Piper on Sanctification

Blogger Tim Challies recently interviewed John Piper about sanctification.  I thought this Q&A was particularly good:

How can you know if you are making progress in your sanctification and how can you know how much progress you are making? Is sanctification something that can be measured?


Paul believed that sanctification has degrees. You can grow. He prays that “your love may abound more and more” (Phil. 1:9). He says the Thessalonians are pleasing God and tells them to “do so more and more” (1 Thess. 4:1). He tells the Corinthians that God will “increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10). And prays, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (1 Thess. 3:12).


But the New Testament does not quantify these degrees. “More and more” and “increasing” are discernible but not measurable. That is, while length is quantified in inches and feet. Holiness does not have similar measuring units.


So how do you know you are making progress? There is a paradox here. On the one hand, greater holiness is greater victory over sins. But on the other hand, greater holiness is greater sensitivity to and hatred for sin. So it does not follow that becoming more holy will mean becoming more happy with oneself. You may be a better person tomorrow and feel worse about the smaller corruption that remains.


But there are ways to discern growth. One is that those around you will see it and confirm it. Another is that you will see some of it. You will feel the weakening of some temptations as love for Christ pushes the desirability of sin far away. You will feel drawn to holy acts that once were burdens. And you will have holy sorrow when you omit them, not just guilt over a duty neglected. You will see the preferences in your life change. What was once supremely desirable is trumped by a superior desire for Christ and his word and his way. And you will confirm your heart change in action. Action that becomes less burdensome as love grows. “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).


We can and should make progress in sanctification. And we can and should be aware that it is happening. This will encourage us that God is at work in our lives. And it will humble us because progress will mean we can see more clearly how far we have to go and how small are our advances. And how much we will always need a great Savior.

For more from Piper on sanctification, go read the full interview, or check out Piper's free new ebook, Sanctification in the Everyday.

This Momentary Marriage - Week 2

Here are some notes from this week's study of chapters 2 and 3 of This Momentary Marriage:

• Chapter 2: Naked and Not Ashamed
  • Scripture – Genesis 2:25
  • Questions & notes/quotes
    • The natural man cannot understand the gospel (consider 1 Corinthians 2:14)
      • Dawkins: “I provided . . . cogent arguments against a supernatural intelligent designer. But it does seem to me to be a worthy idea. Refutable—but nevertheless grand and big enough to be worthy of respect. I don’t see the Olympian gods or Jesus coming down and dying on the Cross as worthy of that grandeur. They strike me as parochial.” (p. 29)
      • Piper: “Those who regard Christ and his incarnation and death and resurrection and lordship over all the universe as parochial cannot see the wonder of the gospel woven into marriage.” (p. 29)
      • Piper: “It is a miracle that any of us has seen this glory in the gospel. God alone can “give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).” (p. 30)
    • Review: marriage is fundamentally the doing of God, and ultimately the display of God.
    • Review: Piper: “o I argue that staying married is not mainly about staying in love. It’s about covenant-keeping. If a spouse falls in love with another person, one profoundly legitimate response from the grieved spouse and from the church is, “So what! Your being ‘in love’ with someone else is not decisive. Keeping your covenant is decisive.”” (p. 31)
    • What is the point of Genesis 2:25?
    • Why were Adam & Eve not ashamed? Because they had perfect bodies (pre-fall)?
      • 3 reasons why having perfect bodies is not why Adam & Eve were naked and unashamed:
        • 1) No matter how beautiful or handsome your spouse is, you can make comments that shame them; the one who is looking at you must be morally upright and gracious to avoid shaming you
        • 2) The way Jesus uses Genesis 2:24 in speaking to the permanence of marriage implies that verse 25 also maintains its relevance after the Fall of manking into sin, when none of us have perfect bodies
        • 3) Verse 24 is the foundation of verse 25 – the creation of a lasting, covenant, “one flesh” relationship
    • So why were Adam & Eve naked and unashamed?
      • Because of the fullness of covenant love - “even though I am imperfect, I have no fear of being disapproved by my spouse.” (p. 33)
      • Piper: “The first way to be shame-free is to be perfect; the second way to be shame-free is based on the gracious nature of covenant love. In the first case, there is no shame because we’re flawless. In the second case, there is no shame because covenant love covers a multitude of flaws (1 Peter 4:8; 1 Cor. 13:6).” (p. 33)
      • Even before the Fall, marriage was designed to display the covenant between Christ and His church, because Christ's death & resurrection were part of God's plan before the foundation of the world, before the creation of marriage
    • Do doctrines like “justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone” have any application in marriage?
      • Piper: “Justification creates peace with God vertically, in spite of our sin. And when experienced horizontally, it creates shame-free peace between an imperfect man and an imperfect woman.” (p. 34) – more on this in chapter 3
    • So what happened when Adam & Eve sinned? Why did Adam & Eve suddenly become ashamed?
      • Piper: “The foundation of covenant-keeping love between a man and a woman is the unbroken covenant between them and God—God governing them for their good and they enjoying him in that security and relying on him. When they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that covenant was broken, and the foundation of their own covenant-keeping collapsed.” (p. 35)
      • 2 ways they experienced this broken covenant:
        • 1) “the person viewing my nakedness is no longer trustworthy, so I am afraid I will be shamed.” (p. 35)
          • Eve has declared her independence – she's no longer a servant of God, but wants to be God; so Adam has no reason to trust that she will love him with a pure covenant-keeping love
        • 2) “I myself am no longer at peace with God, and I feel guilty and defiled and unworthy—I deserve to be shamed.” (p. 35)
          • Adam is also selfish & rebellious and unsafe; he feels guilty and defiled and unworthy – because he is; and so he's vulnerable to shame
        • We're vulnerable to shame because of the sinful actions of our spouses, and we are rightly shamed because of our own sinful actions
    • Why did God clothe Adam & Eve?
    • What significance does our clothing have? Is there any spiritual significance to our wardrobe?
      • In clothing Adam & Eve, God is “doing something with a negative message and something with a positive message.” (p. 37)
      • Negative message – you ought to feel shame, you are not what you ought to be, clothing is an admission/confession of that
        • “Clothes are not meant to make people think about what is under the clothes. Clothes are meant to direct attention to what is not under them: merciful hands that serve others in the name of Christ, beautiful feet that carry the gospel where it is needed, and the brightness of a face that has beheld the glory of Jesus.” (p. 37)
      • Positive message – a testimony that God would one day make us what we should be
        • “God rejected their own self-clothing. Then he clothed them himself. He showed mercy with superior clothing.” (p. 37-38)
        • Genesis 3:15 – first sign of a Savior to come; God ultimately deals with our sin & shame through the blood of Christ; here he points to it with the blood of the animals slain for their skin; He will clothe us in righteousness and radiance of His glory
    • “The design of marriage, the fall of marriage, and the implied redemption of marriage all serve to tell us what marriage is for.” (p. 38)

