One of the most comforting verses in the Gospel of John is also one of the most convicting.  In chapter 14, Jesus told His disciples,

If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14:15, NIV)

That’s pretty clear. We could stop there, making this arguably the shortest blog post in history.  But let’s press on because I think it can be easy to misunderstand and misapply this short verse.  First, let me explain what I think the verse is not saying, followed by what I think it is saying.

What It Doesn’t Mean
Jesus’ words to the disciples and to us, aren’t primarily intended to serve as a rebuke for slothful Christians to get their act together and start obeying.  Nor are they a reminder that what I really need in the Christian life is more self-generated performance so that I can be more pleasing to Him.  In both of these scenarios, the focus of attention and motivation is placed more on me and my performance for Him instead of on Him and His performance for me.  In both scenarios, the love and unconditional acceptance that God has for me is easily overlooked and outward obedience for the sake of outward obedience is elevated to a dangerous status.  In the first example, obedience becomes a goal in and of itself and grace, coupled with God’s love for me as motivation to obey, is easily overlooked.  In the latter example, it’s easy to fall into the trap of overemphasizing or highlighting my own responsibility to obey as a way to prove to others and myself, that I love Him.  I have to “try harder” or “do this better” because if I don’t or can’t, I must not truly love Him.  When I have this mindset, there are two possible outcomes: First, it’s easy to become harsh, judgmental, and critical toward others who may not be performing at the same level of “obedience” that I am, or at the level that I think they ought to be.  And second, depending on how I’m performing at any given moment, it’s easy to become either discouraged and defeated by my performance or prideful, arrogant, and harsh because of it.  In both examples, obedience and self-generated performance that focuses too narrowly on myself, can become an idol when separated from that which truly motivates me – God’s love for me.

What It Does Mean
We cannot separate Jesus’ words to obey from Scripture’s fuller context of what it means to love God.  We don’t naturally love God.  In fact, we are all born into this world hating God (Romans 1:30).  It takes a supernatural intervening act of God Himself to change our helpless bent toward hating Him.  Look at what the Apostle John said,

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

The only reason that I have any affection for God at all is because He initiated my salvation and loved me first.  If He had not done that, I would still be on the fast track to hell.  But even though I am His and He has done everything in purchasing my salvation, my love for Him is still imperfect.  Because I still struggle with remaining sin, my love for Him is always imperfect and tarnished.  Because my love for Him is imperfect, my obedience is also imperfect (1 John 2:1).  Because my obedience is imperfect, I dare not focus so narrowly on it that it becomes all-consuming and I lose sight of what He has done for me.

On the other hand, His performance for me is perfect and untarnished.  His love for me is also perfect, unconditional, without merit, irrevocable, and eternal.  My focus desperately needs to be on His love for me, not on my love for Him.  His love for me isn’t increased or diminished in any way by my stellar obedience or lack of it.  If I give His love for me its rightful place in my thinking and rest in it above my love for Him, it causes me to want to obey.  That is what John is saying to us in the verse above.  His love for me is what I need to be reminded of.  When we hear Jesus say “If you love me, you will obey what I command”, we shouldn’t be quick to become inwardly focused on our own obedience or performance as a way to show off how much we love Him or to win His approval.  We should instead remind ourselves that He loved us first with a perfect love, enabling me to love Him, albeit, imperfectly.  Meditating on and resting in His love will cause us to want to please Him in all things and obedience to His commands will become attractive (1 John 5:3).  And because we are looking to Jesus and His performance and love for us instead of looking at ourselves and our performance for Him, we rest in His unconditional love for us that isn’t diminished one whit when we fail to obey perfectly.  And we will fail, but grace will prevail.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Tim Challies posted a thought-provoking blog on worship this morning.  He quotes a section of D.A. Carson from his book Worship by the Book.  Take a look at this….

This morning, as most of the readers of this site head to church to worship the Lord, it seemed appropriate to post a few words on worship. These words come courtesy of D.A. Carson and his book Worship by the Book. Here Carson has just offered a definition of worship and he is now expanding upon it, challenging the reader to pursue true worship.

