Lenten Devotional – Day 24

Q. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification are: assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

“For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 14:17)

“There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for the long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.” -Eugene Peterson

  A parishioner complained about the pastor's constant harping on the theme of drawing nigh unto God. She confessed that I don't want to get close to God. I just want to get over in a corner and sneak into heaven quietly. I don't want to be a saint. I just don't want to go to hell.

  I cannot believe what I'm hearing! I exclaimed.

  I can explain it easily, she said calmly. When I started the ninth grade I set my heart on finishing high school with straight C's. And I did. You see, if you fail you have to repeat, and I wanted out. But if you start making A's people begin to expect things of you.

  It's exactly like that with God, she continued. If you're too bad you'll go to hell, and I don't want that. But if you're too good, he'll send you to India, and I don't want that either.

  Rutland provides a marvelous commentary of how his parishioner is not an isolated story, but part of a pattern of belief that reaches out to choke the lives of millions of sincere, but sincerely confused Christians. Quite apart from the obvious theology of works, her theory of C-class Christianity betrayed a pathetically distorted understanding of the character and nature of God. Her confusion, far more serious than the merely epidural misjudgment of 'how God acts,' sprang from her twisted concept of 'who God is.' - Mark Rutland's The Finger of God: Reuniting Power and Holiness in the Church (Wilmore, KY: Bristol Books, 1988), 16-17.

  Good works and obedience to God’s law are part of our response to justification, adoption and sanctification. They emerge as a response of gratitude to the salvation and redemption we experience in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

  We live in a society which wants and some ways demands instant results. We don’t want to wait, we dislike things which require patience, we want it all now, but it can’t be ours in an instant. Discipleship requires following Jesus for as long as it takes and gaining the benefits of justification, adoption and sanctification can take a long time. However long it takes, it is worth it and the benefits revealed to us will be “assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.” Disciples of Christ who achieve these benefits discover a rejoicing which fills the soul and brings the full expression of joy in their lives. The goal is not to get into heaven, the goal is to do the will of God by taking into our lives the full benefits of God’s saving act in Jesus Christ.

Lenten Devotional – Day 22

Q. 33. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, where he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:1-2)

“It was not the justification of sin, but the justification of the sinner that drove Luther from the cloister back into the world. The grace he had received was costly grace. It was grace, for it was like water on parched ground, comfort in tribulation, freedom from the bondage of a self-chosen way and forgiveness of all his sins. And it was costly, for, so far from dispensing him from good works, it meant that he must take the call to the discipleship more seriously than ever before. It was grace because it cost so much, and it cost so much because it was grace. That was the secret of the gospel of the Reformation — the justification of the sinner.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship

  The life of discipleship involves the application of a threefold understanding of our spiritual formation through justification, adoption and sanctification. These three are the focus of the next four questions of the Shorter Catechism. They all belong together, if we embrace one to the exclusion of the other two, we cut ourselves off from the full understanding of our faith and impend our spiritual formation.

  Roy Gustafson tells the story of a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the Continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, “I’m having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?”

  Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday.

  The poor bloke wondered: “How much is this going to cost me?” So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: “Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce.” That’s justification.

  Reformed theology insists that when justification and sanctification are not kept properly distinct, God’s once-for-all gifts of faith (i.e., salvation) and our continual struggle for holiness become confused. To begin with, the classical Protestant affirmation of the nature of justification is necessary to affirm, namely that in Jesus Christ God has once and for all forgiven us. This is our justification through the faith that is God’s gift. However, we need to make a second point, to affirm that in Jesus Christ we must continually strive to live the holy life that we undertake with the advocacy and power of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis in justification is on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. The emphasis in sanctification is on what we must do for God with the aid of God’s Holy Spirit, although here too we emphasize that this striving also is in and through Jesus Christ. - Andrew Purves & Charles Partee, Encountering God: Christian Faith in Turbulent Times, p. 88-89.

