>more on introspection versus faith

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Dear friends, if any truth has the effect of turning you in upon yourself, making you introspective, self-occupied in a spiritual way, that truth has been wrongly apprehended.  You may assume the position of the most spiritual, but you are all wrong in your apprehension.  This great work which Christ did in His Cross was never intended to make anybody miserable.  Of course, that goes without saying; yet there are multitudes who are miserable after trusting the Lord, miserable over the sin question in their lives; and the number, I am afraid, is increasing…  

I am certain of this, that nothing will ever come to you, however deep, however mighty, however tremendous, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, that will make you miserable.  The revelation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit—and there is no other revelation—will never make a soul miserable.  There is something wrong if a Christian is miserable on spiritual matters, and it is either failure to apprehend the one great, absolute reality that the victory was God’s and that He won it in Christ, fully and finally, and we are not called to share at all in that battle; or the truth which has come subsequently has been misapprehended and has become something that is a burden grievous to be borne.  The Lord Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30).

And what was the yoke?  Well, listen again; you will get it in various places in the New Testament where the very word is used.  “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger” (Matt. 23:4).  What was the yoke, the burden?—the law, ordinances, ‘thou shalt,’ ‘thou shalt not’; the enforcement of this.  “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”  He “despoiled the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in (His Cross).”  How?  He nailed to His Cross the whole list of ordinances against us and took the ground of the enemy’s strength and assurance from him.  You know quite well that the enemy has no abstract power over anybody.  It is always concrete, it is always positive.  The devil must have something to make his power felt.  It does not exist, in effect, unless he has got moral ground, and the thing with which he lashes and drives and harasses is this law of carnal ordinances which was against us, against us, against us!

This is an excerpt from a message I received this morning. I thought I would share with you all. Watchman Nee was the first man I read who God used to reveal this precious truth to me. Now T. Austin-Sparks has joined the chorus of those in praise of the finished work of Christ bringing the end to our self-examination regarding our keeping of he law.

What do you think about what he has written? Agree/disagree?

>Gaining wisdom through criticism

>I just read a post on CJ Mahaney’s blog about how proverbs teaches that we gain wisdom through criticism, reproof and correction.  Here are a few verses:

Proverbs 9:8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

Proverbs 19:25 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence;
reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.

Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

This truth is encouraging to me because it means that as I write these blogs I am not only sharing what I am learning with my readers but I am also inviting opportunity to gain more wisdom by putting me thoughts out there to be criticised and corrected.  I rejoice in this.

The trouble is that the only time my comments pile up is when I post something that I already know that many of my readers agree with.  Sometimes I post things hoping to be corrected, criticised, or shepherded in some way and the comments come up empty.

I have not been gracious in every response in the past and I confess, that is a difficult thing for me to do.  I ask forgiveness from anyone whom I have offended previously.  I hope that as you read my blog you would consider how to build up what is good in me and tear down what is not of Christ.  Thank you for reading.  I thank God for you all.

Tim 2:25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

Col 3:16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

>Building up a Spiritual Building

>I was reading through my email and I came across a piece with the same subject line as my title above.  It came from one of the pastors I enjoy listening to and given his history of great exposition and exegesis I was excited to read what he had to say along this subject.  I was greatly disappointed.  The entire email conisted of thanks to the many who have been supporting his ministry and then moved into a discussion of their plans to build another structure on their newly aquired property which they plan to begin this year.  He even quoted the verse in which the apostle speaks of the Church being a spiritual building made up of precious stones and then said the “MAIN” way in which this is accomplished is through visiting pastors preaching to the congregation and through the various pastor only conferences that they hold to equip the ministers.

What I hoped for was a testimony of how the assembly of believers was growing and impacting their city.  What I got was more of the same praise for buildings and professionals and a bulwark of the clergy/laity divide.

>Marriage: Head = Authority?

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 Until recently I have been satisfied with considering myself in the complimentarian camp.  Now, I’m not so sure.  I grew up in Baptist churches and later attended a Reformed Baptist church where I heard a lot of talk about the roles of men and women both in the home and in the church.  I have read numerous books and articles discussing the difference between the complimentarian and egalitarian views of men and women.

This post is not going to be in any way exhaustive.  There have been books written on this subject that are thicker than the Bible itself discussing what the Bible has to say about it.  I am only going to give some very brief definitions of each camp as it pertains to my thoughts in this particular post.  Mostly this post is about authority.  In that sphere of thought authority according to a complementarian rests fully in the hands of the husband and the egalitarians believe that it can be either the husband or the wife or even a mutuality in decision making between the two.

There is only one place I have found where the New Testament mentions authority in the marriage.  The passage reads as follows:

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 

(1 Corinthians 7:3-5 ESV)

This passage makes me think that authority is mutual, especially in the physical nature of the relationship.  So why would anyone contend that this mutual authority is granted only for physical matters?  Why wouldn’t a man and wife devote themselves to prayer regarding every decision in their lives and then come to a consentual agreement?

