my own.  Usually that results in people becoming legalistic, then pride starts to creep in, and things get all messed up.

Some people have been burned by that kind of approach.  So they go to the opposite extreme and will say, "I'm into grace."  It's like they're floating on a raft.  If you ask them to do anything to further their growth, they'll say, "Hey, no.  I'm not into works.  I'm into grace.  You're getting legalistic with me."  So they drift.  There are way too many commands in Scripture for anybody to think that we're called to be passive.

On a sailboat, however, I don't move if it's not for the wind.  My only hope of movement is the wind.  I can't control the wind.  I don't manufacture the wind.  Jesus talks about the Spirit blowing like the wind.  But there is a role for me to play, and part of it has to do with what I need to discern.

A good sailor will discern, Where's the wind at work?  How should I set the sails?  Spiritual formation is like sailing.

Interview with John Ortberg, "Holy Tension," Leadership (Winter 2004), 24.

In my 25 years of being a believer in Christ, I have heard many appeals that demand I grow in maturity.  I have been told by folks directly, and I have felt their unspoken attitude that demands I grow.  I have also been loved well by individuals who encouraged me to grow deeper and in my personal holiness.

The problem is that all to often I have not been told how to do it.

In fact, I think most of what passes for Christian literature 

asks, demands, begs, and encourages folks to grow, 

but it does not provide the means to grow in holiness.

I find this frustrating.  I know many of you do also.  Let me share what I have learned about growing in holiness.  So much of it has been a failure, but God has used it all to help me grow.  Using Ortberg's categories, the following is my story.

The Way of Religious Self-Effort

For years, I followed the motorboat approach.  I think this is what most Christians and what most Christian living books encourage.  "Do not be like the world.  Do not be lukewarm.  Do these seven steps and you will grow."

I did the seven steps about 77 times.  I learned how to read the bible.  I made myself pray.  I engaged in various activities.  Yet, I awoke about 15 years into my Christian journey to find that I did not have the ability to love anyone well.  I had the outer appearance of faith, but I knew my heart was off.  I was a self-righteous pharisee of the worst type.

The Way of Grace

Then I heard about Grace and the Gospel.  It was like being set free from prison.  My soul rejoiced.  I needed healing.  I needed grace and the love of God poured out on my hard heart.  He gave me that grace.

It was amazing how quickly I grew in holiness and maturity.  The grace of God changed my heart.  I was so looking forward to it just continuing forever.  The problem was that God's transforming of  heart did not continue in the same way.

Instead, after a couple of years of healing, I found myself floating in a still current on my raft.  I prayed, Lord give me grace and change me.  Nothing happened.  I waited.  Still nothing- no further growth and no further movement of my soul toward God.

Then I changed my prayers.  "Lord give me wisdom to grow deeper." I cried.  He answered by bringing me back to the gospel of repentance and faith.  

"Actively rest in my grace." the Lord whispered as He invited me aboard the sailboat.

How?

The spiritual disciplines teach us how to listen to the Spirit.  At least when they are correctly used they serve this important function.  The Spirit leads us to humility by promoting repentance of our outward sins and our inward self-effort.  The Spirit calls us to rest in Christ alone for our goodness, power, and life.

The Spirit calls to to actively rest in the work of Christ.  Active in repentance.  Resting in faith.  The Way of Grace is worth all the struggle.

Heart-Changing Grace

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

Galatians 5:6

"In the book The Nature of True Virtue, Jonathan Edwards demonstrates that most moral people are complying to ethical standards mainly out of self-interest, pride, and fear.  He called this "common morality" and contrasted it with "true virtue," which flows from a life transformed by experiencing God's grace.  Edwards discerned a loving and joyful heart that acted not out of superiority, nor fear of consequences, but out of delight in God for the beauty of who God is in himself."

Tim Keller, "Preaching Amid Pluralism," Leadership (Winter 2002), 35.

Last evening in our gospel-centered discipleship class, we were discussing how one must be sanctified by faith.  In the class, our discussion revolved around the topic of how hard it is to believe that faith is what actually changes us.  We shared that the overarching concern by many is that if one emphasizes faith and grace as the drivers of change, then people will not walk in holiness.

The Misuse of "Faith"

One of the participants pressed this point by illustrating the arguments made by professing Christian folks who endorse and encourage monogamous homosexual relationships as good because we are all covered by grace and those in these relationship are showing love.  These folks argue that scripture that teaches against homosexuality is merely cultural while grace and love are universal.  Thus, these professing Christians argue in support of homosexual marriage because it illustrates "faith expressing itself through love."

The Misuse of "Law"

In response to such libertines, many other Christians have taken the exact opposite tact.  They have argued that the Law must be obeyed as proof of sanctification.  Soon, as they seek to follow the Law or "the Law of Christ" they struggle under and against the Law's commands.  If they do a better job then most, they become a self-righteous "helper of the weak" while if they fail they cover it up so as not to be exposed in their failings.  In hoping to steer clear of the shoals of absolute freedom that promotes sin (antinomianism or against the Law), they run their life toward the cliff of despair and self-righteousness that are found in legalism.