• Chapter 3: God’s Showcase of Covenant-Keeping Grace
  • Scripture – Colossians 2:13-15; 3:12-19
  • Questions & notes/quotes
    • Review: Marriage is the doing of God – Mark 10:6-9 - “what God has joined together”
    • Review: Marriage is the display of God – Ephesians 5:31-32 - “the covenant involved in leaving mother and father and holding fast to a spouse and becoming one flesh is a portrayal of the covenant between Christ and his church.” (p. 42)
    • What is the most important thing you could say about marriage?
      • Noel: “You cannot say too often that marriage is a model of Christ and the church.” (p. 42)
        • 3 reasons (at least) that she is right:
          • 1) “This lifts marriage out of the sordid sitcom images and gives it the magnificent meaning God meant it to have” (p. 42)
          • 2) “this gives marriage a solid basis in grace, since Christ obtained and sustains his bride by grace alone” (p. 42)
          • 3) “this shows that the husband’s headship and the wife’s submission are crucial and crucified. That is, they are woven into the very meaning of marriage as a display of Christ and the church, but they are both defined by Christ’s self-denying work on the cross so that their pride and slavishness are canceled.” (p. 42-43)
          • first reason was covered in chapters 1 & 2
          • chapter 3 begins to look at the second reason
    • “the main point in this chapter is that since Christ’s new covenant with his church is created by and sustained by blood- bought grace, therefore, human marriages are meant to showcase that new-covenant grace.” (p. 43, emphasis added)
      • “And the way husbands and wives showcase it is by resting in the experience of God’s grace and bending it out from a vertical experience with God into a horizontal experience with their spouse. In other words, in marriage you live hour by hour in glad dependence on God’s forgiveness and justification and promised future grace, and you bend it out toward your spouse hour by hour—as an extension of God’s forgiveness and justification and promised help.” (p. 43)
      • All of life, not just marriage is to display God's glory; we should live this way in all of our relationships
      • But marriage is a unique display because it is a covenantal relationship
    • Tie to chapter 2: “The key to being naked and not ashamed (Gen. 2:25)—when, in fact, a husband and a wife do many things that they should be ashamed of—is the experience of God’s vertical forgiving, justifying grace bent out horizontally to each other and displayed to the world.” (p. 44)
    • What does the wrath of God have to do with our relationships/marriages?
      • We should never think that our wrath/anger (or our spouse's) is too big to overcome, because of the Gospel – the righteous & just wrath of the infinite, eternal, holy God against the sins of His created people was overcome through Christ's death on the cross. If Christ died for my sins, for my spouse's sins, how can I either hold on to my own anger, or fail to forgive my spouse's sins?
      • Colossians 2:13-14 – God canceled the record of debt against us, nailing it to the cross
      • “When did that happen? Two thousand years ago. It did not happen inside of us, and it did not happen with any help from us. God did it for us and outside of us before we were ever born. This is the great objectivity of our salvation.” (p. 45)
      • “Be sure you see this most wonderful and astonishing of all truths: God took the record of all your sins that made you a debtor to wrath (sins are offenses against God that bring down his wrath), and instead of holding them up in front of your face and using them as the war- rant to send you to hell, God put them in the palm of his Son’s hand and drove a spike through them into the cross. It is a bold and graphic statement: He canceled the record of our debt . . . nailing it to the cross (Col. 2:14).” (p. 45, emphasis added)
      • My sin and my wife's sin and the sin of all who would trust in Christ were nailed to the cross – in His hands. He substituted Himself, absorbing the wrath we deserved for our sin. Piper: “God condemned my sin in Christ’s flesh.” (p. 45)
    • Besides forgiveness, what else does justification mean for us?
      • “Not only are we forgiven because of Christ, but God also declares us righteous because of Christ.” (p. 46)
      • “Christ bears our punishment, and Christ performs our righteousness. And when we receive Christ (John 1:12), all of his punishment and all of his righteousness is counted as ours (Rom. 4:4–6; 5:1, 19; 8:1; 10:4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:8–9).” (p. 46)
      • Tullian Tchividjian: “God demands perfect righteousness; God delivers perfect righteousness.”
      • This is sometimes spoken of by theologians as the law/gospel distinction
      • Rod Rosenblat: “The law is what God demands, and the gospel is what God gives. And what he gives in the gospel is what he demands in the law.”
    • In order to be a display of the covenant keeping nature of Christ's gospel, our marriages must take our justification from God (vertically) and bend it out to our spouses (horizontally) – see Colossians 3:12-13 (also Ephesians 4:32)
    • ““As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” your spouse. As the Lord “bears with” you, so you should bear with your spouse. The Lord “bears with” us every day as we fall short of his will. Indeed, the distance between what Christ expects of us and what we achieve is infinitely greater than the distance between what we expect of our spouse and what he or she achieves. Christ always forgives more and endures more than we do. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Bear with as he bears with you. This holds true whether you are married to a believer or an unbeliever. Let the measure of God’s grace to you in the cross of Christ be the measure of your grace to your spouse.” (p. 46)
    • “if you are married to a believer, you can add this: As the Lord counts you righteous in Christ, though you are not righteous in actual behavior and attitude, so count your spouse righteous in Christ, though he or she is not righteous.” (p. 47)
    • This truth does not reduce the need for the Holy Spirit, for prayer, for meditating on the Bible, for wisdom, for compassion, for community, for counseling, but this truth serves as a foundation for struggles in our marriage
    • Three reasons to emphasize “living vertically from the grace of God and then bending out horizontally in forgiveness and justification toward your spouse are” (p. 48):
      • 1) “because there is going to be conflict based on sin and strangeness (and you won’t be able even to agree with each other about what is simply strange about each other and what is sin)” (p. 48)
      • 2) “because the hard, rugged work of enduring and forgiving is what makes it possible for affections to flourish when they seem to have died” (p. 48)
      • 3) “because God gets glory when two very different and very imperfect people forge a life of faithfulness in the furnace of affliction by relying on Christ.” (p. 48)

This Momentary Marriage - Week 1

This morning we kicked off our study of John Piper's This Momentary Marriage.  I was as excited about this study leaving class this morning as I was before class started.  I enjoyed the discussion we had and look forward to continuing the series.  Thanks to all who participated this morning, and also thanks in advance to all those who will continue to participate in the weeks to come.