Lenten Devotional – Day Twelve

Q. 14. What is sin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:21-24, NRSV)

Sin is a breach of nature, a death of the soul, a disquiet of the heart, a weakening of power, a blindness of the sense, a sorrow of the spirit, a death of grace, a death of virtue, a death of good works, an aberration of the spirit, a fellowship with the devil, an expulsion of Christianity, a dungeon of hell, a banquet of hell, an eternity of hell. - Meister Eckhart 

  We are too Christian really to enjoy sinning, and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it. - Peter Marshall

  What is wrong with the human race? Scripture tells us our basic problem is sin. The human condition is characterized by attitudes, actions, emotions, and human character which distort the image of God in which we are created. Therefore, as humans, we fail to live in the ways God desires, we treat God and others in ways that are not loving and just, and we hold attitudes in which our own self-interests are primary. We have lost, distorted, perverted, or broken the “image of God.” We do not now reflect God in our lives. We no reflect the image of God to others through our lives. We have taken hold of our own agendas and we live with our primary intention being to go our own ways instead of seeking God’s ways for our lives.

  In the New Testament, the writings of Paul conveys the picture of humans as sinners. For Paul, the power of sin is very real. It affects every person “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). It relates to the origins of the human race, “sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin” (Rom. 5:12), brings alienation and estrangement from God (Eph. 4:18), and leads ultimately to death, “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The power of sin is so strong that it is ultimately only God’s actions in Jesus Christ that can overcome it and break its effects, “Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” (Rom. 5:18).

  The bad news about sin is that “all have sinned” and all are guilty (Rom. 3:23, 5:12). The worse news is that it leads to death (Rom. 6:23). Yet this is not the final biblical word. There is hope. For “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) and “in hope we were saved.” (Rom. 8:24)

Lenten Devotional – Day Six

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

  “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,” (Eph. 1:11, NRSV)

“We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.” - Henri J. M. Nouwen

  You belong to God, and he takes it seriously. He gave his Son so you could be his. Don't make the mistake of thinking that God's commitment to you is only as strong as your commitment to him! You may fail from time to time, you may have a hard time keeping your promises, some days your heart may be cold and your faith may be weak. The good news is that God doesn't change his mind about us as often as we change our minds about him. As far as he is concerned, you belong to him, and nothing will change that.

  Paul in his writings to the early church piles up words to address God’s eternal purpose addressed in our question today: “predestined,” “purpose,” “counsel,” and “will.” Paul believed and emphasized God’s plan for His creation and that God is capable of fulfilling His plan. One such statement Paul made in Ephesians, “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (1:5) Paul means that God chose us to obtain an inheritance in Christ. But, Paul’s point is that everything we have in Christ is due to God’s eternal purpose to save us.

  Paul says that the reason we have been chosen to receive an inheritance in Christ is that God predestined us according to His purpose; and, He is the God who accomplishes all things after the counsel of His will. In eternity, before He created the world of space and time, God freely determined His purpose and plan, which is all for His glory. As stated in the first answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism our chief end is “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” and how to accomplish this purpose is further defined in each subsequent question and answer.

Lenten Devotional – Day Five

Q. 6. How many Persons are there in the Godhead?

A. There are three Persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19, NRSV)

Mystery and meaning are not opposites. Rather, a mystery is something that has more meaning than we can comprehend. - Kirk Kilpatrick, as quoted by Dennis Covington, “What Do Coincidences Really Mean?" Redbook, August 1995, 44.

  At the very heart of Christian spirituality there is a notion called "the Trinity." It's so central that one of the great theologians of the 20th century, Karl Barth, said, "Trinity is the Christian name for God."

  “What too many Christians do not understand is that before the Trinity was ever a doctrine or a theology about God, it was an experience of God rooted in a relationship with God. The problem today is that because we have lost our Trinitarian grounding, we don’t know what to do with Trinitarian experiences. In fact, we can be afraid of the full range of Trinitarian spiritual experiences, and so we end up in a limited relationship with God. What is a Trinitarian spiritual experience? It is an experience of God that is open to God as God fully is, not necessarily as we want God to be.” - N. Graham Standish, “Discovering the Narrow Path: A Guide to Spiritual Balance”, p. 70.

  “… exploration of the Trinity is a spiritual, relational, and experiential exploration, and not a purely theological one.” - N. Graham Standish, “Discovering the Narrow Path: A Guide to Spiritual Balance”, p. 70.

