"Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this up people!' But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, 'I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.' "Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people." And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:12-14 ESV)
It is a wonderful thing when God opens our eyes up to His glorious truths. The past few years have been a season in my life where each day my eyes are more opened to the wonders of God's free and sovereign grace as I read the Bible. Exodus 33:12-14 is one of those passages that demonstrate how God gives us conditions for His blessings to us and then graces us with the blessings of His grace in order to fulfill His conditions. In short, from beginning to end, the Christian life is a life of amazing grace!
Look at this. First, Moses finds favor in the eyes of the Lord (verse 12). He finds favor with God with absolutely no condition or reason for finding favor. As a matter of fact in verse 19 God says, " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." So Moses finds himself as a recipient of God's free and unconditional grace. God has known Him by name and Moses has found favor in the eyes of God for no other reason than God's grace!
So because of that amazing grace, notice that Moses prays in verse 13, "If I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You..." Moses desires to know God's ways in order to know Him better personally and intimately. There is a kind of seeing of God's working that Moses desires that will cause Moses to have a spiritual apprehension of God in His beauty, worth, and glory.
But then Moses adds, "let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight." THIS IS INCREDIBLE! Moses wants to know God so that he can find favor in His sight. So the blessing of knowing God is the condition for which more blessing will come and Moses is asking for that. So what we learn here is first, that the grace of knowing God is the result of God's gracious grace to Moses. Then second, that the grace of God is the cause of God's being more gracious to Moses. "If I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight." In short, grace is the CAUSE of knowing God and grace is the RESULT of knowing God.
What I see here is that grace gives me the conditions of God's blessings, grace causes me to will what God wills, grace fills me with God's desires, grace causes me to pray what God wills, grace causes me to fulfill God's conditions, and grace causes God to act with more grace. To put it another way, grace is the cause of my knowing God and grace is the effect of my knowing God. The Christian life is all about God's grace from beginning to end!
I see this woven into every one of Paul's epistles. At the beginning of each Paul pronounces for those who are about to read his letters. For example: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7). At the front end God is offering grace to see, perceive, understand. Then at the end of Paul's epistles he promises future grace to be with them in order to live out what God has graced them to hear. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you " (Romans 16:20).
Spurgeon said, "We give God much glory when we receive from him much grace." "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:33-36)
Standing in awe, wonder, and love for my beautiful God of grace,
Pastor Bill
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
WHO AM I? THOUGHTS UPON WORTH, VALUE, AND SIGNIFICANCE
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” Romans 12:3 ESV
Who Am I? Do you ever ask that question of yourself? I have been thinking allot about how we define ourselves in life. As a pastor I have wrestled with this allot. Over the years people have asked me questions like, "How big is your church?" "Do you have a building?" "How big is your youth group?" I will often times see in their faces approval or disapproval in my answers to their questions that I have allowed to cause me to measure myself in such a way that I feel like a failure, worthless, and discouraged about what I do. For many years I put the worth of my life based upon others judgements or my criteria of ministry success. When my church was considerably larger, bible studies were well attended, lots of programs were going on, the finances were booming, I was on top of the world. I was somebody! But when everything changed I would go to pastors conferences and hear the stories of church growth and would leave wondering "what's wrong with me?" I would feel worthless, discouraged, that I had let God down, that somehow I had missed His will or leading in my life, and that God was disappointed with me for my lack of success. These thoughts made me a very sad and defeated person. I have come to see how wrong and how foolish it is to measure myself this way; but even more, to measure myself at all!
Oh how often we ask the wrong questions of ourselves. How often we seek approval, significance, esteem, worth, and value as the quest for our lives. The ground of this quest for fallen man is that he measures in his own mind or others minds what gives him worth, esteem, value, and significance. Thus the means of finding this significance is those things through the world, others, and self. For example, fallen man says "I am significant in what I do, how I look, who I know, what I have achieved, what others think of me, or what I have accumulated." All of this is rooted in pride which when achieved brings self-exaltation and when not achieved brings on self pity. I have known them both very well. Both of which are sinful. Man's search for significance is a dead end because invariably man will never find what he is looking for and it is a grand deception because even when he thinks he has found it, he is nothing but deceived and his significance is misplaced.
Even much contemporary Christian Popular Psychology doesn't get it. It kindly, well intentioned, but erroneously says, "Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as a means to your significance. Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as the one who gives you value. Do you want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as the means of your esteem?" In short, the goal is still the same as the non-Christian: esteem, worth, value, and significance. The difference is the means. Now instead of people, the world, and others, Christ is a means to the goal of your significance and esteem and value. Now we are to let Jesus Christ be the one who makes much of you. I think this is a wrong view in the light of scriptures. John Piper asks the question "do you love God because He makes much of you or do you love God because in Christ He frees you to make much of Him?" There is a world of difference.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:3 says an astonishing thing. He looks out at man and as he watches people puff themselves up, thinking of themselves too highly, he says, Here is how to think soberly about yourself: Make faith the measure of your mind. Make faith the measure of your heart, your life. Faith looks to Christ and enjoys him as the sum and judge of all that is true and good and right and beautiful and valuable and satisfying. So what Paul is saying is that the essence of the new Christian mind is that we see and savor—we behold and we embrace—Jesus Christ and not ourselves as the supreme truth and supreme treasure in the universe.
By doing so he turns self-exaltation upside down. He says, Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as infinitely significant. Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as worthy of infinite esteem. You were made to embrace Him as infinitely significant and infinitely valuable and infinitely worthy of esteem. That is what God wants us to love to do. That is our deepest identity.