I've been putting some notes together as I've been going through the book again, and thought I'd share some of them as we go.  Some of them may reflect class discussion, some may be things that weren't brought up at all.  I hope that there may be some benefit for you in these (very raw) notes.

• Foreward: Pendulums and Pictures (Noel Piper)
  • Scripture – Ephesians 5:31-32
  • Questions & points/quotes
    • How are you & your spouse alike? How are you different?
      • Ruth Bell Graham – if two people always agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary
    • Do you find yourself disappointed or unhappy in your marriage?
      • Pipers – more than 43 years of marriage, they've seen plenty of ups & downs – “the first twenty five are the hardest”
      • sin sends our marriages into low points, but God's grace keeps them together and brings them to high points
      • Noel: “Marriage refers to Christ and the church—every marriage, no matter how pendulum-like because of our sin; every marriage, even if the couple doesn’t care a bit about Jesus.”
    • marriage is a picture of Christ and the church
    • anybody ever been to the Grand Canyon? Had you seen pictures before going? Did the pictures do it justice?

• Introduction: Marriage and Martyrdom
  • Scripture – Mark 12:25
  • Questions & points/quotes
    • Do you and your spouse have any goals for your marriage?
      • Piper: “The aim of this book is to enlarge your vision of what marriage is. As Bonhoeffer says, it is more than your love for each other. Vastly more. Its meaning is infinitely great. I say that with care. The meaning of marriage is the display of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people.” (p. 15)
      • Piper: “This covenant-keeping love reached its climax in the death of Christ for his church, his bride. That death was the ultimate expression of grace, which is the ultimate expression of God’s glory, which is of infinite value. Therefore, when Paul says that our great and final destiny is “the praise of [God’s] glorious grace” (Eph. 1:6), he elevates marriage beyond measure, for here, uniquely, God displays the apex of the glory of his grace: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).” (p. 15-16)
    • Piper: “Romance, sex, and childbearing are temporary gifts of God. They are not part of the next life. And they are not guaranteed even for this life. They are one possible path along the narrow way to Paradise. Marriage passes through breathtaking heights and through swamps with choking vapors. It makes many things sweeter, and with it come bitter providences.” (p. 16-17)

• Chapter 1: Staying Married Is Not Mainly about Staying in Love
  • Scripture: Genesis 2:18-25; Mark 10:8-9, 12:25; Matthew 19:4-5, 10-12; Ephesians 5:31-32
  • Questions & points/quotes
    • What sustains your marriage?
      • Bonhoeffer: “It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.” (quoted on p. 18)
    • What are some different things that our culture (movies, tv shows, music, friends, family, co-workers, etc.) says about marriage?
      • cultural view of marriage: “the main idol is self; and its main doctrine is autonomy; and its central act of worship is being entertained; and its three main shrines are the television, the Internet, and the cinema; and its most sacred genuflection is the uninhibited act of sexual intercourse” (p. 20)
    • How does the Bible either contrast and correct the culture's vision, or inform and support it?
    • What is marriage? Who can be married?
    • How long does marriage last? Can marriage be eternal?
      • Piper: “There is no human marriage after death. The shadow of covenant-keeping between husband and wife gives way to the reality of covenant-keeping between Christ and his glorified Church. Nothing is lost. The music of every pleasure is transposed into an infinitely higher key.” (p. 14-15, from Introduction)
    • What is the purpose of marriage?
      • our sin blinds us from seeing the wonder of God's purpose for marriage
      • we cannot expect a fallen, sinful culture to embrace the biblical view of marriage
      • we must pray for God to work in them, for the Holy Spirit to regenerate their hearts and open their eyes to the glory of God in the face of Christ, to the good news of Christ's perfect life, substitutionary death for our sins, and His resurrection for our justification
      • only then are people able to seek God and listen to Him teach us about all of life, including marriage; and we continue to need His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit
      • 1. Most foundational thing to see about marriage from the Bible: Marriage is God's Doing
        • a) Marriage was God's design
          • it was not good for man to be alone
          • God made a helper fit/suitable for him – a wife
          • the animals do not qualify
        • b) God gave away the first bride
          • God brought her to the man
        • c) God spoke the design of marriage into existence
          • a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh
        • d) God performs the one-flesh union
          • just as God made the woman from the flesh of the man, so he ordains and performs this uniting called “one flesh”
          • God takes a rib from the man and creates the woman, whose natural place is back by the side of the man from whom she was made – they become “one flesh”
          • Piper: “When a couple speaks their vows, it is not a man or a woman or a pastor or parent who is the main actor—the main doer. God is. God joins a husband and a wife into a one-flesh union. God does that. The world does not know this. Which is one of the reasons why marriage is treated so casually. And Christians often act like they don’t know it, which is one of the reasons marriage in the church is not seen as the wonder it is. Marriage is God’s doing because it is a one-flesh union that God himself performs.” (p. 23)
      • 2. Ultimate thing to see about marriage in the Bible: Marriage is for God's Glory
        • marriage displays God's glory like no other event or institution
        • questions from Piper: “What kind of relationship is this? How are these two people held together? Can they walk away from this relationship? Can they go from spouse to spouse? Is this relationship rooted in romance? Sexual desire? Need for companionship? Cultural convenience? What is this? What holds it together?” (p. 24)
        • mystery of marriage – it is patterned after Christ's covenant commitment to His church.
        • Piper: “Christ obtained the church by his blood and formed a new covenant with her, an unbreakable “marriage.”” (p. 25)
      • Piper: “Marriage is patterned after Christ’s covenant relationship to his redeemed people, the church. And therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display. That is why marriage exists. If you are married, that is why you are married. If you hope to be, that should be your dream.” (p. 25, emphasis added)
      • Christ will never leave His wife
      • Piper: “Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. “Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a sacred covenant promise—the same kind Jesus made with his bride when he died for her. Therefore, what makes divorce and remarriage so horrific in God’s eyes is not merely that it involves covenant-breaking to the spouse, but that it involves misrepresenting Christ and his covenant. Christ will never leave his wife. Ever. There may be times of painful distance and tragic backsliding on our part. But Christ keeps his covenant forever. Marriage is a display of that! That is the ultimate thing we can say about it. It puts the glory of Christ’s covenant-keeping love on display.
        