  In Romans 8, Paul doesn’t try to line out a systematic theology of how God works. He uses Trinitarian terms interchangeably — the Spirit, Father, Christ — but doesn’t try to make it a treatise on metaphysics. Rather, Paul sees God at work in a uniquely relational way, both within God’s own nature and with humans.

  After admonishing his Roman readers in verses 12-13 to discern the difference between living in the flesh (focusing on the self-oriented life) and the Spirit (focusing on the God-oriented life), Paul then shifts the language to relationships — “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:14-17) Whatever the Trinity is in being, the purpose of God, the three-in-one/one-in-three, is to bring humans back into relationship with God, rescuing us from having to try to define ourselves through self-destructive pursuits.

Why Haven't You Invited Me?

“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'” (Rom. 10:14-15)

 Nothing is more destined to create deep-seated anxieties in people than the false assumption that life should be free from anxieties. - Fulton J. Sheen

  Nathan Williams told of two men who had been business partners for over twenty years. They met one Sunday morning as they were leaving a restaurant. One of them asked, "Where are you going this morning?"

  "I'm going to play golf. What about you?"

  The first man responded rather apologetically, "I'm going to church."

  The other man said, "Why don't you give up that church stuff?"

  The man asked, "What do you mean?"

  "Well, we have been partners for twenty years. We have worked together, attended board meetings together, and had lunch together, and all of these twenty years you have never asked me about going to church. You have never invited me to go with you. Obviously, it doesn't mean that much to you."

  We are told by Jesus that our task as the church is to extend invitations to “come and see” and share the good news, but most often we don't. We allow our fears or embarrassment rule our behaviors rather than look around at the people we have know even for many years and we fail to act.

  What’s the point of any conversation? Is not conversation about sharing life together? Getting to know one another better? Connecting? The best conversations leave us with a mutual respect and increasing fondness of each other with the hopes of continuing the conversation soon. If our faith, our church, and our discipleship is important to us should it not come up in our conversations. But conversations like that seem to be few and far between, especially if they get wrapped up in what we think is “evangelism.”

  If our stories of what Jesus has done for us and the fellowship we have found in the church family is truly important to us should it not come up in our conversations.

  We often make assumptions about people about their appearance, their mannerism, and we form stereotypes in our mind about specific groups which in turn kills relationships. “Come and See” (John 1:46) are the words the disciple Philip says to his friend Nathaniel. On one level, it is an invitation to friendship, discovery and discipleship. Our faith can be communicated in this way and it can be done with respect and fondness for others. We don't have to sell Jesus, the Holy Spirit will do this for us, if we are willing to share our own stories of what Jesus means to us.

  Today, I have a short video below called "Time to invite someone to church," which illustrates that we make too many assumptions about people which may prevent us from extending an invitation. Watch the video and consider in your prayers and thoughts today, what prevents you from extending an invitation to others to come and see.

     

We Boast in Our Hope

Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness. Hoping is knowing that there is love; it is trust in tomorrow; it is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises. In the midst of a gale at sea, it is to discover land. In the eyes of another, it is to see that he understands you. As long as there is still hope, there will also be prayer. And God will be holding you in his hands. - Henri Nouwen, With Open Hand, 85.

  In an article in Christianity Today, Cornel West stated, “As a Christian, I am a prisoner of hope.” (Christianity Today, October 26, 1998, p. 88) In the midst of all I do or ever did, God was always been there encouraging me to hope for far more than I ever thought possible.

  We need hope. Biblical hope is trustful expectation. Hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.

  From what do you draw hope? What keeps you going and gives you a reason to live? Many people rely on simple wishful thinking and call it hope. Where Jim Wallis from Sojourners magazine tells us, “Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change.” This is hope based on what God is willing to do within our lives.

  Over the years I have been called upon to assist community groups work through problems, such as, alcohol or drug abuse. One of the most demanding problems in helping any group is to assist them in overcoming their own sense of hopelessness. When you approach a group that uses phrases, such as, "It's too late," "Nothing can be done about it," "You can't fight city hall," "You can't change the world," or "What's the use!" These statements indicate a group drowning in their own hopelessness. Their repeated failures only re-enforced their hopelessness, even though their hopelessness often leads to their failures, they see themselves only drowning.