Another place I found the same word for authority was in Luke.  It says:

And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 

(Luke 22:25-26 ESV)

Now this really makes me think about authority differently.  Leadership is not about authority but rather about serving one another.  How would this understanding apply to the marriage relationship?

Then there are the scriptures that compare man and wife to Christ and the Church.  Surely Christ has authority over the Church and so a man has authority over his wife, right?  I’m not so sure.  Again, Christ demonstrated what leadership is by giving his life for the Church.  This can be seen also as he washed the disciples feet at the last supper.  Well we have scriptures that say that Christ is the head of the Church and man is the head of his wife like this one:

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 

(1 Corinthians 11:3 ESV)

Doesn’t this assume authority?  Yes, it does seem to.   But if headship meant authority wouldn’t that skew the Godhead?  But…if head doesn’t mean authority, what does it mean?

I don’t know what to think right now.  I’m really confused.  The whole issue seems to be a paradox.  I’ll keep reading.

Challenging traditional teaching is good for building up our understanding but…  my, my, my … it is sometimes quite burdensome.  Have you thought about these things?  What has helped shape your understanding the most?

>Thinking about stained glass

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Alan Knox brought the song Stained Glass Masquerade by Casting Crowns to mind as he commented about another post written by Arthur Sido at The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia titled : hiding behind our suits and smiles

 “The way we do church, gathering on schedule for an hour to “worship” leads to people hiding their hurting behind smiling faces and their Sunday best. We are rarely honest with each other because we spend so little time together. We need to get out of the pew and get into the lives and homes and families of other believers.

I get what they are saying:  the church is hiding behind stained glass and putting on a show for one another.  There is no intimate connectedness in any way that allows us to bear one another’s burdens as we should.  I say we should stop hiding behind the stained glass and become like stained glass.  We should be transparent like glass although our lives are stained with sin, suffering and imperfections.

The Bible has a lot to say about the difference between the darkness and the light.  When we hide our lives from others it is like we are living in the dark.  Things cannot be hidden in the light.  The light exposes them for all to see.  I believe that the way we hide from one another is darkness that must be driven out by the light.  As the light begins to shine through the stained glass which is our lives it is then that the beauty of Christ’s work can be seen by others.  Stained glass is not beautiful unless the light is shining through it.

 

>Reading out of my comfort zone

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I requested my next book from the Booksneeze program. The selection is dwindling down like Thomas Nelson is on the endangered species list but I’m a sucker for free books so I chose Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren.

I don’t expect to find my way again by reading this book. Actually, all I expect to find is bad theology from Brian. I may be surprised at what I find. This is not a book I would normally spend the money God has trusted me with to purchase for myself so I am glad I am getting it for free. In fact, as I write I have some reservations for spending the time He has given me by reading it. Still yet, in order to not close myself in a box with those who think and write the same things that I do I will read it and I trust that God will use this book to reveal something of himself to me.

Here is a blurb from the publisher.

Why have certain spiritual disciplines been in use for centuries, and why are they so important?

It is questionable if one can ever be exactly the same person waking up on two consecutive days. How are spiritual sojourners to cope with the constant change? Many are beginning to explore the ancient Christian spiritual practices, such as fixed-hour prayer, fasting and sincere observance of the Sabbath. What is causing this hunger for deeper spirituality?

Brian McLaren guides us on this quest for an explanation of these spiritual practices, many of which go all the way back to Abraham and the establishment of Israel. In the midst of contemporary Christianity, we discover the beauty of these disciplines and the transformation through Christ that each can provide.

Includes foreword by Phyllis Tickle and leads into seven additional titles, The Ancient Practices, a classic series featuring some of the leading writers on spirituality in the world today.

>The case against Christ

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We love Jesus.  Because of this love we overflow with good tidings and service for our neighbors. We can wait for opportunities to speak of Christ or create those opportunities by demonstrating his love to us and through us.  Conversations about our faith can range from being a testimony of the hope that is within us or a defense of the validity of our beliefs.  There are many arguments against the truthfulness of the Bible and the foundation of our faith.

The foundation of our faith is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is the good news that has brought life to scores of men and women through faith.  There are many who deny that the gospel is historical truth and they do so with numerous and sometimes compelling arguments.  For many, blind faith that believes because the Bible says so is not good enough.  Charles Foster is one of these people and so he sets out to write a book presenting both the case for and against the Christ.