        “The most important implication of this conclusion is that keeping covenant with our spouse is as important as telling the truth about God’s covenant with us in Jesus Christ. Marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love. It’s mainly about telling the truth with our lives. It’s about portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way he relates to his people. It is about showing in real life the glory of the gospel.
        
        “Jesus died for sinners. He forged a covenant in the white-hot heat of his suffering in our place. He made an imperfect bride his own with the price of his blood and covered her with the garments of his own righteousness. He said, “I am with you . . . to the end of the age. . . . I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5). Marriage is meant by God to put that gospel reality on display in the world. That is why we are married. That is why all married people are married, even when they don’t know and embrace this gospel.” (last 3 paragraphs of chapter 1, p. 25-26)

Follow up to Mary and Martha lesson

For those who were in Life Group on Sunday morning, I wanted to connect the dots on something from the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42).

In discussion, Josh brought up the woman who washed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume, and dried them with her hair. As a matter of fact, that woman was the same Mary from Sunday's study! You can read about it in John 12:1-8.

Mary apparently understood the importance of timing, in terms of not missing opportunities to be with her Lord. She also was willing to be lavish in her devotion to Christ. Martha seems to have been a little more weighed down with worldly pressures and concerns, at least in the passage we studied from Luke.

I just wanted to point out another passage that mentions these sisters (they are also key figures in John 11:1-44), and to make the connection with Josh's comment. Just like Mary did, there are times for us to overflow with expressions of worship for our Savior, even if they go against others' expectations.

The Gospel in Two Minutes

I figured I'd take a break from D.A. Carson and show you the following video, a two minute explanation of the Gospel from Trip Lee:




For more from Trip Lee, check out another 2 minute video on how hip hop can speak to the believers' fight against sin: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/hip-hop-and-the-fight-against-sin

And if you're wondering what in the world I'm doing referencing a rapper, you may find this helpful (or at least entertaining, especially the graphic): http://www.challies.com/resources/the-middle-aged-white-guys-guide-to-christian-rap

Two Hebrews on the Night of the Passover

I can't pass up something this good from D.A. Carson. I found this 2 minute illustration to be quite helpful:



If you've got the time, there's more good stuff in the rest of the Q&A with Carson and Fred Zaspel. 

(HT: Justin Taylor)

The Message of the Bible

D.A. Carson writes the following:

God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers. Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath.  

But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects.  

In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them—an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.  

The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell. What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17). 

From For Such a Time as This: Perspectives on Evangelicalism, Past, Present and Future, ed. Steve Brady and Harold Rowdon (London, UK: Evangelical Alliance, 1986), 80.  Read the context of Carson's quote, in the midst of writing about "The Biblical Gospel" here.

(HT: Desiring God Blog)

The Good Samaritan

I wanted to share a few thoughts I had during and following Life Group yesterday.  I didn't say much during class because I couldn't sort out all my thoughts.  And writing helps me sort them out.  So I hope you find this helpful in some way, as it's been helpful to me.

One of the things I try to do with parables, indeed, one of the probing purposes of many of the parables, is to identify myself in them.  Who am I?  Often this is not an easy thing to do because of the nature of the parables - sometimes they seem clear, while other times they seem really confusing.  And often times those that initially seem clear turn out to be much more confusing than they appear on the surface.

The parable of the Prodigal Son was one of those for me.  For years I didn't think it really meant much to me, because I've always been a moral person - never drank or did drugs, never got in trouble in school or with the law, generally respected authority.  But (as I've previously written here) when I read Tim Keller's book The Prodigal God, I came to realize that I was in that story.  I was the elder brother who refused to go after the sinner, to turn him back to repentance.  Not only that, but I was sure that those sinful types didn't deserve to hear or embrace the Gospel.  All of it just showed how I didn't get the Gospel (or the depth of my need for it) as well as I thought I did.

The Good Samaritan (found in Luke 10:25-37) is another one of those parables for me.  Seems like a nice enough story - kind of like one of Aesop's Fables, a short little story to remind us that we should be nice to everybody.  But in thinking more about it during class yesterday and since then, I came to see that if that was Jesus's main point, he could have told the story much more simply.  He could have told the story of the priest and the Levite finding a beaten up Samaritan on the side of the road and helping him out.  That would have been a pretty strong story - be like the priest and Levite, who helped someone who Jews regularly do not associate with.

But that's not how it goes.  Instead of being heroes of the story, the priest and Levite are villains.  Instead of being the helpless victim, the half-breed Samaritan is the hero.  This is way more shocking to the lawyer and the Jews who were listening in.  Who will the lawyer identify himself with?  He knows the Samaritan is the hero of the story, but can't even bring himself to utter the word "Samaritan".  So he's clearly not identifying with him.

And that brings me back by initial question - who am I?  With whom do I identify with?  Certainly not the Samaritan.  Along with everybody else in my group on Sunday, I'm convicted by the actions of the Samaritan.  So that leaves me thinking that I'm more like the priest and the Levite.  And that's generally how I've thought about this parable in the past.  Don't be like the priest and the Levite, be like the Samaritan.  Maybe I should get a "WWtSD?" bracelet.

But again, I think this story is deeper than just an exhortation to help others.  It is clearly that, but I think it's more than that.  Jesus is telling us that the Law is summed up in love for God and love for others.  He is telling us that those who love and follow and worship God in Spirit and truth are those who also love others and put others ahead of themselves.