I’ll say it again: Do you want to have significance? Then embrace Christ as the one who is infinitely significant to you. Do you want to have value? Then embrace Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then embrace Christ as worthy of infinite esteem.
Our faith in Christ is the measure of our significance and value and esteem, because faith means looking away from ourselves to Christ and embracing him as the all-satisfying embodiment of all that is significant and valuable and worthy of esteem. The measure of our new self in Christ—the renewed mind—is the degree to which we look away from ourselves to Christ as our truth and treasure.
If Christ is more to you, you are more. If Christ is less to you, you are less. Your measure rises and falls with your measure of Him. Your valuing Him is the value that you have. Your esteeming Him is the esteem that you have. Your treasuring him is the treasure that you are. Henry Scougal put it so well, "The worth and excellence of a soul is measured by the object of its love."
The Christian can truly say "away!" to his quest for significance, worth, approval, and value. The Christian can finely be free from its relentless tyranny. No longer do allow ourselves to be defined by who we are, what we do, and who we know. The quest for significance ends at the foot of the cross. Because of Christ's death, resurrection, and the new birth, I am now truly loved by God and free to do what God created and redeemed me for: TO FIND MY SIGNIFICANCE IN MAKING MUCH OF HIM. "This is eternal life, to know You the only true God, and Jesus whom You have sent."(John 17:3). Our quest is now like Count Zinzendorf, "I have only one passion, it is He!" or as Paul said, "For me to live is Christ...I want to know Christ".
Who am I? They often tell me
I would step from my prison cell
poised, cheerful and sturdy,
like a nobleman from his country estate.
Who am I? They often tell me
I would speak with my guards
freely, pleasantly, and firmly,
as if I had it to command.
Who am I? I have also been told
that I suffer the days of misfortune
with serenity, smiles and pride,
as someone accustomed to victory.
Am I really what others say about me?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
Restless, yearning and sick, like a bird in its cage,
struggling for the breath of life,
as though someone were choking my throat;
hungering for colors, for flowers, for the songs of birds,
thirsting for kind words and human closeness,
shaking with anger at capricious tyranny and the pettiest slurs,
bedeviled by anxiety, awaiting great events that might never occur,
fearfully powerless and worried for friends far away,
weary and empty in prayer, in thinking and doing,
weak, and ready to take leave of it all.
Who am I?
This man or that other?
Am I then this man today and tomorrow another?
Am I both all at once? An impostor to others,
but to me little more than a whining, despicable weakling?
Does what is in me compare to a vanquished army,
that flees in disorder before a battle already won?
Who am I? They mock me these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, you know me, O God.
You know I am yours.
Pastor Bill
Who Am I? Do you ever ask that question of yourself? I have been thinking allot about how we define ourselves in life. As a pastor I have wrestled with this allot. Over the years people have asked me questions like, "How big is your church?" "Do you have a building?" "How big is your youth group?" I will often times see in their faces approval or disapproval in my answers to their questions that I have allowed to cause me to measure myself in such a way that I feel like a failure, worthless, and discouraged about what I do. For many years I put the worth of my life based upon others judgements or my criteria of ministry success. When my church was considerably larger, bible studies were well attended, lots of programs were going on, the finances were booming, I was on top of the world. I was somebody! But when everything changed I would go to pastors conferences and hear the stories of church growth and would leave wondering "what's wrong with me?" I would feel worthless, discouraged, that I had let God down, that somehow I had missed His will or leading in my life, and that God was disappointed with me for my lack of success. These thoughts made me a very sad and defeated person. I have come to see how wrong and how foolish it is to measure myself this way; but even more, to measure myself at all!
Oh how often we ask the wrong questions of ourselves. How often we seek approval, significance, esteem, worth, and value as the quest for our lives. The ground of this quest for fallen man is that he measures in his own mind or others minds what gives him worth, esteem, value, and significance. Thus the means of finding this significance is those things through the world, others, and self. For example, fallen man says "I am significant in what I do, how I look, who I know, what I have achieved, what others think of me, or what I have accumulated." All of this is rooted in pride which when achieved brings self-exaltation and when not achieved brings on self pity. I have known them both very well. Both of which are sinful. Man's search for significance is a dead end because invariably man will never find what he is looking for and it is a grand deception because even when he thinks he has found it, he is nothing but deceived and his significance is misplaced.
Even much contemporary Christian Popular Psychology doesn't get it. It kindly, well intentioned, but erroneously says, "Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as a means to your significance. Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as the one who gives you value. Do you want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as the means of your esteem?" In short, the goal is still the same as the non-Christian: esteem, worth, value, and significance. The difference is the means. Now instead of people, the world, and others, Christ is a means to the goal of your significance and esteem and value. Now we are to let Jesus Christ be the one who makes much of you. I think this is a wrong view in the light of scriptures. John Piper asks the question "do you love God because He makes much of you or do you love God because in Christ He frees you to make much of Him?" There is a world of difference.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:3 says an astonishing thing. He looks out at man and as he watches people puff themselves up, thinking of themselves too highly, he says, Here is how to think soberly about yourself: Make faith the measure of your mind. Make faith the measure of your heart, your life. Faith looks to Christ and enjoys him as the sum and judge of all that is true and good and right and beautiful and valuable and satisfying. So what Paul is saying is that the essence of the new Christian mind is that we see and savor—we behold and we embrace—Jesus Christ and not ourselves as the supreme truth and supreme treasure in the universe.
By doing so he turns self-exaltation upside down. He says, Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as infinitely significant. Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as worthy of infinite esteem. You were made to embrace Him as infinitely significant and infinitely valuable and infinitely worthy of esteem. That is what God wants us to love to do. That is our deepest identity.
