THE IMPORTANCE OF PURSUING GODLINESS

During yesterday’s sermon, Chris mentioned the fact that many have a tendency to over think themselves when explaining what God is like and how he works in the world. He spoke in reference to God’s knowledge of the future and human responsibility. Many have concluded that God’s knowledge of the future conflicts with ones freewill. Some have even responded with apathy because they believe the outcomes are solely determined by God. Scripture is clear, however, that God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are not at odds, but go hand in hand.

Last night, I spoke with our youth about the importance of spiritual growth. After quoting Romans 8:29 that says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son,” I asked our youth, “Since God has predetermined that we will be like Christ, then why do we have to discipline ourselves to grow spiritually?” Donald Whitney provides the answer in his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. He affirms,

“Although God will grant Christlikeness to us when Jesus returns, until then He intends for us to grow toward that Christlikeness. We aren’t merely to wait for holiness; we’re to pursue it. ‘Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy,’ we’re commanded in Hebrews 12:14, for ‘without holiness no one will see the Lord’” (6).

The fact that God is in control and will accomplish his purposes in his people and world should not move us toward apathy, but activity. He has given us the wonderful privilege of taking part in what he is going to do in us and through us. My prayer for our entire church family is that God would create in us a desire to be more like Christ and that we would respond by pursuing godliness. I also hope that each of us would find enjoyment in becoming more like Christ and that God would be glorified in our quest for holiness.

Whitney, Donald. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life: A Study Guide. Colorado Springs: NavPress. 1994. 6.

"Quote" of the Week

“My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself. If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father.” -Dallas Willard

"WHAT IF YOU LIKE PREACHING, BUT NOT THE TRUTH?" by John Piper

Below is something for all preachers/teachers to consider.

My preparations for the Desiring God National Conference this month and the Pastors’ Conference in February flowed together while I was reading about Benjamin Franklin’s appreciation for George Whitefield.

My task at the NatCon is to speak on the question, “Is There Christian Eloquence?” My task at the Pastors’ Conference is to speak on the life and ministry of George Whitefield.
What I saw this week is that Whitefield’s gifts of “eloquence” pose the very problem I must deal with at the NatCon. He was so good, you could like his sermon while not believing a thing he says.

For example, in the spring of 1740 Whitefield was in Philadelphia preaching outdoors to thousands. Benjamin Franklin attended most of these messages. Franklin, who did not believe what Whitefield was preaching, commented on these perfected sermons:

His delivery...was so improved by frequent repetition, that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned, and well placed, that without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse: a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music. (emphasis added) (Harry Stout, The Divine Dramatist, 104)

Here was preaching that was so well-delivered you could like it enough to ignore it’s convicting truths. What should I say about this? More: What should I do about it? Paul said,
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.... My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1Corinthians 1:17; 2:4-5)
Was Whitefield right to perfect his delivery to the point where unbelieving Benjamin Franklin would enjoy it like a piece of music?

Pray for me. This is not an academic issue for a preacher.

P. S. Lest the generation of younger preachers who don’t give a fig for eloquence think they have this one solved, beware. There is an “eloquence” of “hip” and “dress” and “slang” and “savvy” and “casual” and the “appearance of artlessness” that can have the exact same mesmerizing effect in our day that Whitefield’s eloquence had in his: People like it without sharing any of the convictions.

Posted September 8, 2008 on www.desiringgod.org/Blog/

LOOKING FOR JOY IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

In 2006, Will Smith starred in an inspiring true story entitled, The Pursuit of Happiness. The film was about a struggling salesman named Christopher Gardner who pursues a career as a stockbroker. This business venture takes him and his son from rags to riches.

Although everyone will agree that this film properly represents the idea of "The American Dream," one must ask, "Does a lucrative career bring joy that lasts?" People universally pursue happiness and invest their lives in all types of endeavors hoping to fill the void inside them. The problem they find, however, is that the “pursuit of happiness” can be endless leaving them ultimately unsatisfied.