But there just seems to be more to the story.  And then this morning, it hit me.  Yes, I'm like the priest and the Levite in that I fail to help those I should.  But even more than that, I'm like the man who was robbed and beaten up and left for dead.  And it's the very Law that Jesus confirms that leaves me in this condition.  On my own, I'm beaten up by the Law.  I'm beaten up by my failure to love my neighbor as myself.  I'm robbed of any good that I thought I possessed.  I am left for dead in my sin.  I'm helpless and in desperate need.

Thankfully, that's not the end of the story.  Because there is good news.  There is another question I try to answer in parables like this.  Who is Jesus?  Does He correspond to one of His own characters?  In the Prodigal Son, he's noticeably missing.  He's the true elder brother who left home to come and redeem both the younger brother, rebellious, sinful types, and the elder brother, legalistic, self-righteous types.

So in the parable of the Good Samaritan, who is Jesus?  When you stop and think about it, there's really only one answer - Jesus identifies Himself with the half-breed Samaritan.

While I'm left for dead in my sin, I have not been left helpless and poor.  And not merely because of a Good Samaritan.  But because of the King of Kings who left His throne to humble Himself to come save helpless, poor, selfish, sinners like me.  "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Jesus identifies with the Samaritan - the outcast in the eyes of the Jews.  Jesus would be rejected by the chief priests and elders.  Jesus would be handed over to the Romans and crucified as the enemy of Israel.  Jesus loved His enemies.  He not only loved His enemies, He bore their sins, something the Good Samaritan could not do for the man in the parable.  (see Romans 51-10)

We are the ones who have been saved by the One who was despised and rejected.  We are the ones who have been saved by the One who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.  We are the ones who have been saved by the One who pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our sins.  (see Isaiah 53)

Jesus not only healed us and took care of us, He took on our sin & suffering, so that we may be clothed in His righteousness.  "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

So when I think I'm under the Law, I know that I cannot live up to it.  In and of myself, I am not able to love my neighbor as myself - even if I like them.  I'm not even able to love my wife and kids as myself.  The Law in my flesh drives me to exclaim with Paul in Romans 7: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Because of Christ, I am no longer the man lying along side the road.  Because of Christ, I am free to be the priest or the Levite or the Samaritan.  Because Christ died for His enemies, I can "go and do likewise" - love my enemies like the Samaritan.  Because Christ forgives my sin, I am freed from guilt and condemnation when I fail to love like the priest or Levite.  Because Christ has freed me from selfishness and sin, I can affirm with Paul that "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24)

May we all bask in this glorious good news of the gospel.  May we run to Christ each and every day.  May we know the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in us to love our enemies, to humble ourselves and count others as more significant than ourselves.  And may we know the forgiveness of the cross when we fail to do so.

Overcoming Temptation

I thought this video with D.A. Carson was really good, full of gospel-saturated practical help for fighting temptation.

What is Marriage Mainly About?

If you haven't seen the video below yet, take nine minutes and watch it. Trust me.

After watching the video the other day, I found my way to this blog post written by Larissa.

I also started reading John Piper's book This Momentary Marriage, and wanted to share a couple of extended quotes from the first chapter:

There never has been a generation whose general view of marriage is high enough. The chasm between the biblical vision of marriage and the common human vision is now, and has always been, gargantuan. Some cultures in history respect the importance and the permanence of marriage more than others. Some, like our own, have such low, casual, take-it-or-leave-it attitudes toward marriage as to make the biblical vision seem ludicrous to most people.

That was the case in Jesus’ day as well. But ours is worse. When Jesus gave a glimpse of the magnificent view of marriage that God willed for his people, the disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Matt. 19:10). In other words, Christ’s vision of the meaning of marriage was so enormously different from the disciples’, they could not even imagine it to be a good thing. That such a vision could be good news was simply outside their categories.

If that was the case then—in the sober, Jewish world in which they lived—how much more will the magnificence of marriage in the mind of God seem unintelligible in a modern Western culture, where the main idol is self; and its main doctrine is autonomy; and its central act of worship is being entertained; and its three main shrines are the television, the Internet, and the cinema; and its most sacred genuflec- tion is the uninhibited act of sexual intercourse. Such a culture will find the glory of marriage in the mind of Jesus virtually incomprehensible. Jesus would probably say to us today, when he had finished opening the mystery for us, the same thing he said in his own day: “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. . . . Let the one who is able to receive this receive it” (Matt. 19:11–12). (pp. 19-20)

The ultimate thing we can say about marriage is that it exists for God’s glory. That is, it exists to display God. Now we see how: Marriage is patterned after Christ’s covenant relationship to his redeemed people, the church. And therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display. That is why marriage exists. If you are married, that is why you are married. If you hope to be, that should be your dream.

Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. “Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a sacred covenant promise—the same kind Jesus made with his bride when he died for her. Therefore, what makes divorce and remarriage so horrific in God’s eyes is not merely that it involves covenant-breaking to the spouse, but that it involves misrepresenting Christ and his covenant. Christ will never leave his wife. Ever. There may be times of painful distance and tragic backsliding on our part. But Christ keeps his covenant forever. Marriage is a display of that! That is the ultimate thing we can say about it. It puts the glory of Christ’s covenant-keeping love on display. (p. 25)

To download a free PDF of the book, go here. Or you can buy the book from Amazon or Westminster Bookstore.

Free Indeed

I've read and heard a handful of thoughts and stories about Chuck Colson since his death on Saturday.  But none of them has stuck with me like the story I first read more than 10 years ago.  I suppose part of the reason is because I love music, and I love hearing good stories behind the writing of good songs.  Here is the story that I read, written by Steven Curtis Chapman in Speechless: Living in Awe of God's Disruptive Grace. (pp. 111-115).  At the end of the story are the lyrics to and audio of Chapman's song Free.

I have had the privilege of meeting some extraordinary Christian leaders, but none has made a greater impression than Chuck Colson.  God brought us together, and it has been my honor to invest time and heart in the work of Prison Fellowship.  Chuck has enabled me to take my music into may prison facilities during the course of my concert tours--but that's the easiest thing he has done for me.

.....