I’ll say it again: Do you want to have significance? Then embrace Christ as the one who is infinitely significant to you. Do you want to have value? Then embrace Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then embrace Christ as worthy of infinite esteem.
Our faith in Christ is the measure of our significance and value and esteem, because faith means looking away from ourselves to Christ and embracing him as the all-satisfying embodiment of all that is significant and valuable and worthy of esteem. The measure of our new self in Christ—the renewed mind—is the degree to which we look away from ourselves to Christ as our truth and treasure.
If Christ is more to you, you are more. If Christ is less to you, you are less. Your measure rises and falls with your measure of Him. Your valuing Him is the value that you have. Your esteeming Him is the esteem that you have. Your treasuring him is the treasure that you are. Henry Scougal put it so well, "The worth and excellence of a soul is measured by the object of its love."
The Christian can truly say "away!" to his quest for significance, worth, approval, and value. The Christian can finely be free from its relentless tyranny. No longer do allow ourselves to be defined by who we are, what we do, and who we know. The quest for significance ends at the foot of the cross. Because of Christ's death, resurrection, and the new birth, I am now truly loved by God and free to do what God created and redeemed me for: TO FIND MY SIGNIFICANCE IN MAKING MUCH OF HIM. "This is eternal life, to know You the only true God, and Jesus whom You have sent."(John 17:3). Our quest is now like Count Zinzendorf, "I have only one passion, it is He!" or as Paul said, "For me to live is Christ...I want to know Christ".
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a poem that sums up our quest to find our significance before man or God. He wrote it while he was in prison in June 1944. He was executed by the Nazi's a year later, three days before the end of the war in 1945. It is titled "Who Am I?" I have always appreciated it because when all is said and done, the only thing that matters is not who were are , but whose we are!
Who am I? They often tell me
I would step from my prison cell
poised, cheerful and sturdy,
like a nobleman from his country estate.
Who am I? They often tell me
I would speak with my guards
freely, pleasantly, and firmly,
as if I had it to command.
Who am I? I have also been told
that I suffer the days of misfortune
with serenity, smiles and pride,
as someone accustomed to victory.
Am I really what others say about me?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
Restless, yearning and sick, like a bird in its cage,
struggling for the breath of life,
as though someone were choking my throat;
hungering for colors, for flowers, for the songs of birds,
thirsting for kind words and human closeness,
shaking with anger at capricious tyranny and the pettiest slurs,
bedeviled by anxiety, awaiting great events that might never occur,
fearfully powerless and worried for friends far away,
weary and empty in prayer, in thinking and doing,
weak, and ready to take leave of it all.
Who am I?
This man or that other?
Am I then this man today and tomorrow another?
Am I both all at once? An impostor to others,
but to me little more than a whining, despicable weakling?
Does what is in me compare to a vanquished army,
that flees in disorder before a battle already won?
Who am I? They mock me these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, you know me, O God.
You know I am yours.
THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS NOT WHO WE ARE, BUT WHOSE WE ARE!
Seeing the worth, the beauty, the significance of Christ, esteeming Him highly, and enjoying Him forever, and thus finding out "Who Am I",Pastor Bill
Friday, March 16, 2007
THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE
John Piper often times writes, "Time is precious, life is short, we are fragile, and eternity is long." Every day what is at stake in my life is the glory of God, the souls of men, and my fight for joy in the Lord. Is it no wonder why we need such vigilance in our lives to see and cherish, and to strive for the things that matter?
The apostle Paul sure sensed this when he prayed...
"That your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment" (Philippians 1:9).
"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all" ( 1Thessalonians 3:12).
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17).
Paul was concerned on his knees for God's love to be growing among His people. There was then and is now something tremendously at stake today in the growth of love in body of Christ! The urgent need today is for a compelling demonstration of the reality of God in the world by His people. That reality is especially manifested in our relationships with others through visible love.
Listen to the beautiful yet convicting words of Jesus Christ:
"As I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another. ..May be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me…Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven….” (John 13:34-35; John 17:23; Matthew 5:16)
Do you hear Him? Do you see His heart? Does your heart beat with His heart? Do you sense the importance and primacy of His teaching? Jesus assumes that love is meant to be seen and is being noticed for its reality or lack of reality. The late Francis Schaeffer once wrote a book called The Church Before the Watching World and spoke of the indispensable Mark of the Christian: Visible love and visible unity among God's people.
Paul says that "the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is God's great work in the souls of His people (1 Thessalonians 3:12) and the fruit of God's work (Galatians 5:22; 1 John 4:19). There is nothing that brings Him glory like the manifestation and practice of love among Christians. There is nothing that makes Jesus Christ more attractive and appealing than the visible demonstration of love from God's people. Oh for us to make a name for Christ by the radical difference of our love for others!
Jonathan Edwards wrote:
"As heaven is a world of love. so the way to heaven is the way of love." May God cause His heavenly love to be lived out on this earth among heavens citizens and ambassadors.
Longing to be an instrument of love for Christ's glory,
Pastor Bill
The apostle Paul sure sensed this when he prayed...
"That your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment" (Philippians 1:9).
"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all" ( 1Thessalonians 3:12).
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17).
Paul was concerned on his knees for God's love to be growing among His people. There was then and is now something tremendously at stake today in the growth of love in body of Christ! The urgent need today is for a compelling demonstration of the reality of God in the world by His people. That reality is especially manifested in our relationships with others through visible love.