*****

In an age increasingly suspicious of (linear) thought, there is much more respect for the “feelings” of things – whether a film or a church service. It is disturbingly easy to plot surveys of people, especially young people, drifting from a church of excellent preaching and teaching to one with excellent music because, it is alleged, there is “better worship” there. But we need to… [read more]

Fewer books of the Bible are more precious to me than the book of Hebrews.  In the book of Hebrews, Jesus is better.  He is better than the angels (Hebrews 1:5-6).  He is better than Moses (Hebrews 3:3-6).  He is better than Joshua (Hebrews 4:8-11).  He is better than Abraham (Hebrew 6:13-20).  He is better than Aaron (Hebrews 7:11).  He is the Mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22).  The covenant that He mediates contains better promises (Hebrews 8:6).  He offered a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9:14).  And He is a better Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20-21).  In the book of Hebrews, Jesus is better.

A central theme in the book of Hebrews is the cross.  More than any other single book of the Bible, the book of Hebrews explains what Jesus accomplished on the cross and Hebrews 10:14 lies at the center of that discussion.  This short verse is packed with remarkable truths about what Jesus purchased on the cross for all of all His elect.  While it is not the only passage in Scripture that speaks of Jesus’ death on the cross, it is one of the most succinct references to the cross in the Bible.  In Hebrews 10:14, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells his readers, “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”[1] In its immediate context, the phrase “one sacrifice” is a clear reference to the cross.  The goal of this paper is to discuss in more detail what the writer of Hebrews meant by the phrase “those who are being made holy.”

Setting the Stage
For several years I’ve interpreted Hebrews 10:14 to have this double meaning: by His substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus made perfect payment for sin for all of the elect (by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever) and he purchased a new heart and a changed life for all of the elect (those who are being made holy).  In other words, I have long held that the writer of Hebrews’ point in this passage was twofold:

1. It is a declaration of how one begins the Christian life – the forgiveness of sin (by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever).
2. It is also a declaration of how a believer’s life and behavior look following conversion – the new heart and the changed life (those who are being made holy).

In this interpretation, the phrase “those who are being made holy” refers to the ongoing life transformation that a believer experiences following salvation.  It refers to the daily manifestation of the new heart and the changed life.  For me, this passage has always had this twofold purpose of the forgiveness of sin (that point is clear in the text) and practical sanctification as evidenced by a changed life, both of which are guaranteed by Christ’s death on the cross (by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever).  Now, years later, I believe my understanding of this passage needs retooled for the purpose of clarity.  I still think point one is correct.  The forgiveness of sin secured by the cross for the elect is the context of the entire first half of Hebrews chapter 10.  But point 2 is going to be the focus of this paper because I don’t think the changed life, the new heart, or daily sanctification is what is in view in the second half of this passage.  Before we continue, let me reassure you that I am not moving away from my belief that the cross does secure for the elect both the complete forgiveness of sin and a changed life.  What has changed for me is that I no longer believe that Hebrews 10:14 is a good proof text for defining the changed life we receive in Christ because both the immediate context of Hebrews 10:14 and the larger context of the book of Hebrews as a whole, drive the interpretation in a different direction.  The great truth of the changed life is probably better supported and defined elsewhere in Scripture and I think the permanence of the forgiveness of sin is the only issue raised in Hebrews 10:14.  I will base my argument around the writer’s use of the key phrases, “being made holy” and “those who are being made holy” as we discuss how the writer employs those same terms elsewhere in the book when used in similar contexts of the cross-work of Christ.

Context is King
The word translated “holy” by the NIV and “sanctified” by the ESV in Hebrews 10:14 simply refers in this context to someone who has been consecrated or set apart as sacred by God and for God.  Both translations are correct.  Believers are both holy and sanctified because they have been set apart by God from the rest of humanity.  The church is a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9) that has been set apart from the rest of mankind by saving grace. The church has been set apart by God and for God.  But the word translated “holy” or “sanctified” in Hebrews 10:14 can have a double meaning.  It is used elsewhere in the New Testament to refer to either our state of being holy because of our salvation (the forgiveness of sin) or to our ongoing sanctification and the transformed life that every believer experiences (see both uses in 1 Corinthians 1:2).  By examining the uses of the word alone, either interpretation can be correct.  This means that we must not only look at the word “holy” or “sanctified” alone, but we must also look at the context that it appears in for our answers because Scripture uses it on both senses.  Context must drive our interpretation.

