The Spirit Needed To Persuade Us of Our Justification

Richard Sibbes speaking of the necessity of the Spirit to convince us of our justification:

And unless the Spirit did it, it would never be done, for the soul of man is so full of terrors and fears and jealousies, that unless the Spirit of God witnessed to my spirit that God is reconciled to Christ and that Christ’s righteousness is mine, I could never be persuaded of it.  For the soul always thinks, God is holiness itself and I am a mass of sin; what reason have I to think that God will be so favorable to such a wretch…Unless the Spirit should tell me that God the Son has satisfied (and the Father accepts the Son’s satisfaction), I should never believe it.

 

 

Prophecy by the Lake

(HT: TCC)

I apologize for this one.  I cannot resist posting this gem.  I’m not laughing at this simply because I do not believe in a pretribulation rapture.  I’m laughing at the lyrics and the way the guy sings things like “burn in hell” in a high almost happy voice.  Furthermore, calling Obama the leopard-king and other amazing lines that you’ll have to see for yourself.  But perhaps what makes me laugh more than anything is the setting.  Seriously?!?!  A dude playing a piano by a lake and switching the camera angle with every stanza. 

Examples in Gospel Neutering

Yesterday I made this statement:

The Corinthians attempted to blend the gospel with the thriving, competitive, and self-sufficient Corinthian culture.  As a result they were in danger of losing the gospel.  Rather than unleashing the power of the gospel they were neutering it.  And we do the exact same thing when we try to be “somebodies” to show that Christianity is a “somebody” type of faith.  A crucified king is “foolish” lets just admit that. 

I thought it may be beneficial to give a few examples of how we do this in our day:

Whenever we try really hard to show unbelievers that Christians can be cool.  The entire reason why we hang out with unbelievers, watch certain television programs, and listen to certain music is to prove to a watching world that Christians aren’t boring.  We can be fun too.  That’s all well and good until our “coolness” morphs into worldliness.  You do not win people to the gospel by being worldly.  You might convince them that you are cool, but I am not certain you will convince them that Christ is mighty to save. 

I have heard stories of televangelists soaking up air conditioning in luxury hotels in the third world countries as a display of the power of God in blessing people.  Whenever we think that we have to look glamorous to make Christ look beautiful we have missed the gospel entirely. 

If we are convinced that what the world really needs is a cogent and fine-sounding argument for the validity of Christianity, the existence of  God, the historicity of the resurrection, etc. then I think we are moving away from Paul’s primary means of apologetics.  This is not to say that Christianity is based upon blind faith devoid of reason.  This is to say that Christianity is founded upon claims that the unregenerate finds foolish.  So while you are studying how to tackle the logic of Epicurus, pray that the Lord may tackle the depravity of heart. 

What are your suggestions????

When Nobodies Become Somebodies

On Sunday evenings I am preaching through 1 Corinthians.  As I have been studying the letter itself and other references concerning the culture at Corinth I have a theory as to why the church had so many problems with arrogant division.  In sum:

In a culture of somebodies, a group of nobodies got saved and thought they were now somebodies that could fit in with all the other somebodies. 

If you desire to study Corinthian culture you will find plenty of sources.  And preachers love to talk about the city of Corinth (probably because it is so much like our culture) more than they do many of the other cultures in the Scriptures.  Ben Witherington, I think sums up the Corinthian mindset quite nicely when he says, “In Paul’s time many in Corinth were already suffering from a self-made-person-escapes-humble-origins syndrome…”  Corinth was a culture of “somebodies”. 

However, in every culture there are also a group of “nobodies”.  These are the unwise, the weak, the poor, the outcasts of society.  A culture of “somebodies”always has a much larger amount of “nobodies” that want to be “somebodies”.  Corinth was no different. 

That all changed when the gospel came to Corinth.  These nobodies received the foolish message of the cross and found “righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” in Christ Jesus.  These nobodies became somebodies. 

Those that were once lowly in society now saw became rich.  The ignoble became kings.  The poor became strong.  The fools of the world became wise.  Those in disrepute were now held in honor.  Those that once were the scum of the earth have now became somebody. 

Now they could fit in with the culture.  In fact they had the answers that the culture did not have.  Rather than being equal with their culture they were able to see through it—they were now above even their own culture.  The Corinthians are now the new somebodies.  So to reach the wise they had to prove that Christianity is wiser.  To reach the powerful the Corinthians had to prove that Christianity is where real power lies.  Whatever the culture had to offer Christianity could top it.

The Corinthians attempted to blend the gospel with the thriving, competitive, and self-sufficient Corinthian culture.  As a result they were in danger of losing the gospel.  Rather than unleashing the power of the gospel they were neutering it.  And we do the exact same thing when we try to be “somebodies” to show that Christianity is a “somebody” type of faith.  A crucified king is “foolish” lets just admit that. 

Luxury and Preaching

Richard Baxter speaking to pastors, encouraging them to model self-sacrificial living:

Think not of being rich; do not seek great things for yourselves or your [descendants]…If you believe that God is the safest [keeper of goods] and that to [be spent] in his service [yields the best interest], show them that you do believe it. [I know that flesh and blood will complain against this] but mark this, that man who has any thing in the world so dear to him, that he cannot spare it for Christ, if [Christ] calls for it, is no true Christian.  (The Reformed Pastor, 66-67, modernized by me)

A few points to consider:

What does my lifestyle display that I believe about the value of God?  When you see the things that I spend my time and money on does it show that I believe heaven is the greatest treasure—or am I building a personal kingdom for myself and my descendants?  I think the American dream has taught us that God is actually cool with both…in fact he is quite happy to “bless us” with luxuries so long as we thank him for it.  I’m simply not convinced that many of my “luxuries” are not more the result of sin than they are a result of “
"God’s blessing”. 

Is there anything in my life that Christ is calling me to expend for His kingdom?  If I am not careful I will quickly dismiss this question.  Because I do not hear a “still small voice” telling me to buy a smaller refrigerator I may assume that He is not calling.  But perhaps He is calling!  Perhaps if my eyes are open to the reality of world hunger, the darkness of nations without the gospel, and my brothers and sisters without adequate provisions I will hear the thunderous voice of Jesus asking for water, dying children asking for food, and blind men begging for the light of the gospel.  The better question may be, “what will it take”, rather than “what can I do without”. 

If we are not careful topics like this can lead to deep feelings of guilt (sometimes false—sometimes real).  There is one statement I have been saying to myself as I consider these things: “Let us not stop until we are obedient”.  That is what I think Richard Baxter is calling for—scratch that—that is what Christ is calling for.  I do not want to stop changing things in my life until I am obedient.  Baxter said it this way, "we must have nothing but what we have for God".