Listen to the beautiful yet convicting words of Jesus Christ:
"As I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another. ..May be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me…Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven….” (John 13:34-35; John 17:23; Matthew 5:16)
Do you hear Him? Do you see His heart? Does your heart beat with His heart? Do you sense the importance and primacy of His teaching? Jesus assumes that love is meant to be seen and is being noticed for its reality or lack of reality. The late Francis Schaeffer once wrote a book called The Church Before the Watching World and spoke of the indispensable Mark of the Christian: Visible love and visible unity among God's people.
Paul says that "the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is God's great work in the souls of His people (1 Thessalonians 3:12) and the fruit of God's work (Galatians 5:22; 1 John 4:19). There is nothing that brings Him glory like the manifestation and practice of love among Christians. There is nothing that makes Jesus Christ more attractive and appealing than the visible demonstration of love from God's people. Oh for us to make a name for Christ by the radical difference of our love for others!
Jonathan Edwards wrote:
"As heaven is a world of love. so the way to heaven is the way of love." May God cause His heavenly love to be lived out on this earth among heavens citizens and ambassadors.
Longing to be an instrument of love for Christ's glory,
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
LOVING DAVID BRAINERD
When my attitude gets bad I often read the Letters of David Brainerd to His Friends in The Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 2. It is a most inspiring, edifying, sobering, and challenging read. David Brainerd lived a very short life: twenty-nine years, five months and nineteen days. Only eight of those years as a believer, and only four of those as a missionary.
John Piper writes of Brainerd:
"Why has Brainerd's life made the impact that it has? One obvious reason is that Jonathan Edwards took the Diaries and published them as a Life of Brainerd in 1749. But why has this book never been out of print? Why did John Wesley say, "Let every preacher read carefully over the 'Life of Brainerd '"? Why was it written of Henry Martyn that "perusing the life of David Brainerd, his soul was filled with a holy emulation of that extraordinary man; and after deep consideration and fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in a resolution to imitate his example"? Why did William Carey regard Edwards' Life of Brainerd as a sacred text? Why did Robert Morrison and Robert McCheyne of Scotland and John Mills of America and Frederick Schwartz of Germany and David Livingston of England and Andrew Murray of South Africa and Jim Elliot of modern America look upon Brainerd with a kind of awe and draw power from him the way they and countless others did ? Gideon Hawley, another missionary protégé of Jonathan Edwards spoke for hundreds when he wrote about his struggles as a missionary in 1753, "I need, greatly need something more than humane (=human or natural) to support me. I read my Bible and Mr. Brainerd's Life, the only books I brought with me, and from them have a little support ."
I sit on the shoulders of these greats and say a hearty AMEN! Let me give you just a taste of Brainerd from his Letter 3 to his brother Israel on January 21, 1734.
"There is but one thing that deserves our highest care and most ardent desires; and that is that we answer the great end for which we were made, to glorify that God who has given us our beings and all our comforts, and do all the good we possibly can to our fellow men, while we live in the world; and verily life is not worth the having, if it not be improved for this noble end and purpose. Yet alas, how little is this thought among mankind! Most men seem to live to themselves, without much regard for the glory of God, or the good of their fellow creatures..."
Brainerd goes on and gives directions to his brother on how to glorify God and make his soul happy in this world and the coming world:
1. Resolve upon, and daily endeavor to practice, a life of seriousness and strict sobriety.
2. Be careful to make improvement of precious time.
3. Take heed that you faithfully perform the business that you have to do in this world, from regard to the commands of God; and not from an ambitious desire of being esteemed better than others.
4. Never expect any satisfaction or happiness from this world. If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world.
5. Never think that you can live to God by your own power and strength; but always look to and rely on Him for assistance, yea, for all strength and grace.
He concludes:
"This... is a life that every Godly soul is pressing after in some good measure. Let it be your great concern, and thus to devote yourself and your all to God."
Pressing hard after the God of David Brainerd, devoting myself and my all to His and my God,
Pastor Bill
John Piper writes of Brainerd:
"Why has Brainerd's life made the impact that it has? One obvious reason is that Jonathan Edwards took the Diaries and published them as a Life of Brainerd in 1749. But why has this book never been out of print? Why did John Wesley say, "Let every preacher read carefully over the 'Life of Brainerd '"? Why was it written of Henry Martyn that "perusing the life of David Brainerd, his soul was filled with a holy emulation of that extraordinary man; and after deep consideration and fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in a resolution to imitate his example"? Why did William Carey regard Edwards' Life of Brainerd as a sacred text? Why did Robert Morrison and Robert McCheyne of Scotland and John Mills of America and Frederick Schwartz of Germany and David Livingston of England and Andrew Murray of South Africa and Jim Elliot of modern America look upon Brainerd with a kind of awe and draw power from him the way they and countless others did ? Gideon Hawley, another missionary protégé of Jonathan Edwards spoke for hundreds when he wrote about his struggles as a missionary in 1753, "I need, greatly need something more than humane (=human or natural) to support me. I read my Bible and Mr. Brainerd's Life, the only books I brought with me, and from them have a little support ."
I sit on the shoulders of these greats and say a hearty AMEN! Let me give you just a taste of Brainerd from his Letter 3 to his brother Israel on January 21, 1734.
"There is but one thing that deserves our highest care and most ardent desires; and that is that we answer the great end for which we were made, to glorify that God who has given us our beings and all our comforts, and do all the good we possibly can to our fellow men, while we live in the world; and verily life is not worth the having, if it not be improved for this noble end and purpose. Yet alas, how little is this thought among mankind! Most men seem to live to themselves, without much regard for the glory of God, or the good of their fellow creatures..."