With every visit that I make to the Book of Hebrews, I find more compelling evidence that my long standing interpretation may not be what the writer had in mind.  In fact, it’s starting to seem forced onto the text and I want to make sure that I’m not bringing something to the text that isn’t intended.  Let’s begin by looking at the phrase “being made holy” as it’s employed in similar contexts elsewhere in the Book of Hebrews.  There are a total of four of them, including our passage in question.  The first occurrence that we should look at is in the immediate context of Hebrews 10:14.  In verse 10 of this same chapter the writer says,

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The “will” that the writer mentions is a reference to God’s sovereign will to save a people for Himself.  In other words, it’s shorthand for the cross.  Let’s take a closer look at the context by reading verses 1-10.  I have emphasized parts of the passage to help in our discussion.

1) The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming–not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.  2) If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.  3) But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,  4) because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.  5) Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:  “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;  6) with burnt offerings and sin offerings  you were not pleased.  7) Then I said, ‘Here I am–it is written about me in the scroll–I have come to do your will, O God.’”  8 ) First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made).  9) Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.  10) And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  Hebrews 10:1-10  Emphasis added.

The clear context is the forgiveness of sins.  How one obtains the forgiveness of sin is what the writer is addressing here.  What was pictured in the Old Covenant animal sacrifices could never remove sin, but the death of Christ actually brings complete forgiveness, once for all.  One is a shadow that does nothing in terms of real forgiveness of sin.  The other sacrifice of Jesus on the cross actually takes away sin.  The phrase, “he sets aside the first to establish the second” in verse 9 is a reference to his discussion in verses 8 and 9 (see my emphases in the passage cited).  The “first” of verse 9 is a reference back to verse 8 where the writer cites Psalm 40:6.  The “second” of verse 9 is a reference back to the first half of verse 9 – “then he said” – where the writer cites Psalm 40:7-8.  In saying, “he sets aside the first to establish the second” the writer simply means that the Old Covenant atonement for sin (which never forgave sin) as spelled out in Psalm 40:6, gives way to the New Covenant atonement of Christ’s one sacrifice of himself for sin (Psalm 40:7-8) and its recipients experience true and complete forgiveness of sin.  As we get to the heart of our discussion in verse 10, the “will” that is mentioned is a clear reference to God’s eternal plan to save a people for Himself through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross as Psalm 40:7-8 states.  The writer’s use of our phrase, “have been made holy” in verse 10 cannot be a reference to sanctification in the sense of the transformed life, but in this context, it is a reference to Christ’s sin offering and the forgiveness of sin that every believer experiences.  Being made holy or being sanctified in this context means that one is made acceptable and set apart for God by experiencing true forgiveness of sin through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.  It is a reference to the forgiveness of sin brought to pass by the cross.  The forgiveness of sin is the context of this section of Hebrews 10, not the daily, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in my life.  That doesn’t fit the context and Hebrews 10:14 sits in this same context.

The next occurrence of our phrase is in chapter 2:10-13 where the writer of Hebrews says,

10) In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.  11) Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.  12) He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”  13) And again, “I will put my trust in him.”  And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”  Hebrews 10:10-13, Emphasis added.

Once again, context must drive our interpretation and the context is clearly salvation; sanctification in the sense of becoming part of God’s family and the forgiveness of sin, not sanctification in the sense of the transformed life.  The issue at hand is how one becomes a part of the family of God, not how one looks after being in the family.  Jesus is the one who “makes men holy” by suffering on the cross (verse 10) and the family of believers (the church) are the recipients of this “salvation” (again, verse 10) and as a result of the forgiveness of sin for the elect accomplished on the cross, they are described as “those who are made holy.”  Those who experience the salvation of verse 10 are accepted by the Father unconditionally because their sins are forgiven and they are simultaneously placed into the family of believers (verse 11) and are elevated to the status of being God’s children because of the cross. To interpret this reference of being made holy to mean my day-to-day sanctification as a believer is forced and not in sync with the clear context of the passage, salvation.

The third and final occurrence of our phrase is in chapter 13:11-14:

11) The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12) And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.  13) Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14) For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.  Hebrews 13:11-14, Emphasis added.