How do we escape both the shoals of antinomianism and the cliffs of legalism 

while remaining true within the current of the gospel?

The gospel transforms hearts through the process of repentance and faith.  

This means that we clearly teach that "There is a way that seems right to us, but in the end it leads to death." Proverbs 16:25.  In other words, we are sinful beings who always run away from God apart from His grace.  We prefer to break our relationship with God, with the way we are created to be, and with what is best for us because it "just feels right."  Because of these relational issues, we walk in sin.  All of the ways of the flesh, from our sinful self-effort and self-righteousness to our sins of inappropriate sexuality and anger, derive from our relational distance from God.  We need to repent of our heart's rebellion against God and cling by faith in Christ as our only cure.

Such teaching is found in every generation of the church.  It is the string that holds together the true Church.  Unfortunately, it is also followed and believed by only a small minority of professing believers.  

Why?

Because it feels like death to walk in faith and 

to rest in God's grace and beauty as all we need. 

It is much more comfortable to take control of our lives, either through "sanctifying" our sinful liberty or emphasizing our ethical behavior and effort as central.  Both of these tendencies reflect our inward desire and need for control.  

Faith means trusting God's control and love as enough.  

The only way we can have such faith is to know and believe that God's love and plan are good and sufficient.  The only way to know that in our heart (not just our head) is for our hearts and souls to be captured and enraptured by the beauty, perfection, and love of God.  Such heart transformation enables us to release our idols of control, self-reliance, fear, and pleasure because we want and know something better than our shallow idols.

How do we get such faith?  How do we know if we have it?

These are great questions.  Answering them in light of God's word is the path to life.  

Do you know your absolute need for grace?  Do you see the fruitless attempts at finding love, acceptance, and significance through your pursuit of control and pleasure apart from God?  Do you realize that your real problem is not your "fleshly desires" but the heart in rebellion against God that produces these desires that run contrary to true life?  Do you despair of even your attempts at doing good because you realize your mixed motives?  Do you feel like a fake and a poser because you know of the hypocrisy within you?

If so, repent and believe!  

Confess your sin, your rebellion, your sinful ways and cling to Jesus Christ as your only hope.

With eyes of faith, look upon Him and see forgiveness instead of condemnation.

Turn to Him for your satisfaction and life.  Repent of your idols.  Ask for grace to set them aside.  Allow the joy of Christ's presence to give you all you need.  Cling to the promises of God's word and ask the Spirit to make them true.

Growing in Deeper

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
Call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
As the Heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55: 6-11

It has been awhile.  Too long.  Too much pain and difficulty in my own life to even think about writing.  I have sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus and allowed Him to comfort me, teach me, and grow me deeper.  

What have I learned?  Jesus loves me more than I can ever imagine.  I have learned that He is enough.  I have come to a place where I praise Him even in the pain, difficulty, and disorientation of my life.  

I have also learned that He is not done with me yet.  He is at work.  He has prepared me.  He has pruned me.  (John 15: 1-5)  I am sure He will continue to do so.  I welcome it and pray it is all for His glory.

He also has protected me from a prolonged and deadly attack from the evil one.  I have learned the heart cries of the Psalms.  I have found comfort in the fellowship of others who seek Jesus.  Through it all, He has brought me to a place of safety and security.  A place of new beginnings.

I don't understand His ways, but I can affirm that He is good.  I encourage you to trust Him.  Rest in Him.  Find peace deep within.  It is only found in Jesus.  He is our Hope and Joy.

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

Final Justice

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, 

so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts 

and flog you in their synagogues. ...

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, 

and the servant like his master.  

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, 

how much more will they malign those of his household.

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed,  

or hidden that will not be known. 

Jesus, Matthew 10:16-17; 24-26

We live in a fallen world.  A place where injustice and evil often appear to rule.  I thank God today that what appears to be true is not.

God is a God of justice.  He will bring about final and complete justice for all wrongs.

Friends, we can take hope in this truth.  Whatever wrong you have experienced, whatever injustice you have endured, whatever slight you have experienced, God knows.  

Furthermore, if we have experienced any of these in the name and service of Jesus, we should not be surprised.  Jesus suffered the same treatment.  Take heart, even the secret sins of those who malign you and Jesus will be made known.  

Because God is a God of justice, eventually, we reap what we sow.

Where is grace in all this?

It is ever-present.  Grace reveals truth.  It faces it full on.  Grace grants pardon for those in Christ, but it does not diminish truth and justice.  

So, in the midst of injustice, I encourage you to take heart.  Trust in the God who will brings justice.  Pray it comes swiftly, but know it will come.  Thank God that He can even use injustice to bring about His Kingdom work.  This is true on a broad scale, but also in your life.  

I know it does not feel like it.  Injustice and wrong against us feels so wrong.  Why?  Because it is!  Yet, as we learn to lean into God, as we trust He will bring justice, we grow deeper.

How?

As James put it, "We should count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, 

for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  

And let steadfastness have its full effect, 

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." 

James 1: 2-3

Justice is coming!  

Sailing the Wind of the Spirit

Q. If the spiritual disciplines are a means of transformation, what is the role of the HS?

Transformation is always grace.  We sometimes think that although we're "saved by grace," we're supposed to change by effort.  Either that, or people become passive.

