Monthly Archives: January 2010

January 29, 2010

Sufficient

By annmareewilson

Even if you believe in the supreme authority of the scriptures you more than likely WILL get caught at one point or another on its ‘sufficiency.’  So let’s look at what I mean when I say that the word of God is sufficient.

When I state that the scriptures are sufficient for the counsel of man, most people think I am quoting 2 Timothy 3.16-17;

‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

or 2 Peter 1.3-4

‘His divine power has granted to us all things for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.’

However, as applicable as those verses are, sufficiency is based on a conclusion regarding the whole of the scriptures.  It is based on the following absolute truth found throughout the entire book.

Scripture is inerrant, meaning it is infallible.  The psalmist in Ps 19.7-11 says that the law (or the words) of the Lord are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true.  The word enlightens, revives souls, makes wise the simple, endures and is righteous all together.

Scripture tells us who is its author, In 2 Peter 1:21 the Lord says that His words were written by  “men [who] spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Scripture tells us it is credible, “God is not man, that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19)

Scripture tells us who God is.  Unlike the heavens which declare his majesty, Christ, through Scripture and God’s testimony, through the Scripture is the only way we can know who God is as He reveals Himself to us. He is living and true, (1 Thess 1:9) immutable, “The Father of lights…with whom there is no variableness,” (James 1:17) the only wise God. (1 Timothy 1:17)

Scripture tells us who man is; that is, man in relation to God –Image Bearers, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1.27)  And man is imputed throughout his entire being with sin apart from the redemption and salvation provided for us in His Son. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3.23)

Scripture is how we know salvation, and that we are in need of it “Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3.3)

Scripture is how we know sanctification, our blueprint for growing in godliness. ‘I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.’ (Rom 6.19)

Scripture is how we know we need to LOVE God and our neighbor, “And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10.27) “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly.” (1 Peter 4.8)

Scripture is how we know our goal, to glorify God, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 6. 19, 20)

Scripture reveals man’s heart, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4.12)

And as stated in that Hebrews verse, the Scriptures are alive.

So the question we need to ask then is;

What other counsel do either we or our counselee’s need?

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January 27, 2010

The Gospel Centered Christian

By annmareewilson

“Many Christians are confused about the place of God’s law in their lives.  Some ignore it entirely and think that Christianity is something akin to a spiritual social event.  Some vaguely know that the law has been abrogated in some way; they know that they didn’t get saved by obeying it and believe that the Ten Commandments (and the rest of the Old Testament) were probably fine for their time but are now passe.  Both of these approaches militate against the law and may indicate a belief that seeking to live an obedient life is legalism.

Of course there are other Christians who are overly attentive to the law.  These would-be serious Christians believe that their justification is only by grace but forget that sanctification (our slow change into Christlikeness) is a ‘work of God’s free grace,’ even as justification is a legal ‘act of God’s free grace.’

For the gospel-centerd Christian, the function of the law is to drive us to Christ and to make us continually more and more thankful for his perfect keeping of it in our place.  It is to make us more and more dependent upon HIS righteousness, NOT OUR OWN.” (emphasis mine)

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Counsel from the Cross

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January 26, 2010

Do I Find That Other’s Irritate Me?

By annmareewilson

“Do people who break the law (or your own rules and expectations) annoy you?  When you are standing in the ‘ten items or less’ line at the grocery store, are you irritated at that woman in front of you who has thirteen items?  Do you fume at other drivers who don’t signal before changing lanes, or tailgate, or talk on cell phones?  Do you find it easy to look down upon those who are unsaved or other Christians who are not as theologically sound as you are?  If so, you are missing the gospel; you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, but God graciously chose you when there wasn’t one drop of grace in your soul and nothing to recommend you to him.  Are you beginning to see how amazing his grace is?”

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Counsel from the Cross

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January 21, 2010

It Is His Delight

By annmareewilson

‘Maybe you think it is possible to deplete his love for you.  He replies that the ‘earth is full’ of it (Ps 33.5).  We can know that our sins won’t overwhelm his love because he loves to ‘adorn’ the humble with salvation (Ps 149.4).  When we think our sins are just too great, we need to remember that Jesus’ promise of salvation is only for lost sinners, NOT for the ‘righteous’ (Mark 2.17).

‘The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.’ (Zeph 3.17)

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Counsel From the Cross

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January 20, 2010

From One Degree of Glory to Another

By annmareewilson

‘We will struggle with sin, but we don’t lose heart because we know that even though our outer person is wasting away, our inner person is being renewed day by day by the work of the spirit as we partake of His means of grace.  Indeed, seeing him through the Word, the sacraments, and the church will impel and motivate our transformation.’

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 John 3.1-3

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Counsel from the Cross

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January 15, 2010

Where will we see God’s glory? We see it in the gospel, of course.

By annmareewilson

“If we want to see God’s glory, if we long for ourselves and others to be transformed into godliness, we must dwell on the gospel, where his glory is most clearly seen.  It is the gospel into which we are to look, and it is by the power of the gospel that we will be changed.

Paul informs us that by his grace God has shone the ‘light of the gospel of the glory of Christ’ (2 Cor 4.4) into our hearts.  It is in this light that we see everything else: who he is, what he has done, who we are and how we change.  It is this light that first enabled us to see our glorious Savior, and it is this light that continues to transform us.  Unlike unbelievers, who have blinded minds, we have received from God eyes to see ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor 4.6)  The knowledge of God’s glory is revealed to us as we look upon the face of the Son.  And it is this knowledge that will transform us.”

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Counsel from the Cross

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January 14, 2010

Does ‘endless naval-gazing’ have the power to change us?