These verses are loaded with good things that need to be unpacked but for the sake of time, we will limit our discussion to the points I have emphasized.  Simply stated, the sin offerings of the Old Covenant served as a temporary illustration of what was coming in the New Covenant era and they never actually removed sin (cf. Hebrews 9:9-10, 10:3-4).  By contrast, Jesus’ sacrifice of himself on the cross actually makes people holy by removing their sin and placing in their account, His righteousness.  To be made holy in this context once again means to be set apart or made acceptable to the Father by the death of Jesus on the cross.  One is made acceptable to the Father by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, which results in true and complete forgiveness of sin.  Like those we’ve already seen, this passage uses the phrase “make holy” in similar fashion to the others and is a clear reference to the salvation that occurs at conversion.  The context won’t allow it to refer to sanctification.

So far, we have seen that in the three other occurrences within the book of Hebrews of the phrases “made holy” or “make holy”, that all three refer to the salvation that occurs at conversion and are centered on Christ’s atoning work on the cross to make a true people of God.  In these three instances, to be made holy is shorthand for being saved.  It is shorthand for repentance and the forgiveness of sin.  It is the writer of Hebrews’ way of saying, “here’s what you get when you repent and believe: complete forgiveness of sin because of the cross.”  We are now ready to see if Hebrews 10:14 is being used by the writer in the same way as the other instances.  We’ve already discussed the context of verses 1-10, concluding that the context was holiness in the sense of the forgiveness of sin.  Verse 14 is in this same context of the forgiveness of sin.  Here’s a look at verse 14 as it appears in the larger context of verses 10-18:

10) And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  11) Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.  12) But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.  13) Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,  14) because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.  15) The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:  16) “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.  I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”  17) Then he adds:  “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18) And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Hebrews 10:10-18, Emphasis added.

Let’s walk through this passage together, noting the points I’ve emphasized in bold.  First, we have been made holy or been sanctified through the death of Christ on the cross (vs. 10).  It’s important to note that going into this context, the phrase “made holy” is a reference to the forgiveness of sin (again, vs. 10).  Likewise, Jesus offered one sacrifice as payment for sins (vs. 12). Verse 14 merges these two concepts (being made holy in verse 10 and one sacrifice for sins in verse 12) beautifully into one glorious summary: by one sacrifice for sins, Jesus makes perfect forever all of those that His sacrifice makes holy.  This also fits the larger context of the book Hebrews.

Remember that these Hebrew believers were being pressured to abandon the gospel and return to Judaism.  The writer of Hebrews is telling them in verse 14 that genuine believers could never do such a thing.  Why? Because by one sacrifice, Christ has made perfect forever those who have experienced true conversion and the forgiveness of sin.  Jesus’ death on the cross guarantees that all of those for whom He died will persevere to the end because His sacrifice on their behalf guarantees it.  For by one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever, those for whom He died.  Instead of referring to ongoing sanctification and the purchase of a transformed life, the phrase, “those who are being made holy” is a clear reference in this context to what takes place at conversion with the forgiveness of sin.  In the book of Hebrews, it is a reference to entering God’s family.  Before someone picks up stones to stone me, let me restate what I said at the beginning. I am not saying that believers aren’t transformed by grace.  I am simply saying that Hebrews 10:14 is a weak proof text for illustrating that truth.  Hebrews 10:14 is all about God’s performance for me, not my performance for Him.  It is about grace that brings me into His family and the grace that keeps me there.  I don’t want to downplay the importance of my responsibilities in the Christian life (Romans 6:1-2, Ephesians 2:10), but that’s not the context of Hebrews 10:14.  That important discussion belongs elsewhere.  In Hebrews 10:14, I am accepted into God’s family by grace alone and by grace alone, I am kept there.

I was blessed by this blog I read today at Grace for Life.  Good reminder of the gospel and grace.  Check it out…

http://www.graceforlife.com/2006/03/loving-jesus-vs-admiring-jesus.html

Mike

This morning I hit Alan Knox’s blog at the Assembling of the Church and read his latest post called, Grace to Live.  I think his summary nailed what we are to be about and I want to share it with you.  He said,

So, to repeat something that I said earlier: God does not save us by grace so that we must then live according to the law. God saves us by his grace so that we can then live according to his grace. If we trust God for salvation, let’s also trust him to teach us how to live. If someone is not living a godly life, don’t teach them to change their behavior. Instead, point them to God and teach them how to live in his grace. If someone is not demonstrating righteousness and justice toward others, don’t try to change them by forcing them to serve others. Instead, point them to God and teach them how to live in his grace.