When one pursues created things rather than the creator, they settle for far less than what was intended. John Piper affirms, "None of us has trusted and treasured God the way we should. We have not been satisfied with his greatness and walked in his ways. We have sought our satisfaction in other things, and treated them as more valuable than God."

Those who delight in created things will only find temporary happiness because only the creator provides lasting joy and because those who do not enjoy God in this life are subject to His just condemnation in the life to come. According to Piper, "We have all belittled the glory of God. How? By preferring other things above him. By our ingratitude, distrust and disobedience. So God is just in shutting us out from the enjoyment of his glory forever.”

Only through Christ can lasting joy be found. Because of his death and resurrection, believers are rescued from the misery of sin and death and are also able to experience the joy God intended. According to Piper, "Coming home to God is where all deep and lasting satisfaction is found."

Piper, John. "Quest for Joy: Six Biblical Truths" www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary

"Quote" of the Week

"God made us to magnify his greatness-the way telescopes magnify stars. He created us to put his goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom and justice on display. " -John Piper

SALVATION IS FREE BUT NOT CHEAP

Last night, during youth, we discussed the fact that “Nothing is free.” One should realize that when a gift is received, although it did not cost the recipient, it was given at a price. This is especially true of a Christian’s salvation. Although it can not be earned or bought, it was provided at a price. Jesus suffered both physically and spiritually to provide redemption for God’s estranged people. Notice three ways he suffered to purchase salvation.

Christ suffered during his earthly life. Wayne Grudem affirms, “In a broad sense the penalty Christ bore in paying for our sins was suffering in both his body and soul throughout his life…His whole life in a fallen world involved suffering.” We certainly see this at the beginning of His earthly ministry when He is tempted by Satan for forty days in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). Many believers have been also comforted by the writings of the author of Hebrews who assures believers that Jesus sympathizes with human weakness because of what he endured during his time on earth. He states, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

A second way salvation was purchased was through the physical pain of the cross. According to Grudem, “Death by crucifixion was one of the most horrible forms of execution ever devised by man.” A physician in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1986 explained,

“Adequate exhalation required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet and by flexing the elbows…However, this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the tarsals and would produce searing pain. Furthermore, flexion of the elbows would cause rotation of the wrists about the iron nails and cause fiery pain along the damaged median nerves…Muscle cramps and paresthesias of the outstretched and uplifted arms would add to the discomfort. As a result, each respiratory effort would become agonizing and tiring and lead eventually to asphyxia.”

A third and lesser know way Christ suffered involved the pain of bearing sin. According to Grudem, “More awful than the pain of physical suffering that Jesus endured was the psychological pain of bearing the guilt for our sin.” Our sins were placed upon Christ. Isaiah 53:6 affirms, “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Grudem explains, “In the same way in which Adam’s sins were imputed to us, so God imputed our sins to Christ; that is, he thought of them as belonging to Christ, and since God is the ultimate judge and definer of what really is in the universe, when God thought of our sins as belonging to Christ then in fact they actually did belong to Christ.”

These biblical truths should cause us to be grateful not just because salvation is free, but because of what it cost our Lord. John 3:16 is one of the most well known verses in all of Scripture, but has a word within it that is often overlooked. The word “so” emphasizes that God’s love for the world is “so” great that he bankrupted heaven and sent His son to die so that we might have eternal life. May the cost of salvation move believers hearts toward worship.

Grudem, Wayne. The Atonement. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994. 571-574.

"Quote" of the Week

"Some have objected that it was not fair for God...to transfer the guilt of sin from us to an innocent person, Christ. Yet we must remember that Christ voluntarily took on himself the guilt for our sins, so this objection loses much of its force. Moreover, God himself (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the ultimate standard of what is just and fair in the universe, and he decreed that the atonement would take place in this way, and that it did in fact satisfy the demands of his own righteousness and justice." -Wayne Grudem