Brainerd goes on and gives directions to his brother on how to glorify God and make his soul happy in this world and the coming world:
1. Resolve upon, and daily endeavor to practice, a life of seriousness and strict sobriety.
2. Be careful to make improvement of precious time.
3. Take heed that you faithfully perform the business that you have to do in this world, from regard to the commands of God; and not from an ambitious desire of being esteemed better than others.
4. Never expect any satisfaction or happiness from this world. If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world.
5. Never think that you can live to God by your own power and strength; but always look to and rely on Him for assistance, yea, for all strength and grace.
He concludes:
"This... is a life that every Godly soul is pressing after in some good measure. Let it be your great concern, and thus to devote yourself and your all to God."
Pressing hard after the God of David Brainerd, devoting myself and my all to His and my God,
Pastor Bill
Friday, March 9, 2007
Henry Scougal and The Life of God in the Soul of Man
In the 17th century a young theologian/pastor named Henry Scougal (1650-1678) wrote a letter to a friend in need as an encouragement and to help him progress in his spiritual life. It was called The Life of God in the Soul of Man (Christian Focus Publications,1996). After this precious young man tragically died of tuberculosis at the age of 27, his work was later published as a book for a wider readership. A hundred years later, a copy of this book was given to the great evangelist George Whitefield by his friend Charles Wesley. It was instrumental in Whitefield's conversion. Whitefield spoke of this book, "I never knew what true religion was until God sent me this excellent treatise."
John Piper considered this book a major stimulus to his book, The Pleasures of God. He writes, "There are some books whose vision is so deep and clear that truth rings from the pages like the toll of a large bell, perfectly obvious, but rare and precious. They unfold the heart of man and God with such forceful illumination that the truth is not just shown to my mind but created in my heart...so it went as I grazed in the green pasture of this wonderful book." (Taken from the back cover) Piper uses one of Scougal's statements as a major premise for his own book: THE WORTH AND EXCELLENCY OF A SOUL IS TO BE MEASURED BY THE OBJECT OF IT'S LOVE. (Scougal, page 68; Piper, page 17)
I myself have read this book at least four times and am currently rereading it again. Every time I read it, Scougal is like a navigator pointing my soul back on course. Listen to how Scougal defines as True Religion (What we would call Authentic Christianity).
True religion is essentially:
"An inward, free and self-moving principle; and those who have made progress in it, are not acted only by external motives, driven merely by threatenings, nor bribed by promises, nor constrained by laws; but are powerfully inclined to that which is good, and delight in the performance of it. The love which a pious man bears to God and goodness, is not so much by virtue of a command enjoining him so to do, as by a new nature instructing and prompting him to it; nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute, only to appease the Divine justice, or quiet his clamorous conscience; but those religious exercises are the proper emanations of the Divine life, the natural employments of the new-born soul. He prays, and gives thanks, and repents, not only because these things are commanded, but rather because he is sensible of his wants, and of the Divine goodness, and of the folly and misery of a sinful life; his charity is not forced, nor his alms extorted from him, his love makes him willing to give; and though there were no outward obligation, his `heart would devise liberal things'; injustice or intemperance, and all other vices, are as contrary to his temper and constitution, as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit, and impudence and scurrility to those who are naturally modest: so that I may well say with St John, `Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God' (1 John 3:9). Though holy and religious persons do much eye the law of God, and have a great regard unto it, yet it is not so much the sanction of the law, as its reasonableness, and purity, and goodness, which do prevail with them. They account it excellent and desirable in itself, and that in keeping of it there is great reward; and that Divine love wherewith they are acted makes them become a law unto themselves." (Scougal pages 43-44)
Scougal goes on a few paragraphs later:
"Now if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience, and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dullness, and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor; these are the first motions of the Divine life, which though it be faint and weak, will surely be cherished by the influences of heaven, and grow unto greater maturity. But he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle, and doth not aspire unto it, but contents himself with those performances where unto he is prompted by education or custom, by the fear of hell, or carnal notions of heaven, can no more be accounted a religious person, than a puppet can be called a man." (page 45)
Listen to what Scougal says about duty based, external, performance centered religion:
"This forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid, like the motion of a weight forced upward: it is cold and spiritless, like the uneasy compliance of a wife married against her will, who carries it dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love, out of some sense of virtue or honor. Hence also this religion is scant and niggardly, especially in those duties which do greatest violence to men's carnal inclinations, and those slavish spirits will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required; it is a law that compels them, and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to; nay, they will ever be putting such glosses on it, as may leave themselves the greatest liberty: whereas the spirit of true religion is frank and liberal, far from such peevish and narrow reckoning; and he who hath given himself entirely unto God, will never think he doth too much for him." (pages 45-46)
He concludes:
"By this time I hope it doth appear, that religion is with a great deal of reason termed a life, or vital principle, and that it is very necessary to distinguish betwixt it and that obedience which is constrained, and depends on external causes." The fruit of the life of God operating in ones soul is divine love. Listen to how divine love impacts our souls: "Love is that powerful and prevalent passion by which all the faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined, and on which both its perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love: he who loves mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit unto a conformity with the perfections which it loves" (page 68).
Oh Christian get this book and read it! If it has impacted Whitefield, Piper, and countless others; who knows what impact it could make on you and your life. Your soul is precious to God. Invest in its growth and nurture and progress.