By annmareewilson

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image

from one degree of glory to another. 2 Cor 3.18

“We are all hoping for change and progress, Christian and non-Christian alike.  In contrast to our culture’s unabashedly self-exalting approach to personal perfectibility, serious Christians are intent on something more than merely ‘getting it together.’  We are hoping instead for growth in godliness, or what is commonly referred to as sanctification.  Rather than seek a quick fix, we look inward, at our own sinfulness.  We diligently practice confession and repentance.  We are encouraged to examine ourselves, to search out sin and unbelief.

Although we are commanded to tackle sin in this way, there is a problem here too.  If we focus too narrowly on our failures and never take our eyes off ourselves, we can become mired in our endless naval-gazing, and, even as Christians, simply looking at ourselves doesn’t have the power to transform us.  If we keep our eyes riveted on ourselves, even as we routinely practice confession and repentance, we will stay bogged down with the same old sins.  We need to set our eyes on something beyond ourselves or our failures.  We need to glimpse something that is more powerful.  We need to see Jesus Christ and the transforming glory of God.”

Counsel from the Cross

Elyse Fitzpatrick

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January 14, 2010

Christianity is not a self-help religion

By annmareewilson

Chances are you can start to identify a pattern in my devotional material; when I read Elyse Fitzpatrick I have a lot to blog about. Probably I should just convince you to buy the book, but since I don’t trust you to do that and the message is SO important I will just post incredibly large excerpts… let’s read together, shall we?

‘How do the truths of the gospel become nothing more than insignificant white noise?  Why does John 3.16 bore us?  It bores us for at least two reasons, one more insidious than the other.

We naively press the gospel out to the margins of our faith because we have never really been taught how it’s meant to connect with our daily lives.  One day I had a conversation with a dear friend who told me about struggles she was having in a relationship.  I asked her, ‘how do you think the resurrection impacts this circumstance?’

She replied, ‘I know that it should but I just don’t know how.’

I think that we all have a sneaking suspicion that the truths of the gospel ought to mean something more to us than they do, but we don’t know how to make those connections.  Yes, the incarnation, perfections, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ ought to have a practical impact on our daily walk, but just how those dots connect isn’t really clear.

More insidiously, I think we relegate the gospel to the back of our religious bus because, although we may admit our spiritual impotence with our lips, deep in our hearts we remain convinced of our own ability to live a moral life.

We also fear loss of control.  It is unsettling and humiliating to realize how utterly dependent we are on having Someone Else do for us what we cannot do for ourselves: change our heart’s affections and desires.  As long as I have a ‘list to work on,’ I can keep my hands on the reins of my life and on my struggle against sin.  So even though the gospel shouts to us that we are depraved, that we deserve a shameful death and an eternity in hell, that we must be given someone else’s righteousness in order to stand before a holy God, we continue to think that if we could just find the key to holy living, we’d be able to work it out.  Just give me a list!  Teach me the right prayer!  Introduce me to the right counselor!

It’s no wonder that self-help books top the charts in Christian publishing and that counseling offices are overwhelmed.  Our pride and our neglect of the gospel force us to run from seminar to seminar, book to book, counselor to counselor, always seeking but never finding some secret to holy living.

Most of us have never really understood that Christianity is not a self-help religion meant to enable moral people to become more moral.  We don’t need a self-help book; we need a Savior.  We don’t need to get our collective act together; we need death and resurrection and the life-transforming truths of the gospel.  And we don’t need them just once, at the beginning of our Christian life; we need them very moment of every day.’

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Counsel from the Cross

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January 13, 2010

My Hope Is Found On Nothing Less

By annmareewilson

“There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God.  We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all….This is not true of us only when we believe.  It is just as true after we have believed.  It will continue to be true as long as we live.  Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be.  It is always on His ‘blood and righteousness’ alone that we can rest.’  B.B. Warfield

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January 6, 2010

The Practice of Mortification*

By annmareewilson

‘The duty of mortification is only accomplished through the Holy Spirit.  He alone does the actual work.

First, the Holy Spirit clearly and fully convinces the heart of the evil and guilt that needs to be mortified.  Without His conviction there would be no thorough work done.  ‘He convinces of sin (Jn 16.8).  He alone can do this.  If mans rational ability could do so, we might see more conviction of sin in the world.  But this light is not powerful nor reliable enough, as we have seen.  Unless we are convinced of the unique power of the Holy Spirit, we shall go on living in futility about sin.

‘Second, The Holy Spirit alone reveals to us the fullness of Christ for our relief.  It is this which will uphold the heart from false ways and from despondency.

Third, the Spirit alone establishes the heart in expectation of help from Christ.  This is the great means of mortification as we have discovered in 2 Corinthians 1.20-22;

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

“Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity

in your relationship and service to God.  Sin is seeking to

become oneself, to get an identity apart from Him.”

Tim Keller, The Reason for God

Fourth, the Spirit alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin-killing power.  By the Spirit we are baptized into the death of Christ.  By baptism we recognize the implantation of Christ’s life in our souls, replacing our old, sinful self.  The apostle writes, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Romans 6.6

Fifth, the Spirit is the author and finisher of our sanctification.  He provides the resources and new influences of grace for holiness and sanctification.  He does this when the contrary principle of the flesh is weakened.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3.14-19

Finally, in all the soul’s relationships with God, we have the support of the Holy Spirit.  Where else do we receive this power, life, and vigor of prayer?  Where is our efficacy to prevail with God?  Is it not from the Spirit?  He is called ‘the Spirit of supplications,’ promised to those ‘who look on him whom they have pierced’ (Zech 12.10).  It is the Spirit who ‘maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered’ (Romans 8.26).

The Spirit is the great go-between and the way for faith to prevail with God.’

John Owen

*”For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Romans 8.13

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