One of the analogies that's kind of been helpful to me is the difference between a motorboat, a raft, and a sailboat.

In a motorboat I'm in charge.  I determine how fast we're going to go, and in what direction.  Some people approach spiritual life in that way.  If I'm just aggressive enough, if I have enough quiet times, I can make transformation happen on my own.  Usually that results in people becoming legalistic, then pride starts to creep in, and things get all messed up.

Some people have been burned by that kind of approach.  So they go to the opposite extreme and will say, "I'm into grace."  It's like they're floating on a raft.  If you ask them to do anything to further their growth, they'll say, "Hey, no.  I'm not into works.  I'm into grace.  You're getting legalistic with me."  So they drift.  There are way too many commands in Scripture for anybody to think that we're called to be passive.

On a sailboat, however, I don't move if it's not for the wind.  My only hope of movement is the wind.  I can't control the wind.  I don't manufacture the wind.  Jesus talks about the Spirit blowing like the wind.  But there is a role for me to play, and part of it has to do with what I need to discern.

A good sailor will discern, Where's the wind at work?  How should I set the sails?  Spiritual formation is like sailing.

Interview with John Ortberg, "Holy Tension," Leadership (Winter 2004), 24.

In my 25 years of being a believer in Christ, I have heard many appeals that demand I grow in maturity.  I have been told by folks directly, and I have felt their unspoken attitude that demands I grow.  I have also been loved well by individuals who encouraged me to grow deeper and in my personal holiness.

The problem is that all to often I have not been told how to do it.

In fact, I think most of what passes for Christian literature 

asks, demands, begs, and encourages folks to grow, 

but it does not provide the means to grow in holiness.

I find this frustrating.  I know many of you do also.  Let me share what I have learned about growing in holiness.  So much of it has been a failure, but God has used it all to help me grow.  Using Ortberg's categories, the following is my story.

The Way of Religious Self-Effort

For years, I followed the motorboat approach.  I think this is what most Christians and what most Christian living books encourage.  "Do not be like the world.  Do not be lukewarm.  Do these seven steps and you will grow."

I did the seven steps about 77 times.  I learned how to read the bible.  I made myself pray.  I engaged in various activities.  Yet, I awoke about 15 years into my Christian journey to find that I did not have the ability to love anyone well.  I had the outer appearance of faith, but I knew my heart was off.  I was a self-righteous pharisee of the worst type.

The Way of Grace

Then I heard about Grace and the Gospel.  It was like being set free from prison.  My soul rejoiced.  I needed healing.  I needed grace and the love of God poured out on my hard heart.  He gave me that grace.

It was amazing how quickly I grew in holiness and maturity.  The grace of God changed my heart.  I was so looking forward to it just continuing forever.  The problem was that God's transforming of  heart did not continue in the same way.

Instead, after a couple of years of healing, I found myself floating in a still current on my raft.  I prayed, Lord give me grace and change me.  Nothing happened.  I waited.  Still nothing- no further growth and no further movement of my soul toward God.

Then I changed my prayers.  "Lord give me wisdom to grow deeper." I cried.  He answered by bringing me back to the gospel of repentance and faith.  

"Actively rest in my grace." the Lord whispered as He invited me aboard the sailboat.

How?

The spiritual disciplines teach us how to listen to the Spirit.  At least when they are correctly used they serve this important function.  The Spirit leads us to humility by promoting repentance of our outward sins and our inward self-effort.  The Spirit calls us to rest in Christ alone for our goodness, power, and life.

The Spirit calls to to actively rest in the work of Christ.  Active in repentance.  Resting in faith.  The Way of Grace is worth all the struggle.

Easter's Personal Good News

"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and 

on the third day rise from the dead,

and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins 

should be proclaimed in his name to all nations."

Luke 24: 46-47

Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!

In Monday's post, I briefly described the objective nature of Christ's victory.  I attempted to describe what this means in light of the scriptures.  Today, I wish to explore what this means for us.

So, Christ has the victory over sin and death.  How does that transform our lives?

Here is where the above passage in Luke is so helpful.  The first half talks of Christ's work.  The second half tells us how to apply what Christ has done.  Christ's objective work is applied by active repentance and faith knowing that in Christ there is the forgiveness of sins.  

Repentance is the means of applying Christ's work.  It is both a confession of sin against God, others, ourself, or creation and a cry for mercy to change.

Why have we made this understanding the means of salvation, but not the means of life?  

First, I think we have accepted and believed a false view of humanity in the West for about 250 years.  The Enlightenment taught that humanity was "sin sick" and not really "sinners in desperate need of grace" who are dead in sin.  As a result of this understanding of humanity, it was taught that proper education will free us from sin (as well as poverty, evil, and everything else).  This understanding was particularly important in America.

What does this mean for Christianity and the Church?  Well, by and large, the church uncritically accepted this view.  Most in America just assumed that the proper education included Jesus and accepting Him as the Lord and Savior of your life.  When you did, you had the proper education to change.  It might take some discipleship and accountability, but you can and should do it.