Longing for a worthy and most excellent soul,
Pastor Bill
John Piper considered this book a major stimulus to his book, The Pleasures of God. He writes, "There are some books whose vision is so deep and clear that truth rings from the pages like the toll of a large bell, perfectly obvious, but rare and precious. They unfold the heart of man and God with such forceful illumination that the truth is not just shown to my mind but created in my heart...so it went as I grazed in the green pasture of this wonderful book." (Taken from the back cover) Piper uses one of Scougal's statements as a major premise for his own book: THE WORTH AND EXCELLENCY OF A SOUL IS TO BE MEASURED BY THE OBJECT OF IT'S LOVE. (Scougal, page 68; Piper, page 17)
I myself have read this book at least four times and am currently rereading it again. Every time I read it, Scougal is like a navigator pointing my soul back on course. Listen to how Scougal defines as True Religion (What we would call Authentic Christianity).
True religion is essentially:
"An inward, free and self-moving principle; and those who have made progress in it, are not acted only by external motives, driven merely by threatenings, nor bribed by promises, nor constrained by laws; but are powerfully inclined to that which is good, and delight in the performance of it. The love which a pious man bears to God and goodness, is not so much by virtue of a command enjoining him so to do, as by a new nature instructing and prompting him to it; nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute, only to appease the Divine justice, or quiet his clamorous conscience; but those religious exercises are the proper emanations of the Divine life, the natural employments of the new-born soul. He prays, and gives thanks, and repents, not only because these things are commanded, but rather because he is sensible of his wants, and of the Divine goodness, and of the folly and misery of a sinful life; his charity is not forced, nor his alms extorted from him, his love makes him willing to give; and though there were no outward obligation, his `heart would devise liberal things'; injustice or intemperance, and all other vices, are as contrary to his temper and constitution, as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit, and impudence and scurrility to those who are naturally modest: so that I may well say with St John, `Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God' (1 John 3:9). Though holy and religious persons do much eye the law of God, and have a great regard unto it, yet it is not so much the sanction of the law, as its reasonableness, and purity, and goodness, which do prevail with them. They account it excellent and desirable in itself, and that in keeping of it there is great reward; and that Divine love wherewith they are acted makes them become a law unto themselves." (Scougal pages 43-44)
Scougal goes on a few paragraphs later:
"Now if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience, and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dullness, and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor; these are the first motions of the Divine life, which though it be faint and weak, will surely be cherished by the influences of heaven, and grow unto greater maturity. But he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle, and doth not aspire unto it, but contents himself with those performances where unto he is prompted by education or custom, by the fear of hell, or carnal notions of heaven, can no more be accounted a religious person, than a puppet can be called a man." (page 45)
Listen to what Scougal says about duty based, external, performance centered religion:
"This forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid, like the motion of a weight forced upward: it is cold and spiritless, like the uneasy compliance of a wife married against her will, who carries it dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love, out of some sense of virtue or honor. Hence also this religion is scant and niggardly, especially in those duties which do greatest violence to men's carnal inclinations, and those slavish spirits will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required; it is a law that compels them, and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to; nay, they will ever be putting such glosses on it, as may leave themselves the greatest liberty: whereas the spirit of true religion is frank and liberal, far from such peevish and narrow reckoning; and he who hath given himself entirely unto God, will never think he doth too much for him." (pages 45-46)
He concludes:
"By this time I hope it doth appear, that religion is with a great deal of reason termed a life, or vital principle, and that it is very necessary to distinguish betwixt it and that obedience which is constrained, and depends on external causes." The fruit of the life of God operating in ones soul is divine love. Listen to how divine love impacts our souls: "Love is that powerful and prevalent passion by which all the faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined, and on which both its perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love: he who loves mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit unto a conformity with the perfections which it loves" (page 68).
Oh Christian get this book and read it! If it has impacted Whitefield, Piper, and countless others; who knows what impact it could make on you and your life. Your soul is precious to God. Invest in its growth and nurture and progress.
Longing for a worthy and most excellent soul,
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE PLEASANTNESS OF RELIGION
One of my favorite sermons of Jonathan Edwards is his sermon titled The Pleasantness of Religion. He preached this message in 1723. It is a wonderful sermon that I read every once in a while for fresh perspective and . The central theme of his sermon based upon Proverbs 24:13-14, is "It would be worth the while to be religious, if it were only for the pleasantness of it."
Edwards gives what I would consider one of the great appeals to Christianity. He raises five arguments for the pleasantness or attractiveness of Christianity. He knows that for most people Christianity is not seen as a path of pleasantness. Many unbelievers think that all the real pleasures must be denied, and many believers think that the troubles and sorrows of the Christian life outweigh the pleasures. Therefore, Edwards states the opposite in his amazing assertions. For Edwards, Christianity is pleasant because:
1. Religion does not deny a man the pleasures of sense, only taken moderately and with temperance and the right manner.
Edwards shows us that all mankind are given pleasures to enjoy in this life by God. The Christian takes from God and enjoys them in moderation. “Religion allows of the enjoyment of sensitive delights temperately, moderately, and with reason, but the wicked man gluts himself with them.”
2. Religion sweetens temporary delights and pleasures Christianity makes earthly pleasures that much more delightful and enjoyable.
The reason being because they enjoy the gifts from above with the awareness that they are gifts from the true source of delight, God Himself! So there is a double pleasure in both the gifts and the giver of the gifts.
3. There is no pleasure but what brings more of sorrow than of pleasure, but what the godly man either does or may enjoy.
I love this one! There is no pleasure that godly people may not enjoy except those that bring more sorrow than pleasure. God would never have us enjoy things that inevitably lead to sorrow in themselves. Or to put it in the astonishing way that makes it understandable: Christians may seek and should seek only those pleasures that are maximally pleasurable-that is, that have the least sorrows as consequences, including in eternity. Edwards shows us that for the non-Christian, every pleasure they experience on this earth without the pleasures of Christianity that God offers will eventually lead to sorrow. “All pleasures of sin for the most part bring more sorrow than pleasure in this life.”