This was a good reminder to stay gospel focused in all we do and think and it’s something that the Lord has been teaching me lately.  We live in the gospel and we never leave it.  If we do, we can quickly get into trouble and become hard and legalistic.  It’s sometimes easy to think that the gospel is something we master and then we move on to other things.  Instead, we should be reminding one another of the cross because it is grace that brought us into the kingdom and it is grace that teaches us how to live to God’s glory (Galatians 3:3).  You can see Alan’s entire blog post [HERE].

This afternoon I came a across a few blogs that Paul Tripp has recently written on Psalm 73.  I hope you’ll be as encouraged from reading them as I was.  It looks like he may be adding more, but here’s what I found so far:

• Psalm 73: Too Good to be True?

• Psalm 73: Envy is a Window

• Psalm 73: The Destiny Hermeneutic

• Psalm 73: The Old Story

Enjoy!

It’s official.  I’m probably crazy to do this, but I’m going to dust off my Greek skills and give myself a refresher this summer.  I’m finding my vocabulary isn’t hurting like I thought it would be, and things seem to be coming back ok so far.  Like riding a bike?  I don’t think so, but rewarding if I can pull it off.  Using Mounce.  I don’t think he was around when I first learned Greek in the late 70s.  Wish me providence – or Calvinistic luck!  I’ll keep you posted on progress or lack thereof.

When I was in High School, I had a job as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Let me put that in perspective (and date myself) by telling you that Colonel Sanders (the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken) was still alive and doing T.V. commercials when I worked there.  It wasn’t called KFC way back then either, so we’re talking waaaay long ago!  It was acceptable back then to use the word “fried” when referencing food.  In spite of being a hot and steamy place to work, the job had some perks.  I got to handle the “eleven secret herbs and spices” on a daily basis.  I also got to eat some of the profits free of charge.  It also made me very popular with some of my friends who would pull up to the back door at closing time because they knew that any food that was left over, was up for grabs and they were always hungry that late at night.  I won’t say why.  My parents benefited too because I was always bringing home delicious and unsold fried chicken.  No wonder our arteries are clogged.

A downside to working there, especially in the summer, was the heat.  You’ve probably heard the phrase, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”, and it applied in spades there.  It was so incredibly hot because back then, we cooked the chicken in huge pressure cookers that were full of boiling grease.  Just like the old car commercial that used the tag line, “This isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile”, these weren’t your mother’s pressure cookers.  They were big – very big.  We could put 10-12 chickens in these huge cookers with room to spare.  Once we secured the lid, the cooking time was about 15 minutes.  So picture six of these pressure cookers lined up in a row sitting atop large industrial gas burners, each hissing away as the pressure in each one rose higher and higher to their optimum level.  The heat that all of them combined together put off, was at times unbearable, and I remember a few instances where I did have to literally leave the kitchen because I couldn’t take the heat.

I was reminded of this story after meeting with a friend a few weeks ago.  One of the subjects that we discussed was pressure in the Christian’s life and what produces true and lasting change.  Not the usual or normal kind of pressure that comes from trials or trying to balance work and church or trying to balance family and marriage or whether to watch Lost or American Idol (that decision’s always full of pressure), but the kind of pressure that we can sometimes needlessly impose on ourselves or others to change.  Sometimes we turn the heat up on each other and we press for change when the Holy Spirit may not be working in our lives to effect those same changes.  False pressure to change simply because I think you should change is harmful and legalistic.  Most of us don’t respond well to the external pressure of others to grow or change, or if we do respond, it may be to please someone else’s expectation of us or to satisfy an unrealistic expectation we’ve set for ourselves and the change may be temporary.  When the change proves to be temporary, we can start to beat ourselves up because we think we’ve failed, and we are robbed of our joy because we’ve moved away from grace.