So what happens when four years later you find yourself struggling with some sin tendencies?  Even worse the same sin tendencies you thought you put aside four years earlier.  Let's say control, anger, or lust?  You could find more accountability.  You could just memorize more scripture.

Or you could just try to change the subject.

What the scripture teaches is that while accountability and scripture memory/knowledge are important, repenting of our real sin is more important.  Do not deny the reality of the struggle, but confess and cry out for mercy to be transformed.  Since we have the forgiveness of sins because of Christ, we can be honest that our struggle has not ended, and it will not end until we die, and we are set from from this body of sin and death.

In other words, we need to wholeheartedly deny our cultural assumption that proper education or knowledge will change our behavior.  It is simply not true.  How many of us know we should eat properly and exercise, and we still do not do it?  Education is not enough.  

No, we need a change of heart.  

Such a change of heart does not happen instantaneously when we accept Jesus, but it is a process marked by continual repentance and faith.  Because our faith is based upon Christ's finished work and the forgiveness found in that work applied by faith, we can confidently face our sin and our incredibly complex and tangled hearts.

As Jesus finishes this brief teaching on the gospel, He tells his disciples, "You are witnesses of these things." (vs. 48)  Remember these disciples had recently abandoned the Lord.  They had doubted His resurrection.  They had fought over who was the greatest.  

"You are witnesses to these things."  How were they restored?  They repented and believed in Christ's love and mercy.  Why was Judas so different?  He was sorry for the consequences of his sin, but he never repented of his sin against God and believed in Christ's mercy.  In other words, the disciples lived and believed the life of continual repentance and faith because they knew first hand they needed it.

Are you witnesses also the amazing grace of God found in Christ?  Are you walking today in continual repentance and faith?  May God's mercy lead us all to this place of joy and freedom.

Are we "salty" to the lost?

"Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile.
It is thrown away.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ...

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled,
saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Luke 14: 34-15:2

I love how the gospel writers put their narratives together.  Each of the authors took the same material and information, and they crafted it for different audiences.  We often forget that the gospels were not read with their chapter divisions.  Those were added much later.  Instead, the narrative of Jesus' life and ministry read like an action packed play.

In Luke 15, Jesus declares the heart of God for the lost.  With the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons, Jesus declares God great concern and pursuing love for the lost.

What is often missed is how he concludes what we read as Luke 14.  "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it be restored?"

What is he talking about?  In the context, this small section is told by Luke between Jesus' teaching on the cost of being a disciple and the reality that the "sinners" of the day loved him (found him "salty') and the religious teachers grumbled at this fact.  

Matthew uses this teaching of Jesus concerning salt in a different way, and it is found in a different place.  Does this show an error?  No, I don't think so.  I am sure Jesus used this phrase often in its ministry.  It has many applications.

I believe it is clear that Luke is using the salt reference here to illustrate 

the reality of disciples being the preserving influence to the sinners 

that God is passionately pursuing.  

Jesus is the perfect example of a follower of God.  He pursues and is attractive to sinners.  Unfortunately, this also means the religious folks sometimes do not understand him!

One of the greatest contractions in the universe is how "religious" folks often make poor witnesses to God's grace, but the scandalous and the sinners are great witnesses.

Why is this true?  Why is this particularly troubling?  Because the goal of most church life is to make people "religious."  Good church folks are often marked by their faithful religious observance.

Yet, here is the rub.  I have often shared in these pages and in classes I teach on outreach that

90% of churches say they wish to grow, 

but 90% of these churches are not really willing to follow through to grow.  

Taking this a step further, 

I would suggest that 90% of believers claim they want 

to reach out to friends, neighbors, and co-workers, 

but about 90% of them rarely follow through.  

Why is this the case?

Excuses abound.  I have offered many of them myself.  Yet, I wonder aloud today "If the salt has lost its saltiness."

Personally and corporately if we are not seeing not-yet-believers being transformed by the gospel, we should pray that God will allow us to experience the joy of new birth as God transforms not-yet-believers into gospel followers.  We should confess and repent if we really do not have a heart for such work.  We should ask for God's heart for the lost.

The miracle working God of the bible will answer these prayers.  His desire is for the salt (us) to be salt.

Practical Implications of Justification by Faith

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  
Through him we have also obtained access by faith 
into this grace in which we stand, 
and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."

Romans 5: 1-2

What are the practical implications of justification by faith?

The answers to this question should be front and center for every believer.  The apostle Paul dedicated entire letters to this theme.  The Protestant Reformation engaged in a religious dialogue to free people to understand this important concept.  Every revival of the Church is marked by a return to this idea.

Yet, 99% of today's believers have no idea how to answer this question.  I know, I was among this 99% even after finishing seminary.  I still often live like I don't know it.  I find I constantly struggle to justify myself instead of resting in the justifying righteousness merited and then given by Jesus to those who believe.

So, what are the practical implications of justification by faith?

The heart of our faith is a concept called passive righteousness.  It is a righteousness we receive by faith.  It was earned by Jesus and we have absolutely nothing to do with earning it.   

As Luther states, receiving passive righteous found in justification 

is like the ground soaking up the rain.  