Think about this, the very things in this life that make you happy, will eventually make you sad. Oh how I have discovered this the older that I get. But Christianity promises that invariably the consequences of our religion will be pleasurable.
4. Christianity brings no new troubles upon man but what have more of pleasure than of trouble
There are no troubles that befall the Christian except those that will bring more pleasure than trouble with them, when all things are considered. He speaks of the three necessary sorrows of the Christian life: Repentance, self denial, and bearing reproach. In regards to what he calls the “sweet-sorrow of repentance
Edwards writes,
“There is repentance of sin: though it be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God's excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder. 'Tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure, and it's impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God, and his willingness to be merciful to us and love us, and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughts of [it]; but this is the very affection that begets true repentance. How much so ever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.”
In regards to the necessary sorrow of self-denial, Edwards says, “Self-denial will also be reckoned amongst the troubles of the godly. . . . But whoever has tried self-denial can give in his testimony that they never experience greater pleasure and joys than after great acts of self-denial. Self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow, and is nothing else but the lancing of a grievous and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation.”
Self-denial serves the fullest delight in God. And the beginnings of delight in God will enable us to deny ourselves the things which seem pleasant (what Hebrews 11:25 calls "the fleeting pleasures of sin"), but in the end will destroy our joy. This is what Jesus argues for self-denial in Mark 8:34-35, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”
Finally, in regard to the necessary sorrow of afflictions and reproaches Edwards says that a believer who is reproached...
“ordinarily can . . . return into the arms of Jesus, his best friend, with the more delight . . . Reproaches are ordered by God for this end, that they may destroy sin, which is the chief root of the troubles of the godly man, and the destruction of it a foundation for delight.”
This is exactly what Matthew 5:1-2; James 1:2; Acts 5:41; and Hebrews 10:34 so profoundly and wonderfully proclaim!
5. The Christian enjoys spiritual pleasures that are far better than any other pleasures.
Edwards writes,
“The pleasures of the soul are far better than of the body, for that is most excellent and has the highest faculties…capable of the greatest delights and most excellent gratifications.”
Edwards concludes his sermon by saying, “It is well worth the while to be religious (i.e. a Christian), if it were only for the pleasantness of it.”
I pray that we would have this view of our faith and that our experience of Christianity would be refreshingly sweet and ongoing in its pleasantness. I pray that our Christianity would be so pleasant in our experience that men would see our pleasant deeds and glorify the Father who is in heaven. If it is not, may we strive through prayer, knowledge, reading, thinking, feeling, and longing for the pleasures that come supremely in knowing Christ and His heavenly rule. It is well worth while for me to be a Christian for the pleasantness of it!
Enjoying the pleasantness of Christianity,
Pastor Bill
Edwards gives what I would consider one of the great appeals to Christianity. He raises five arguments for the pleasantness or attractiveness of Christianity. He knows that for most people Christianity is not seen as a path of pleasantness. Many unbelievers think that all the real pleasures must be denied, and many believers think that the troubles and sorrows of the Christian life outweigh the pleasures. Therefore, Edwards states the opposite in his amazing assertions. For Edwards, Christianity is pleasant because:
1. Religion does not deny a man the pleasures of sense, only taken moderately and with temperance and the right manner.
Edwards shows us that all mankind are given pleasures to enjoy in this life by God. The Christian takes from God and enjoys them in moderation. “Religion allows of the enjoyment of sensitive delights temperately, moderately, and with reason, but the wicked man gluts himself with them.”
2. Religion sweetens temporary delights and pleasures Christianity makes earthly pleasures that much more delightful and enjoyable.
The reason being because they enjoy the gifts from above with the awareness that they are gifts from the true source of delight, God Himself! So there is a double pleasure in both the gifts and the giver of the gifts.
3. There is no pleasure but what brings more of sorrow than of pleasure, but what the godly man either does or may enjoy.
I love this one! There is no pleasure that godly people may not enjoy except those that bring more sorrow than pleasure. God would never have us enjoy things that inevitably lead to sorrow in themselves. Or to put it in the astonishing way that makes it understandable: Christians may seek and should seek only those pleasures that are maximally pleasurable-that is, that have the least sorrows as consequences, including in eternity. Edwards shows us that for the non-Christian, every pleasure they experience on this earth without the pleasures of Christianity that God offers will eventually lead to sorrow. “All pleasures of sin for the most part bring more sorrow than pleasure in this life.”
Think about this, the very things in this life that make you happy, will eventually make you sad. Oh how I have discovered this the older that I get. But Christianity promises that invariably the consequences of our religion will be pleasurable.
4. Christianity brings no new troubles upon man but what have more of pleasure than of trouble
There are no troubles that befall the Christian except those that will bring more pleasure than trouble with them, when all things are considered. He speaks of the three necessary sorrows of the Christian life: Repentance, self denial, and bearing reproach. In regards to what he calls the “sweet-sorrow of repentance
Edwards writes,
“There is repentance of sin: though it be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God's excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder. 'Tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure, and it's impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God, and his willingness to be merciful to us and love us, and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughts of [it]; but this is the very affection that begets true repentance. How much so ever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.”
In regards to the necessary sorrow of self-denial, Edwards says, “Self-denial will also be reckoned amongst the troubles of the godly. . . . But whoever has tried self-denial can give in his testimony that they never experience greater pleasure and joys than after great acts of self-denial. Self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow, and is nothing else but the lancing of a grievous and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation.”