It was a bright sunny day as I emptied my pockets before passing through the metal detectors.  No, I was not boarding a plane for yet another concert date.  I stood at the entrance to the Michigan City Correctional Institute, a maximum security prison in Northern Indiana.  I felt both excited and nervous as I anticipated visiting death row for the first time.  Every preconceived image of life within prison I had obtained from film, news clips, and a child's imagination ran through my mind.

"Steven!" I heard the ring of that familiar voice from across the room.

"Hi, Chuck, how are you?"  It still felt kind of strange calling this hero of the faith of mine by his first name, but it also felt reassuring to know I was with a friend.  He explained that prior to our worship service on the prison yard, we would be visiting inmates on death row, including one man who had become a Christian forty years earlier.  The ministry of Prison Fellowship had become a primary means of discipleship and nurture for him, even as Chuck had become one of his best friends.

I stayed close to my new buddy and mentor as he navigated our way through the series of iron-gated entries.  Each set of doors would electronically open and then close behind us before the next set would do the same.  What an eerie feeling.  Eventually we began our journey down the long hallway lined with cells inhabited by sons, fathers, and grandfathers who were paying the price for some terrible crime committed.

I watched my teacher intently as he offered grace to those we encountered.  Whether it was simply a smile, a word, a handshake through the bars and many times a prayer, Chuck was showing me what it means to treat all men with dignity and respect.  I'm not sure I have ever met anyone who can so freely love in the most difficult of situations a segment of society that appears to be so unlovable.

I tried to emulate him as I grew a little more confident.  I listened to the sad lament of a grandfather who showed me the pictures of his grandchildren whom he had wounded deeply with his tragic choices.  Together, Chuck and I prayed with one African-American brother who greeted us with a smile and a joy that could only be traced to the life-giving grace of God.  He, like many others, spoke with great remorse and sorrow for the lives of those affected most by the evil they had done, namely, the victims and their loved ones.  This brother went on to tell us how God had given him life and freedom even though he was deserving of death.  He told us how he had been and would continue to be praying for us as we carried the gospel to others inside the prison, as well as those outside the stone walls.  In some ways he seemed to be a whole lot more free in his prison cell than many of us who will never see the inside of such a person.

Our cell block walk culminated with a visit to Chuck's friend Bob (not his real name) inside a heavily secured room.  I would describe it as the equivalent of a large iron-caged room inside two other iron cages.  Bob was a large man, and when he shuffled into the room in shackles and handcuffs, I felt a surge of fear come over me.  However, as we all talked, I only saw the evidence of a man who had been changed from death to life.  I watched as Chuck and Bob embraced for the first time without handcuffs impeding their hug.  The three of us then wrapped arms around each other in a circle and thanked God for his love.  What else could level the ground in such a profound way that one of the great Christian leaders of our time, a death-row inmate, and a Christian songwriter could come together before the throne of the living God as brothers, one in Christ?

This first trip proved to be one of the most profound experiences of the awesome reality of God's grace I have ever encountered.  It also helped me further define the kind of men and women who I want to follow as they follow Christ.  The events of that day inspired me to write a song called "Free," which was included on my Signs of Life album.  Knowing Chuck and getting to visit many correctional institutions since that first visit only deepens my desire for God to free my heart to love all men as he loves me in his Son.

Free

The sun was beating down inside the walls of stone and razor wire
As we made our way across the prison yard
I felt my heart begin to race as we drew nearer to the place
Where they say that death is waiting in the dark
The slamming doors of iron echoed through the halls
Where despair holds life within its cruel claws
But then I met a man who's face seemed so strangely out of place
A blinding light of hope was shining in his eyes
And with repentance in his voice he told me of his tragic choice
That led him to this place where he must pay the price
But then his voice grew strong as he began to tell
About the One he said had rescued him from hell, he said...

I'm free, yeah, oh, I have been forgiven
God's love has taken off my chains and given me these wings
And I'm free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom I've been given
Is something that not even death can take away from me
Because I'm free
Jesus set me free

We said a prayed and said goodbye and tears began to fill my eyes
As I stepped back out into the blinding sun
And even as I drove away I found that I could not escape
The way he spoke of what the grace of God had done
I thought about how sin had sentenced us to die
And how God gave His only Son so you and I could say...

And if the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free indeed,
Oh, You are really free
If the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free, really, really free

Oh, we're free, yearh, oh, we have been forgiven
God's grace has broken every chain and given us these wings
And we're free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, yeah, the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Becayse we're free, oh, we're free
We are free, we are free
The Son has set us free

If the Son has set you free
You are free indeed

Jonah and Jesus

Tim Keller on Jonah and Jesus (comparing & contrasting Jonah 1 with Mark 4:35-41), from his book King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus:

We have a resource that can enable us to stay calm inside no matter how the storms rage outside.


Here’s a clue: Mark has deliberately laid out this account using language that is parallel, almost identical, to the language of the famous Old Testament account of Jonah.

Both Jesus and Jonah were in a boat, and both boats were overtaken by a storm—the descriptions of the storm are almost identical.

Both Jesus and Jonah were asleep.


In both stories the sailors woke up the sleeper and said, “We’re going to die.”


And in both cases there was a miraculous divine intervention and the sea was calmed.


Further, in both stories the sailors then become even more terrified than they were before the storm was calmed.

Two almost identical stories—with just one difference.


In the midst of the storm, Jonah said to the sailors, in effect: “There’s only only thing to do. If I perish, you survive. If I die, you will live” (Jonah 1:12). And they threw him into the sea.
Which doesn’t happen in Mark’s story.


Or does it?


I think Mark is showing that the stories aren’t actually different when you stand back a bit and look at it with the rest of the story of Jesus in view.


In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “One greater than Jonah is here,” and he’s referring to himself: I’m the true Jonah. He meant this:

Someday I’m going to calm all storms, still all waves.


I’m going to destroy destruction, break brokenness, kill death.

How can he do that?


He can only do it because when he was on the cross he was thrown—willingly, like Jonah—into the ultimate storm, under the ultimate waves, the waves of sin and death.


Jesus was thrown into the only storm that can actually sink us—the storm of eternal justice, of what we owe for our wrongdoing. That storm wasn’t calmed—not until it swept him away.


If the sight of Jesus bowing his head into that ultimate storm is burned into the core of your being, you will never say, “God, don’t you care?”