On the other hand, change that is brought about by the Holy Spirit’s conviction is unstoppable and efficacious. We all respond well to encouragement and the ultimate encourager and agent of genuine change is the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit does a work in our lives, he is patient, gentle, full of grace and mercy, and his work in us always produces true and lasting results.  Always.  Even in those times when the Lord himself puts us in the pressure cooker of trials or stressful life situations, he does it perfectly, gently, lovingly, graciously, mercifully, and ultimately, we are encouraged by it.  Check out Hebrews 12:4-11,

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:4-11, emphasis mine)

When the Lord brings hardship into our lives, it is because he loves us perfectly and he is changing us to be more like Jesus.  We can glean from the passage above that when hardship hits, it ultimately encourages us (even though we may not think that while we are in the middle of it) because it ultimately produces a harvest of righteousness and peace in our lives.  If the Lord takes me through some hardship and in the process, reveals something sinful in my life that I need to confess and repent of, it is liberating because the burden of that sin is lifted and I share more fully in his holiness.  We become trained by the discipline that comes from hardship because it is the Lord’s doing and it is done in his timing.  It always produces a harvest of peace and righteousness and we grow in grace simply because he did it.  This is a lot different than the kind of pressure that we sometimes inflict on ourselves or on one another to change for the sake of change, apart from any work of the Spirit.  That sort of pressure can often result in self-condemnation because I can easily get task oriented and then consumed with guilt when I fail at adequately doing the task.  It’s often false pressure that produces false or temporary change to satisfy my own legalism or the legalism of the one applying the pressure.  One is the Spirit’s work and the other is human effort exerted to meet a false standard of righteousness or just to meet someone’s expectation of how I ought to be.

Conviction vs. Self Condemnation
I don’t know about you, but I get impatient sometimes.  I sometimes get impatient with myself and I sometimes get impatient with others.  I know it’s a stretch and I’m sure it’s a little hard for you to believe, but sometimes others get impatient with me.  I know, it’s hard to believe!  But it’s true.  One of the ways that I can get impatient with others is when I think that I have identified some area in their Christian life where they need to grow or change, and yet the Lord doesn’t seem to be showing them the same thing.  I know others sometimes get impatient with me for the same reason.  One reason we get impatient is because we are all dependent on the Lord’s timing, and the Spirit’s work in our lives and in the lives of other believers around us is seldom adjusted to our time table or our expectations.  We want others to grow at our rate and we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that our rate of growth is the standard.  But we need to be careful at this point to pray and acknowledge our complete dependence on the Holy Spirit’s timing and be patient.  I may be taken by surprise and the area that I thought my friend or loved one needed to change in may not be an issue at all, and the Lord may instead use it to reveal something in my life that needs changed, so be ready and expect the unexpected (Matthew 7:3-5).  Either way, I have found that I don’t pray enough for others and I am impatient because I don’t want to wait on the Lord’s timing.  But I need to pray for them and myself because the conviction brought about by the Holy Spirit leads to repentance and change and a renewal of grace and the gospel.  Change because I think someone should change is legalism and will result in self-condemnation when I fail.  And I will fail.  Elyse Fitzpatrick does a good job pointing out the differences between the Holy Spirit’s convicting of sin and self condemnation in Comforts from the Cross, pg. 36:

There is a significant difference between conviction brought about by the Spirit and self-condemnation brought about by the Accuser as he acts on my pride.  Conviction of sin draws me away from myself and toward God; it frees me to repent, grants me sorrow over offending my King, and floods me with relief in knowing that his smile still rests upon me.  It eventuates in my loving Jesus more.  Paul’s words from Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” bestow great relief on my soul.

Self-condemnation, on the other hand, draws me down into myself and away from God.  It makes me afraid and distrustful of him.  It entraps me in unrelenting self-loathing and unbelief.  It makes my heart cold toward the Lord; he’s seen as a harsh taskmaster, a cruel tormentor.  It makes me think of my Savior the way I should think of my enemy, and this reversal brings a vicious glee to the Accuser.  Jesus slips from preeminence and is replaced by my shattered image of myself.  Self-condemnation doesn’t make me love Jesus more, because it’s not essentially about him.  It’s about me.

I need to be more patient with others, and I need to trust in the Lord’s timing as he works in their lives.  His timing is perfect and he does all things well.

I think this subject is something that affects us all.  Or at least the potential is there.  It’s one of those frog in the kettle experiences that sneak up on you unnoticed and then you suddenly realize you’re in the throes of it.  I don’t think any of us wakes up one day and thinks, “Today would be a good day to start down the road of performance-based Christianity.”  Instead, it takes us by surprise and that’s one thing that makes it necessary to talk about from time to time.  In my own experience, being caught in the trap of performance-based Christianity has a subtle beginning and when you’re in the midst of it, you can be blind to it, apart from the Lord showing it to you.  Like any other trial, the experience is not wasted but once you recognize it for what it is and repent, your grip on grace tightens.