Self-denial serves the fullest delight in God. And the beginnings of delight in God will enable us to deny ourselves the things which seem pleasant (what Hebrews 11:25 calls "the fleeting pleasures of sin"), but in the end will destroy our joy. This is what Jesus argues for self-denial in Mark 8:34-35, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”
Finally, in regard to the necessary sorrow of afflictions and reproaches Edwards says that a believer who is reproached...
“ordinarily can . . . return into the arms of Jesus, his best friend, with the more delight . . . Reproaches are ordered by God for this end, that they may destroy sin, which is the chief root of the troubles of the godly man, and the destruction of it a foundation for delight.”
This is exactly what Matthew 5:1-2; James 1:2; Acts 5:41; and Hebrews 10:34 so profoundly and wonderfully proclaim!
5. The Christian enjoys spiritual pleasures that are far better than any other pleasures.
Edwards writes,
“The pleasures of the soul are far better than of the body, for that is most excellent and has the highest faculties…capable of the greatest delights and most excellent gratifications.”
Edwards concludes his sermon by saying, “It is well worth the while to be religious (i.e. a Christian), if it were only for the pleasantness of it.”
I pray that we would have this view of our faith and that our experience of Christianity would be refreshingly sweet and ongoing in its pleasantness. I pray that our Christianity would be so pleasant in our experience that men would see our pleasant deeds and glorify the Father who is in heaven. If it is not, may we strive through prayer, knowledge, reading, thinking, feeling, and longing for the pleasures that come supremely in knowing Christ and His heavenly rule. It is well worth while for me to be a Christian for the pleasantness of it!
Enjoying the pleasantness of Christianity,
Pastor Bill
Friday, March 2, 2007
DOING WHAT I WANT TO DO WHEN I OUGHT TO DO IT
"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." Romans 7:14-21 ESV
Three of the most liberating truths in my life was when I understood why I don't do what I ought to do and why I do what I do. The truths are simply this:
1. WHEN I DON'T DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO, THE REASON THAT I DON'T DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO IS BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO!
2. I ALWAYS DO WHAT I WANT TO DO.
3. WHEN I DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO IT IS BECAUSE I WANT TO DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO.
The whole issue of obedience and disobedience is about my desires. Our hearts are spiritually and morally flawed. We do not desire what we ought to desire. Yet God holds us responsible for our obedience. We may be corrupt but we are culpable for what we ought to do. So how do we obey when we cannot obey? How do we do what we ought to when we don’t want to? To get to the root, how do our "want to’s” change?
True obedience begins in the heart where God graces the heart to give it a “want to” so that when the time for obedience comes to do what you “ought to” do you will “want to” do what you ought to do; therefore, you will do what you ought to do, a peculiar obedience!
The New Covenant promise is that beneath every act of obedience is the enabling grace of God. Behind every “ought to” done in obedience, God graces our hearts with a “want to”. Augustine put it this way:
"Give me the grace [O Lord] to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . O holy God . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.”
God’s sovereign work in our heart is the key to obedience. True obedience is where God gives you a new desire so that you will want what you ought to want in order to do what you ought to do. That is to say, when temptation comes you will desire God and pleasing Him more than the temptation and its fleeting pleasures.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)
“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4:11)
"Now the God of peace . . . equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21)
We must pray for the desire in our heart to “want to” do what we “ought to” do and God will do give it to you. We can pray Psalm 119:36, “Incline my heart to your testimonies…” Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days". Hebrews 4;16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help (us to want what we ought to want so that we would do what we ought to do) in time of need.”
May God put in your heart a “want to” like He did in Augustine, who wrote,
“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! . . . You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure."
Seeking to want what I ought to want so that I will do what I ought to do for God's glory and my soul's satisfaction,
Pastor Bill
Three of the most liberating truths in my life was when I understood why I don't do what I ought to do and why I do what I do. The truths are simply this:
1. WHEN I DON'T DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO, THE REASON THAT I DON'T DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO IS BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO!
2. I ALWAYS DO WHAT I WANT TO DO.
3. WHEN I DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO IT IS BECAUSE I WANT TO DO WHAT I OUGHT TO DO.
The whole issue of obedience and disobedience is about my desires. Our hearts are spiritually and morally flawed. We do not desire what we ought to desire. Yet God holds us responsible for our obedience. We may be corrupt but we are culpable for what we ought to do. So how do we obey when we cannot obey? How do we do what we ought to when we don’t want to? To get to the root, how do our "want to’s” change?
True obedience begins in the heart where God graces the heart to give it a “want to” so that when the time for obedience comes to do what you “ought to” do you will “want to” do what you ought to do; therefore, you will do what you ought to do, a peculiar obedience!
The New Covenant promise is that beneath every act of obedience is the enabling grace of God. Behind every “ought to” done in obedience, God graces our hearts with a “want to”. Augustine put it this way:
"Give me the grace [O Lord] to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . O holy God . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.”
God’s sovereign work in our heart is the key to obedience. True obedience is where God gives you a new desire so that you will want what you ought to want in order to do what you ought to do. That is to say, when temptation comes you will desire God and pleasing Him more than the temptation and its fleeting pleasures.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)
“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4:11)
"Now the God of peace . . . equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21)
We must pray for the desire in our heart to “want to” do what we “ought to” do and God will do give it to you. We can pray Psalm 119:36, “Incline my heart to your testimonies…” Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days". Hebrews 4;16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help (us to want what we ought to want so that we would do what we ought to do) in time of need.”
May God put in your heart a “want to” like He did in Augustine, who wrote,
“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! . . . You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure."
Seeking to want what I ought to want so that I will do what I ought to do for God's glory and my soul's satisfaction,
Pastor Bill
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