Charles was created and molded for this work.  As a lawyer he makes a living arguing for and against evidence in a court of law.  In his book The Jesus Inquest he takes every valid argument against the gospels, the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, and the beliefs of the early church regarding the gospel and presents them in a very convincing manner.  The format is done in such a way as I would expect it to be done in a court of law.  First he presents the arguments and evidence against the Christ and then he responds the those arguments from a Christian perspective.  In the end, you are the juror and you decide which side has the better case.

This book did not put me in a place where I can say that I believe in Jesus beyond a reasonable doubt.  What it did is present to me many arguments that created reasonable doubt and then reasons why those doubts weren’t very reasonable.  (did that make sense?)  If I learned anything by reading this book it is this:  there are many ways to try to discredit the truth of the gospel and that left purely to reason I would not be a believer.  I know the gospel is true because it has been made true for me not because I could win an argument with an unbeliever and for that I am thankful for the revelation God has given me of who He is in Christ.  

If you love apologetics or you find yourself at a loss for words when confronted with someone who can present a solid case against what you believe to be true about the gospel then this book is for you.  Every valid argument I have ever heard and many that I have never even considered are contained within.  It was nearly exhaustive.  If are interested in a purely existential argument regarding the historicity of the gospel message then you will enjoy this book.

 I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as part of their BookSneeze program.

>God doesn’t forgive you just because you ask him to.

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• 

  “I’m not a bad person. I try to do the right things. When I mess up, I ask God to forgive me and He does.”

  If I have heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times and it bugs me because many believe that God’s forgiveness is granted upon request. No! We are not forgiven because we ask God to forgive us. We are forgiven because our sins (past, present and future) are covered by the blood of Christ.

  Matthew 26:28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

  Ephesians 1:7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 

  Hebrews 9:22Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 

  Some agree and say “yes, our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus but we still have to ask for forgiveness in order to receive it”. Again I say, NO! We are not forgiven because we ask for forgiveness. Our sins are forgiven only because we believe that Christ’s blood covers our sins (assuming we agree with God that we have sinned, confession IS necessary).

  Acts 10:43To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

  Acts 26:18to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 

  Should we ask for forgiveness? Yes. Jesus taught us to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” But our forgiveness does not come because we ask. We are forgiven because Christ paid for our sin. The blood is for God to see. When God looks at those who have placed our faith in Christ, He sees blood. He no longer sees our sin.

  Hebrews 1:3He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 

  Hebrews 10:12But when Christ1 had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 

  When we hear a person say that they have asked God to forgive them we must let them know that God does not forgive on the grounds of our asking. He forgives not because of what we do or what we say or what we ask. He forgives because Jesus’ blood was spilled for our sin.

• Colossians 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

• It is only on these truths that we can move out of the bondage that sin holds us in. It’s is like a never-ending cycle. We sin, we ask, we sin, we ask, we sin, we ask, we sin, we ask, we sin, we ask. It does not have to continue. Instead of we sin, we ask we have Christ died, IT IS FINISHED! It is finished and so we are free. No longer should we worry about whether we have asked to be forgiven for every sin. It is finished. All of our sins are covered by the blood of Christ. He finished the job. He left nothing undone where we have to pick up his slack. Believe it.
  

  Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

  Hebrews 10:18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

>Divine Life

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Here is a wonderful reminder of what our union with Christ effects in our heart and mind.  As we find our rest in Christ I hope this excerpt blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10 ISV)

Remember – “In Him was life” (John 1:4). Is He different in nature from other men? Everyone can see that He is different from other men in His very nature, and the difference is made by this Life that is in Him. This Life brings with it a new and different consciousness. Look at the Lord Jesus! What was His real consciousness? This was a thing about which He was always speaking, and it was so very evident in His case. He said: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30); “I do always the things that are pleasing to Him” (the Father) (John 8:29); “The works that I do in My Father’s name” (John 10:25). Oh, this word ‘Father’ in John’s Gospel!

The consciousness of Jesus Christ every day was of His union with His Father, the oneness that existed between them: “As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee” (John 17:21). The consciousness of the Lord Jesus was of the very closest union with God as His Father, and that was because the very life of God was in Him. His life was a God-conscious life; but God-consciousness in the sense of perfect oneness. And that is what it means to have this Life. Man never had that. Jesus came to bring it in His own person: not to talk about union with God, but to live out a life of union with God and to bring His disciples into the same union. “I came that they might have life” – in other words: “I am come that they may have the same consciousness of God as Father that I have and that they may have the same Divine nature in them as I have.”

By T. Austin-Sparks from: Discipleship In The School Of Christ – Chapter 2 

>President Obama makes statement on Roe v. Wade 38th anniversary

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Thank you Justin Taylor

The President’s statement on the Roe v. Wade anniversary:

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.
I am committed to protecting this constitutional right. I also remain committed to policies, initiatives, and programs that help prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and mothers, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.
And on this anniversary, I hope that we will recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

Which reminds me of this response to the President a few years ago: