Drawing near to God

A timely piece from Ray Ortlund:

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8

How can we draw near to God in 2012? Let me propose two ways, consistent with the gospel. They are not heroic. They only require faith and honesty.

One, at those very places in our lives where we are the most sinful, the most defeated, let’s face it and admit it. Whatever view we take of Romans 7, surely every one of us can say, “I do not understand my own actions” (Romans 7:15). And beyond admitting the impasse which we thought that, by now, we’d have grown past, let’s trust God to love us at that very point in our existence. It is his way. God loves grace into us (Owen, Works, II:342). Let’s open up. If Jesus is a wonderful Savior in every way except where we are the most hypocritical, then he is no Saviour for us. But the truth is, he draws near to broken sinners who own up. What if we saw, in our very sins, the nearness of God awaiting us with greater mercy than we have ever known before?

Two, let’s confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. No one grows in isolation. We grow in safe community. Sadly, such an experience is rare in our churches. It should be common among us gospel people. It should be our lifestyle. We should be obvious, even scandalous, as friends of sinners. But so often, someone must break the ice. I see no revival in our future without a new culture of confession. Personally, I have found a good way to measure my own honesty is the level of my embarrassment. If I’m not embarrassed by my confession, I’m still holding out. But it is freeing to come clean with a brother or sister and receive the ministry of prayer (James 5:16). What if in 2012 we were, to one another, unshockable friends, down on our knees together, not judging one another but praying for one another? Surely God’s nearness would be there.

Christmas Day's sermonette

Galatians 4: 4-7

From an idea from Phil Ryken

Ready for Christmas?

HT: Charles Schultz

Hi everyone, have a richly blessed, Christ-centred, God glorifying Christmas!

Good people all, this Christmas time

'The Wexford Carol'

Good people all, this Christmas-time,

Consider well and bear in mind

What our good God for us has done,

In sending His beloved Son.

With Mary holy we should pray

To God with love this Christmas Day:

In Bethlehem upon that morn

There was a blessed Messiah born.

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep

Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep;

To whom God's angels did appear,

Which put the shepherds in great fear.

"Prepare and go," the angels said,

"To Bethlehem, be not afraid;

For there you'll find, this happy morn,

A princely Babe, sweet Jesus born."

With thankful heart and joyful mind,

The shepherds went the Babe to find,

And as God's angel had foretold,

They did our Saviour Christ behold.

Within a manger He was laid,

And by his side the Virgin Maid,

Attending on the Lord of life, 

Who came on earth to end all strife.

Happy Birthday Beethoven!

HT: Charles Schulz

Gospel: passion for God, love for others

"The goal of the gospel is to produce a type of people consumed with passion for God and love for others... A Christianity that does not have as its primary focus the deepening of passions for God is a false Christianity, no matter how zealously it seeks conversions or how forcefully it advocates righteous behaviour.  Being converted to Jesus is not just about learning to obey some rules.  Being  converted to Jesus is about learning to so adore God that we would gladly renounce everything we have to follow Him."
JD Greear, Gospel:  Rediscovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary (Nashville: B and H, 2011), p.10.

A believer's unbelief

Sunday's sermon (Luke 1)

Christmas is about ... Jesus!

From St Helen's, Bishopsgate, London

Donkeys, Carrots, Sticks and the Gospel

Uberblogger Justin Taylor draws attention to this piece by Fitzpatrick and Thompson which highlights how 'Gospel motivation' towards obedience is radically different from the traditional 'carrot and stick' method.  Its focus is upon how we should encourage children towards God-glorifying obedience, but it really speaks into all of our lives...

Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus (Crossway, 2011) pp. 107-108, explain a common motivational paradigm for obedience:

First, you could dangle a carrot in front of the donkey, fooling the donkey into thinking that if he pulls the cart far enough, he’ll get to eat the carrot.

The second is to prod the donkey along the road by hitting him with a stick.

If the donkey is motivated by the ultimate reward of a carrot, the stick won’t be necessary,
but if he’s not really all that interested in carrots, then the stick will be employed.

Either way, through reward or through punishment, the cart driver gets what he wants.

Then they show how the gospel turns this on its head:

Because both parents and children obstinately refuse to pull the cart of God’s glory down the road, the Father broke the stick of punishment on his obedient Son’s back.

Rather than trying to entice us by dangling an unattainable carrot of perfect welcome and forgiveness incessantly in front of our faces, God the Father freely feeds the carrot to us, his enemies.

He simply moves outside all our categories for reward and punishment, for human motivation, and gives us all the reward and takes upon himself all the punishment. He lavishes grace upon grace on us and bears in his own person all the wrath that we deserve. Then he tells us, in light of all that he’s done, “Obey.”

Yes, we do have promises of rewards in heaven, but these are not earned by us through our merit.

Yes, there are promises of punishment, but not for those who are “in Christ.” All our punishment has been borne by him.

The carrot is ours.

The stick is his.

Manage [your children] with beans in a jar if you must, but be sure to tell them that it isn’t the gospel. And perhaps, once in a while, just fill the jar up with beans and take everyone out for ice cream, and when your son asks you, “Daddy, why do we get ice cream? How did the jar get to be full?” you’ll know what to say, won’t you?

There is no end to Gospel exploration

"The angels never get tired of looking into the gospel [cf. 1 Peter 1:10,12].  This means that there is no end to gospel exploration.  There are depths in the gospel that are always to be discovered and applied not only to our ministry and daily Christian life, but above all to the worship of the God of the gospel with renewed and vision.
"The underlying conviction in my preaching, pastoring, and writing is that the gospel - this eternally fascinating message craved by the angels - can change a heart, a community, and the world when it is recovered and applied.  The gospel is life giving, because it generates changes that are received only by grace through faith.  This foundational truth, however, gets bypassed, obscured, and forgotten, because, as Martin Luther noted, religion forms the default mode of the human heart.  It is essential, then, that we distinguish religion from the gospel.  Religion, as the default mode of our thinking and practices, is based upon performance: 'I obey; therefore, I am accepted by God.'  The basic operating principle of the gospel, however, is, not surprisingly, an about-face, one of unmerited acceptance: 'I am accepted by God through Christ; therefore, I obey.'  To understand this paradigm shift at a life-altering level requires that the gospel be explored and 'looked into' at every opportunity and in regular, systematic ways...
"It is one thing to understand the gospel but is quite another to experience the gospel in such a way that it fundamentally changes us and becomes the source of our identity and security.  It is one thing to grasp the essence of the gospel but quite another to think out its implications for all of life.  We all struggle to explore the mysteries of the gospel on a regular basis and to allow its message to influence our thinking..."

Tim Keller, in his introduction to JD Greear's 'Gospel: Rediscovering the Power that made Christianity Revolutionary.'  This is as good a summary of Keller's Gospel-centricity, which has been so helpful and influential to so many, as I have read anywhere.  It also sets JD Greear''s  book wonderfully.  It is so well worth reading.  Available here.

A faith for all seasons

This morning's sermon outline from Luke 1: 26-56

Yes, just what is the point?

Comic strip - HT: BW

"Man's chief end [or purpose in life] is to glorify and enjoy [or 'by enjoying'] Him forever."

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q1