And if you know that he did not abandon you in that ultimate storm, what make you think he would abandon you in much smaller storms you’re experiencing right now?


And, someday, of course, he will return and still all storms for eternity.


If you let that penetrate to the very center of your being, you will know he loves you. You will know he cares. And then you will have the power to handle anything in life with poise:

When through the deep waters I call you to go,
The rivers of woe shall not overflow;
For I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
And sanctify to you your deepest distress.


The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

A Look Back & A Look Ahead

We talked about this a few times during our study of James: Justin Taylor shares some "Echoes of the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of James."  You may have noticed some of these between our lessons in James and Quintin's series through the Sermon on the Mount.  Here are a few examples (out of 18) that Taylor lists:

Rejoice and be glad in your trials. 

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12) 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:2) 

Be perfect and complete. 

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) 

“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:4) 

Ask your good and wise God who loves to give good things. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11) 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. . . . Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:5, 17)

Read the rest of the parallels here.

---

Looking ahead to our next study, this is something that I've been meaning to share since I found out that we would be studying Jonah.  A little over a year ago, Tullian Tchividjian was interviewed by Collin Hansen of the Gospel Coalition about his book, Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels.  Hansen asked Tchividjian the following questions:

• Why do you say Jonah is one of the best books for helping us get a better grip on the gospel?
• How does the book of Jonah reveal the contrast between God's heart and ours?
• How does Jesus' treatment of Jonah help us teach it today?
• How did you see your congregation respond when you preached the gospel from Jonah?
• What do you mean by saying Jonah is a storied presentation of the gospel?
• What books, articles, sermons, etc., helped you preach Christ and the gospel from Jonah?

Here are a couple of Tchividjian's answers:

Why do you say Jonah is one of the best books for helping us get a better grip on the gospel? 

Surprised by Grace started out as a series of sermons on Jonah that I preached during the hardest year of my life. Preparing those sermons and preaching them proved to be a functional lifeline for me, not because of things I learned about Jonah (everything we learn about Jonah we learn by way of negative example), but because of things I learned about God’s amazing, sustaining, pursuing grace. 

I learned that God’s capacity to clean things up is infinitely greater than our human capacity to mess things up. I learned about the “stubbornness” of God to accomplish his will, regardless of how hard we may try and thwart it. In fact, as I reflect on that painful season of my life now, I can honestly say that I am genuinely thankful for all the ache I experienced. For it was during this trying time that God helped me recognize, through the story of Jonah, the practical relevance of the gospel—that everything I need and long for, in Christ, I already possesses. 

What do you mean by saying Jonah is a storied presentation of the gospel? 

It is a story of sin and grace, of desperation and deliverance. It reveals the fact that while you and I are great sinners, God is a great Savior, and that while our sin reaches far, his grace reaches farther. This story shows that God is in the business of relentlessly pursuing rebels—a label that ultimately applies to us all—and that he comes after us not to angrily strip away our freedom but to affectionately strip away our slavery so we might become truly free.

Read the full thing here.  More importantly, read through all four chapters of Jonah sometime this week and come prepared to dive in this Sunday.

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite songs.  Below the video are the lyrics along with some Scripture references that may be of help to you as you worship the Savior this week.  He is Risen!

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Written by Stuart Townend

Performed by Joy Williams

How deep the Father's love for us,.................................................... 1 John 3:1
How vast beyond all measure..................................................... Ephesians 3:18-19
That He should give His only Son......................................................... John 3:16
To make a wretch His treasure.................................................. Romans 7:24-25

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away....... Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1
As wounds which mar the chosen One,.......................................... Isaiah 53:5
Bring many sons to glory ..................................................................... Hebrews 2:10

Behold the Man upon the cross,.......................................... John 19:17-19, 31-37
My sin upon His shoulders..................................................................... 1 Peter 2:24
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.................................................... Matthew 27:22-25

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life................ Mark 15:37-39; Luke 23:46
I know that it is finished......................................................................... John 19:30

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom......................... Jeremiah 9:23; 1 Corinthians 4:7
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,............................................... 1 Corinthians 1:31
His death and resurrection............................................................... Galatians 6:14

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom........................... Mark 10:45; Colossians 2:14

I'm a Wreck, Too

I'll readily admit that I'm abnormal.  In a lot of ways.  One of those is in my musical taste.  I consider myself to be rather eclectic, listening to a little of this to a little of that - from pop to rock to oldies, classical to rap, I'll even tolerate a little bit of country from time to time.  But for the past 22 years, I've given the same answer time & time again when asked who my favorite artist or group is.  Steven Curtis Chapman.  Ever since I got my tape of his For the Sake of the Call (go ahead, I'll wait while you go check out his mullet from back then; by the way, When You Are A Soldier continues to be one of my favorite all time songs).  I was reminded yesterday of one of the many reasons why I continue to love Steven Curtis Chapman.  Andrew Peterson recently wrote about his experience touring with Steven Curtis Chapman.  Here's a bit of what he wrote:

And yet, though everyone seems to know him, I’ve never heard a single negative story about the guy. I’ve been in Nashville for 15 years now, and, well, you tend to hear less-than-flattering stories about folks from time to time (I’m sure there are a few about me floating around out there), but I have yet to hear one of those about Steven. What that might lead a rascal like me to conclude is that either a) Steven is so squeaky-clean he must be hard to like or b) he’s a complete wreck and he’s hiding it. I didn’t realize until this tour was underway that there’s a third option. Here it is: Steven is a wreck, he’s not hiding it, and because of the mighty presence of Jesus in his life, grace abounds to those around him.


It’s the great, confounding reversal of the Gospel of Jesus. If the word we preach is one of attainable perfection, of law, of justification by works, then when we fail, our testimony fails with it. But if we preach our deep brokenness and Christ’s deeper healing, if we preach our inability to take a single breath but for God’s grace, then our weakness exalts him and we’re functioning as we were meant to since the foundation of the world. Steven isn’t super-human. He’s just human. But what a glorious thing to be! An attempt on our part to be super-human will result only in our in-humanness–like a teacup trying to be a fork: useless. But if the teacup will just be a teacup, it will be filled. Humans were made (as was everything under the sun) for the glory of the Maker. Why should we try to be anything but fully human? Let God fill us up and pour us out; let him do what he will, let us be what we were meant to be. That gives us the freedom to sing about what’s really happening in our hearts without being afraid of sullying the good name of God. If our hearts are contending with the forces of darkness, clinging desperately to the hope of a Savior, then to sing boldly about the battle is no shame to us and all glory to our King.