The ground brings nothing and does nothing, 

but it receives the rain that falls upon it.  

In the same way, our soul is dry, thirsty ground 

that merely receives the rain of the Spirit that falls by grace.

So what does this mean?

Not only is Luther's illustration vivid, but it is also helpful.  Every time we try to make ourselves look better in the eyes of others by shading the truth or attempting to justify our actions, every time we get angry when we are disrespected, every time we make excuses to prove others are at fault for our failings, we are forgetting that God's grace is abundant to us.  We are attempting to establish our own rightness or righteousness.  

This struggle is really bondage.  It traps us.  It offers false hope.  It always disappoints.  It always demands more of us than we have.

Justification by faith, when properly understood and lived undercuts all of these traps.  It sets us free from the cycle of death that most of us live daily.

In other words, the practical implication of justification by faith is freedom.  

When properly understood and lived, freedom brings joy.

All of us struggle to find and live in our own righteousness.  We do anything we can to maintain our reputation.  We do what we can to prove that we are in the right.  

Justification by faith allows us to confess our failings and our shortcomings.  It allows us to be honest.  It propels us to trust in Jesus alone for our righteousness.

It is also so easy to forget.  Trusting in Christ's justification cuts across the grain of what comes so naturally to us.

In other words, all of us need to preach the gospel of unmerited grace found in Christ to ourselves daily.  This is a message for all.  It levels the ground between believer and unbeliever.  It also points to the common cure- the Lord Jesus Christ.  We need Him.  

Lord have mercy upon us and help us to believe.  We believe Lord, help our unbelief.

Needed: Justification by Faith

Viewed from one perspective, the Protestant Reformation was an effort to remake every sector of the church according to biblical direction.  In another sense, however, the spiritual heart of the Reformation was more simply an effort to rebuild the understanding of the Christian life, incorporating Luther's insight on justification.  The full success of this venture has been repeatedly thwarted by the ease with which sinful people can twist the essential truth of Luther's insight.

On the one hand, justification by faith can be transformed into the wholly unbiblical teaching of justification without sanctification, which Bonhoeffer has called "cheap grace."

On the other hand, Puritan and Pietist efforts to guard against this abuse often led to an admixture of ascetic legalism in the realm of spiritual discipline.  An unbalanced stress on auxiliary methods of assurance- testing one's life by the inspection of works and searching for the internal witness of the Spirit- obscured Luther's teaching on assurance of salvation through naked reliance on the work of Christ.

Later the shift toward rationalism in parts of the church began to obscure the holiness of God and the depth of sin, introducing a moralism which found no use at all for the doctrine of justification.

These three aberrations from the biblical teaching on justification- cheap grace, legalism, and moralism- still dominate the church today.

Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of the Spiritual Life, 100.

Wow, what an insightful paragraph.  I encourage you to read it again slowly.  Think about what you see and experience from believers and the church.  Think about the issues and problems that you know about.  Think about our lack of witness to the grace and power of God.  Why has the Spirit been short-circuited in our lives and the life of our churches?

The Protestant Reformation needs to continue.  We don't need a reformation of manners.  We need a new heart, new Spirit, new start.

Today is a good day to begin.  It is a Monday.  Let's start the week by praying for five minutes for revival.  Pray for yourself, your family, your friends, and your church.  Pray that somehow, someway, the reality of justification by faith would sink deep within.

May this week be a turning point.

Praying for fullness of joy...

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Ps. 16:11

Many years ago, while I was in seminary, I had a friend who shared my passion for seeing the lost come to know Jesus.  We were talking about what we did when someone embraces Jesus by faith.  I shared that I would get them immediately into a bible study and a discipleship group.  In the tradition of fundamentalism in which I had started my Christian journey, knowing scripture and being in an accountability and growth relationship was key.

My friend shared that while he thought that was interesting, but he did not do this.  Instead, he taught them how to pray because he figured if they learned how to pray, they would learn how to walk with God.

For years I have thought about this conversation and its implications.  I do not believe there is anything wrong with bible study and discipleship groups.  In fact, I still encourage them.  Yet, I think my method of encouraging a new believer to grow was a bit short-sighted.  

Why?

I had a mistaken belief that if I changed a person's mind, it would transform them.  

Experience has taught me that this is not always true.  In fact, transformation through changing one's mind often does not bring about lasting and deep change.

You see, there is a vast and categorically different experience 

between knowing about God and knowing God.  

Knowing about God can bring a sort of intellectual satisfaction.  Yet, unless it leads to knowing God it does not lead to the fullness of joy found in the path of life.  Knowing about God apart from experiencing the presence of God through fellowship with Him will grow stale.  It leaves us with the knowledge that we should know better, but it does not have the power to change our heart that actually directs our whole being.

In other words, over the long run, the heart will not serve the mind.  

The heart must be transformed by the grace of God.

A heart transformed brings fullness of life now and eternal life forevermore.  Knowing God transforms the heart.  In so doing, it will activate the mind and demands that the mind come to know more about the God whose presence brings fullness of joy.  After heart transformation, the mind serves the transformed heart.

What are the marks of a transformed heart?

Joy, pleasure, contentment, peace, love, and grace.  You will not just know the definition of these words, but you will taste and know them in your heart.  They are found when God pours out His grace into our hearts.  They are enjoyed we we walk in repentant faith.  Such grace does transform your mind, your actions, and your life.

How do we do this?  Let's finish this week by asking God for His Spirit to transform us by grace.  Ask Him to lead you into deeper repentance and trusting faith.  Ask Him to bring joy, pleasure, contentment, peace, love and grace.

Remix: Dry Spirituality, Illness, Depression, and Hope

Another week is about to begin.  I praise God for His faithfulness even in the midst of struggle.  He is truly the Rock, the Fortress, and the Protector.  May He be forever praised.

Today, I finish my 2014 wrap up with my most popular post from last year.  It is from last February.  Its message is very fitting.  I love it when I am challenged or encouraged by my own writing.  May the Lord bless it.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God."

Ps. 42: 5

Psalm 42 begins with the affirmation and cry, "As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?"

Today this Psalm brings to mind some other questions.  If I belong to Jesus, the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who reigns forevermore at the right hand of the Father, why don't I always feel like it?  Why are some days and even seasons of life so spiritually dry?

In other words, I sometimes find that reading Ps 42 and others like it makes me feel like God and the scriptures are mocking me.  Why?  My heart does not thirst for the living God!  My soul is downcast, and I don't want to praise Him.

What am I to do?  What are you to do if you find yourself in the same place?

I firmly believe that all of us end up in this place.  If our vision of spirituality does not have a place for these feelings, we won't know how to process where we are and why we find ourselves so down.  As a pastor, this place is where I find many honest, sincere, and scared believers.

There is hope.  Jesus does reign and He is Lord.  He loves you.  We must hold to these truths even if we don't feel like it.

The problem is that we live in a fallen world where is victory is already here, but not yet complete.  Have no fear.  In fact, have faith and claim the reality that God is working through it all.  Our struggles, fears, and doubts can purify and perfect our very imperfect faith.

So why do we feel this way?  There are many reasons.  Let me give one.

As I wrote in my journal many moons ago, "It is amazing the tie between our spirituality and our health.  I feel this is so often forgotten or ignored.  When I do not feel well, it is hard to feel Your presence and love.  You might be carrying me (think of the poem Footprints in the Sand), but I do not feel the embrace."

Every week I have the privilege and calling to deal with folks who struggle with depression and anxiety.  I find these folks feel the same way I do when I am sick!  Their physical issues cause a spirit of dryness.

In Psalm 42, the Psalmist confesses that he has been crying and he feels taunted by those who ask, "Where is your God?"  I do not think these folks are mocking him, but saying, "Where is your faith?  Don't you know that God is faithful?"  How often as believers do we do the same to those who are struggling!  How often do we as believers beat ourselves up when we are struggling!

The Psalmist answers his doubts and struggles with an affirmation of the gospel.  He confesses where he is: struggling for his very life and faith!  He then reminds himself over and over again of God's faithfulness in the past.  He also affirms that this present reality of struggle will not last forever.  In fact, he affirms God's faithfulness by repeating the same verse twice in this Psalm.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

Ps 42: 5 and 11

Please remember there is a direct tie between our health (physical and mental) and our spirituality.  Such a tie is a result of being embodied spiritual beings.  Jesus understands as he also was at times tired, emotionally drained, hungry, and deeply saddened.  Illness is not weakness.  It is a result of the Fall, but it is common to us all.

When struggling confess you are struggling and look to the gospel.  Remind yourself of God's past work and His promise of a good future.  I encourage you to use Psalm 42 as a guide.

Keller on The Gospel of Grace

"Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day.  However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect.  The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones.  We tend to draw conservative. buttoned-down, moralistic people.  The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church.  That can only mean one thing.  If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.  If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think."  

Tim Keller, The Prodigal God, 15-16.

Yesterday I began a post concerning how to reach out to the irreligious of our day.  I proposed that while folks are still radically converted by the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation, we might not be seeing such conversions because we do not share the real gospel (or at least the complete gospel?).

I am sure that such a claim will be met by both skepticism and derision by many.  How dare I claim that many don't really preach the real or complete gospel.

Well, I know for years I did not understand the full scope of the gospel.  I know I still don't get it fully, but I sure do wish to get it more.

I know I was a believer in Jesus, but I did not have a good ministry to unbelievers.  They felt like I was judging them, so they did not listen.  I know when the gospel took hold of my heart, this changed so that unbelievers and the irreligious liked me and listened to me.

I know I knew Jesus, but I really had no power to be transformed.  I could monitor my outward behavior, but I did not have the power to change my heart.  So, I felt guilty, I struggled unsuccessfully against sin, and I lived off my reputation, which was way better than my reality.

So what happened?  God's grace in Jesus undercut my pride and forced me to confess my real heart sins.  God's grace in Jesus gave me hope and life because His love for me was greater than I ever imagined.  This love and grace transformed my heart.

This is the essence of the real gospel.

The is how Keller explains it.  He does a much better job than I could ever do in his book, The Prodigal God.

The Prodigal God is about the parable of the two sons, which some mistakenly call the parable of the prodigal son.  He points out that the parable is really about three scandalous people: the younger son, the eldest son, and the Father.  We only focus on the younger son because so many of us are eldest brother types whose lives are marked by doing the right thing and hard work.  Unfortunately, the elder brother also is marked not by his love for the Father (God in this case), but his desire to work for the Father so he can get something back in return.

As Keller argues, true or authentic faith is marked by repentance from both our outright sin and our religious self-effort.  In other words, we must repent of the evil we do and the good we do.  What a scandalous message!  I would recommend reading the brief book.  I have heard Keller preach on the topic, and it was life-changing.  His book carries on that life-changing message.

Overall, I was struck and affirmed by his opening quote.  I know as a young pastor, I was very good at attracting the "conservative, buttoned-down, type."  I preached the Bible, thought I was building people up in their faith, and felt pretty good about myself.  Unfortunately, I saw no one come to faith outside the mold of conservative, buttoned-down types or those repenting of a brief foray into sin from their conservative, button-down type upbringing.  In other words, I had a great ministry to Pharisees!

The problem is that Jesus did not have a good ministry to Pharisees, but he had a great ministry to everyone else.  In my life, I encountered the grace of God through a series of bad decisions and failures.  I was a strong man who had not failed.  All of that quickly changed when I experienced failure in life and ministry.  This failure shook me to my core.

From it and by the grace of God, I learned that success in ministry does not depend upon me.  I learned personally that I was, and probably still am, a Pharisee.  As I repented of my sin, I tied into the grace of the Lord Jesus.  I found unmerited love.  This is the same Love that the Father gives freely to both the younger and eldest son in the parable of the two sons.  As I did, I found that my ministry changed as did my message.

How?  Well, first of all I was attractive to the broken-hearted, downtrodden, and out-right sinners.  They liked me.  We talked about Jesus.  They felt comfortable.  Many came to faith or at least began a faith journey that I pray and trust will lead to faith.  I also became much more comfortable in my own skin, and I believe I became more authentic as a person.  I have even seen a few eldest brother types come to faith, though the going on that front has been slow.  Yes, the opening quote encourages me that I was doing something right!

Yet, my ministry also changed with the eldest brother types.  While I was once their darling, now I am an outcast.  I have found that the religious types just do not understand me.  They might like me, but they do not trust me.  I have found that religious types judge me and find me wanting.  I  have seen their sideways glances at their friends, and I know I have been judged not good enough.  Often these folks come to church or a class I teach and then walk away unchanged by the grace of God.

At first this reaction of the eldest brother types was very dismaying.  It even made me angry (a true mark of my eldest brother tendencies!).  Could they not see the grace of God?  Did they not want it?  I judged them.

Notice the Father in the parable.  He offered grace and restoration for the eldest brother.  We do not know if he took the offer since as an excellent story-teller, Jesus left that response untold.  Yet, the Father had an open heart.  I think in the past few years I have learned to a greater degree to leave my heart open to the eldest brother types, and to leave the grace of God wide-open for them.  I do not find myself judging them as much, and I repent when I do.  Still, the eldest brother types are the hardest to win to the gospel of grace.  They are so right that they do not need Jesus.

May all of us this day be amazed at the awesome grace of God.  May this grace shatter our younger brother and eldest brother tendencies to bring us to repentance and rest.

The Gospel is the Message of Christ

"The word evangelion ("the gospel") or evangelizdomai ("to declare the gospel") occurs so often in the New Testament that "clearly the term gospel is a kind of code word for many New Testament writers that summarizes something very basic regarding what the early Christians thought the Christian faith was all about.""

Darrin Patrick, Church Planter, 110.

Quoting James V. Brownson, Speaking the Truth in Love: New Testament Resources for a Missional Hermeneutic, 31.

I could not agree more with either Darrin Patrick or James Brownson.  The gospel is used so often that it surely was a code word, a loaded word, a pregnant word, that encapsulates the essence of the Christian message.

Yet, so many folks in the pulpit and in the pew do not give the term gospel proper respect.  For many, the gospel is the entry way into a relationship with God.  It is a message for non-believers.  It is something they already know and now it is time to get to deeper teaching.

There is no deeper teaching than the full implications of the gospel!

The gospel is the heart and soul of the Christian faith.  It is valid and needed in the life of both the seasoned saint and the not-yet believer.  It is the starting point for our spiritual journey, as well as the means of growth in grace.

The gospel, the declaration that Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection, is the key to understanding all meaning and purpose in life.  It is the message of Jesus.

Why did he have to be born and live a perfect life?

Because God loves the world- a world that is fallen into sin, death, and decay.

Why did Jesus have to die a death he did not deserve?

Because holiness demands payment/justice for sin, death, and decay.  His death paid the debt of sin against a holy God and His resurrection began the final defeat of sin, death, and decay.

What does this have to do with me?

It is all about direction.  Apart from Christ, we participate and grow in sin, death, and decay.  Apart from Christ means apart from faith/trust in His grace.  As we walk in self-effort, we wander deeper into sin, death, and decay.