Amen.  That reminded me of the line I've seen - "I'm the wretch that song refers to."  We need to be reminded of this, of God's glorious grace to us in Christ Jesus.  We need to remember that our witness to the Gospel is not primarily that Jesus has made our lives better or easier, but that we are sinners who have been saved by the grace of God.  I want to be able to say, as John Newton (the author of Amazing Grace) did, "Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior."

James 4:11-17 Notes from Sunday

Here are my teaching notes, mixed in with the handout, from Sunday:

JAMES 4:11-17 ON SLANDER & RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
(James 4:11-17, ESV)

INTRODUCTION

After the harsh rebuke and call to repentance at the beginning of chapter 4, James now returns to addressing his readers as ‘brothers’ and pleads with them not to slander one another. In the second section, James brings God’s sovereignty into view as he encourages his readers to have a right perspective of themselves.

DISCUSSION

What thoughts and/or emotions come to the surface when you think about the future?

EXPLANATION

• In v.11 James exhorts his readers not to slander or speak evil against one another.
• What does it mean to slander someone? Review Numbers 21:4-7, Psalm 101:5, and 1 Peter 2:12 for some examples of what slander encompasses.
• Numbers 21:4-7 – the people have witnessed God's miraculous judgment on Egypt, deliverance through the Red Sea, being led by a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, finding God's daily provision of manna, getting water from the Rock – and they have the audacity to speak against Moses and God Himself
• I love the resolution here – read Numbers 21:8-9. How weird does that sound? What's that all about? In a word, Christ. Who knows John 3:16? Who knows John 3:14-15? “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (ESV)  The wilderness serpent pointed to the One who would become the curse bearer, the One who would become the curse so that we might be blessed.
• Psalm 101:5 – through David, we see that God's just wrath stands against the arrogant & slanderous
• 1 Peter 2:12 – we are not to be people who speak evil against others; but are to be people who do good and endure being spoken evil of by non-Christians
• Two reasons are given for this prohibition. When you slander:
• You stand in judgment of both your brother and the law.
• In chapter 2, James referred to the “royal law of Scripture” from Leviticus 19:18 – “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
• You assume a role that is God’s alone.
• Who am I to judge? Judgment belongs to God alone, and yet as James reminded us earlier in chapter 4, He is a grace-giver. How can I judge those to whom God has extended the grace of the gospel? Is my standard higher than God's?

As we come to the part of the passage that speaks about planning for the future and God's sovereignty, I wanted to share some quotes I recently heard in a sermon from Mark Dever.  I'd like to call them, "Great Moments in Predictions of Technology:"

• "Everything that can be invented, has been invented." - the commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office in 1899
• "I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers." - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM in 1943
• "Computers in the future may weigh no more than one and a half tons." - Popular Mechanics in 1949.
• "I have traveled the length & breadth of this country and talked with the best people and I can assure you that data processing is a fad. It won't last out the year." - editor in charge of business books at Prentice Hall in 1957
• "But what is it good for?" - engineer at the advanced computing systems division of IBM in 1968 commenting on the microchip.
• "There's no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olsen, president, chairman, and founder of Digital Equiment Corporation, in 1977
• "640 K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates in 1981

We don't have to look far to find examples of how bad we are at predicting and planning our futures.  Though we seem to rarely acknowledge it, there is so little in our lives that we actually control.

• The economically mobile merchants James addresses in v. 13 are probably Christians.
• James is writing to believers, and there is no reason to expect non-Christians to acknowledge God's sovereign will.
• Vv. 13-16 reveal that their problem is not in the plan to carry on business or make a profit; rather it is the arrogant self-dependence that is undergirding their plans.
• They have substituted a dependence on God’s sovereignty for a worldly self-confidence.
• One of the interesting & important things to note here is that James doesn't just encourage us to say, “If the Lord wills, we will do this or that” but even “If the Lord wills, we will live.” God is sovereign over every aspect of our lives, and He is sovereign over just how much “little time” our mist appears.

• James reminds us of the fleeting nature of life. How does viewing life as a ‘mist’ help inform your perspective on life, time, and eternity?
• If you've heard me teach before, you know that I love a good quote. Well, I've got a couple that apply here, and I thought I'd turn it into a little game of “Guess the wise man.”
• Quote 1: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” (Ferris Bueller)
• Quote 2: “I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” (King Solomon, from Ecclesiastes 2:11)
• Remember our study in Ecclesiastes? This word “mist” or “vapor” that James uses is related to the “vanity” that was repeated throughout Ecclesiastes. It sounds like Solomon found out what James tells us – that our life is a vapor.

• And then we come to verse 17.
• How does the reference to sins of omission connect to what James has been talking about in this section?
• Who thinks boasting is good? How about boasting in your arrogance? What about slanderous gossip? How about loving your neighbor as yourself?
• James has been pointing out many symptoms of indwelling sin in the lives of a Christians. The answer is not to clean up your own act, but to humble yourself before God. Repent and believe in the gospel. When Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses that sparked the Reformation, the first was that Christ “called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” As we return to the cross time & time again – God's grace continues to work in us. As believers, as dearly loved children of God, we are not to judge our neighbors, but to love our neighbors. We are not to depend on our own strength and planning, but commit ourselves to the strength of God that is perfected in our weakness and dependence on him.

Battling Worldliness

This morning in Life Group we studied James chapter 4 and the topic of worldliness and friendship with the world was discussed. James 4:4 says that "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God".

Our discussion made me think of this quote by J.C. Ryle...

Look at the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross, and then go and set your affections on the world if you can. I believe that holiness is nowhere learned so well as on Calvary. I believe you cannot look much at the cross without feeling your will sanctified, and your tastes made more spiritual. As the sun gazed upon makes everything else look dark and dim, so does the cross darken the false splendor of this world. As the taste of honey makes all other things seem to have no taste at all, so does the cross seen by faith take all the sweetness out of the pleasures of the world. Keep on, everyday, looking firmly at the cross of Christ