On the other side, while walking in faith/trust in Christ, we participate and grow in holiness, life, and renewal.  The promise is that at death, the final vestiges of sin, death, and decay will be set aside; but until then, we struggle to grow in faith and trust.  As we reject self-effort for faith, God transforms our hearts so the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5) flows from the inside out.

Transformation occurs as we apply Christ's work to our life.  This application is made through repenting of our sin, which includes our religious self-effort, and resting in Christ's unending love and grace for us.

Again, until death this transformation is not complete.  Thus, the gospel is central in the life of the most seasoned saint as well as the not-yet believer.  It is True Truth.  

May this week be blessed with a growing recognition of our need for Christ's grace and mercy.  May we grow in repentance and faith so that we can participate and grow in holiness, life, and renewal.

All that Pertains to Life and Godliness

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."

2 Peter 1: 3-4

It amazes me how quickly we can move from a position of walking in faith to walking in our own strength and resources.  At least, I know I can make this move so quickly it makes my head spin!

God has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.  How?  Where?

Through the knowledge of him who called us.

In other words, through the grace and mercy and power and love of Jesus.

It is all about growing in the knowledge of our loving Lord.  Such a relationship grants us access and assurance us of all the promises of God.  Such a relationship changes us from the inside out.  It transforms our heart.  It changes our relationship to the world.  

The knowledge of Christ is everything in the Christian life.  

In other words, true faith is central to all we do.  It is the mark of a transformed heart.  It works from the heart outward to transform every aspect of our life.  Faith gives us life and godliness.  It gives power to escape the corruption of this anti-gospel world.

Do you enjoy and live in this place of faith?  Do you know the power and grace of the Lord?

I just shared that often I do not!  What can we do?

Repent of our silly and ineffective self-effort.  Turn from these fruitless paths and look upon Jesus.  Ask Him to make the promises real.  Ask Him to change your heart.

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.  This is a prayer He always answers!

A God-Centered Life

I love reading biographies, the stories of men like Oswald Chambers, C.S. Lewis, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, Augustine, Paul, and Jeremiah.  As I read about their lives, I get the impression that our modern ideas about masculine maturity are a far cry from what godly men of earlier generations understood and practiced.

We talk a lot today about things like vulnerability and the courage to feel our pain.  They seemed more interested in worship and witnessing.  We speak of honest communication and living up to our potential.  They fell to their knees in brokenness and got up to serve.  

I wonder if the virtues we try to develop came naturally to those men from years ago whose toughest battles were fought against whatever kept them from knowing Christ. ...

Religious men of today too often have found a convenient God, an immediately useful God promoted by leaders who are filled more by the thrill of adoring crowds than by their opportunity for quiet communion with God....

Men from earlier generations slugged it out in intensely personal battles that lasted for years, battles that lessened only when they abandoned themselves more fully to Christ, not merely when they felt a new passion sweep through them at a big rally or when they discovered some new insight about themselves in therapy.  The joy of finding Christ was released through brokenness over sin, brokenness that led to worshipful abandonment to God.  Knowing Christ intimately developed through a deep work of God's Spirit that took place sometimes in big crowds but more often during long seasons of agonizing prayer in solitude.

Larry Crabb, The Silence of Adam, 30-31.

The difference between a god-centered life and a me-centered life is the difference between true faith and false assurance.

The difference between a God-centered life and a me-centered life is the difference between life changing power and religious pretense.

The difference between a God-centered life and a me-centered life is everything.

The Christian faith call us to a God-centered life.  It is a call to repent of self-worship and turn to worship of God.  A God-centered life is not a one-time decision, but a lifestyle.

What is a God-centered life?

A God-centered life is founded upon true repentance of our sin against God and true faith in Jesus Christ as our only hope.  Such a life is a continual process of repentance and faith.  In fact, as we grow in our knowledge of God and ourselves, we will find ourselves growing in our awareness of our sin leading us to quicker and deeper repentance.

In other words, mature people in Christ will constantly encourage and challenge everyone they meet to walk in such repentance and faith.  They will preach the message of repentance and faith to themselves, to their families, and throughout all of life.  Their life will reflect dependence.

Alas, why is such God-centered living not the norm for those who know Christ?

It runs completely contrary to the way that seems right to us.  It undercuts our pride, our self-effort, our self-assurance, and our self-righteousness.  When these traits are undercut we hate it!

Thus, we have invented a religion that does not lead to brokenness and repentance.  It appeals to the most me-centered parts of our life.  We have baptized and named this religion Christianity.  We assurance ourselves that we must be OK because everyone agrees with us!

Thankfully, God still builds His Church!  He calls us constantly to deeper repentance and faith.  Even now, He calls us to focus our hearts and minds upon Jesus Christ.  He calls us to deeper trust.  He calls us to repent of our self effort and to be broken before Him.

The amazing truth is that after we are broken, He bids us to rise and go tell others of what we have found in Jesus through our words and our deeds.  We will know we have been broken and found grace when we can't help but tell others about it.  We will reflect in our daily worship, which includes our work, that Jesus loves us.

May this week be a blessed time of brokenness and witnessing to God's grace!