A Working Definition
It’s necessary to start with a good working definition, so let’s do that.  What do I mean by performance-based Christianity? A couple of days ago, I stumbled across a good definition of it and instead of reinventing the wheel, I thought I would just use it.  The following is a clear definition of what I mean by performance-based Christianity, written by Terry Rayburn at his Grace for Life blog.  You can see his entire post [HERE].  He says,

The Performance-Based Christianity type I speak of is, I believe, the most destructive to the spiritual walk of the Christian, because it does several bad things:

1. It makes a Christian think they are better or worse than other Christians, causing pride or despair respectively;

2. It encourages the Christian to be self-centered — always examining his navel as to whether he is “measuring up” (and he never is, of course) — instead of being Christ-centered, looking to Jesus and fellowshiping with Him;

I think Rayburn’s definition nails it.  It at least paints an accurate picture of how performance-based Christianity has worked in my life.  Let’s spend the rest of the time in this blog fleshing out Rayburn’s definition and talking about how pride, despair, and a constant measuring of one’s self against a performance yard stick instead of the gospel and the cross, can lead to either an elitist or defeatist view of the Christian life.

Setting Aside the Gospel
Performance-based Christianity often begins with a subtle setting aside of the gospel.  It’s subtle because just like we don’t wake up one day thinking performance-based Christianity would be a good thing to start doing, we also don’t begin our day thinking the gospel would be a good thing to set aside.  It’s subtle, it’s harmful for a believer, and it’s where things begin to go bad.  By setting aside the gospel, I simply mean that we sometimes tend to think of the gospel as something that gets us started in the Christian life, as something that we get a handle on, and then we move on to the deeper things in Scripture, setting the gospel aside as though it is something that we have mastered and have since outgrown.

It has been my own experience that in performance mode, this setting aside of the gospel creates a vacuum that needs to be filled, and we most often fill it with substitutions that in and of themselves, are good things, but if removed from the larger context of the gospel, can soon become harmful things that either feed our pride, or cause despair.  Two things that come to mind for me are theology and performance.  Outside of the context of the gospel, either or both of these good things (and they are both very good and necessary!) can quickly and easily become ugly because my tendency, apart from the gospel, is to turn them into an idol and they become an end in and of themselves.  One way that I can tell if my theology has become an idol is if I have an insatiable need to be right, especially in insignificant things.  I can tell if my performance has become an idol if I am preoccupied with the quantity and quality of what I’m doing in comparison to those around me, instead of resting in the cross and Jesus’ perfect performance on my behalf.  Theology outside of the context of the gospel can lead to pride and a critical, harsh, and impatient spirit.  Performance outside of the context of the gospel can lead to prideful and self-righteous ambition as long as I am performing to the standard of my preset goals.  But if I fail to consistently meet those goals, I run the risk of falling into discouragement and despair.  Let’s look at both of these more closely.

A Critical Spirit and the Constant Need to be Right
Good theology is important. The gospel itself is good theology.  I’m not saying that theology is unimportant or should be watered down, but I am saying that theology unimmersed in the gospel can lead to a critical and prideful spirit.  Gospel-less theology or gospel-lite theology can feed the flame of performance-based Christianity making it easy to become critical, harsh, and intolerant of other believers.  When we wed performance-based Christianity with what may indeed be good (but gospel-lite) theology, we can easily fall into the trap of being critical of other believers simply because they don’t use the same terms we would use, or the same phrases we would use in explaining their position on a given subject.  Within performance-based Christianity, I have to be right in what I say because if I’m not, I’m not performing to the level of the counterfeit standard that I’ve set for myself and those around me.  So being right becomes paramount.  I can easily become obsessed with the need to be right in performance-based Christianity if that’s where I’ve set the bar.  But this is self-righteousness dressed in a different suit.  Paul Tripp made an interesting comment about self-righteousness that I think lends to our discussion.  He said this on Twitter, so it’s short and sweet because Twitter only allows you to have 140 characters.  Is it legitimate to use Twitter as a source?  I hope so, because I’m going to.  He said,

“…self-righteousness tends to makes us feel more entitled than blessed…more demanding than grateful.”  Paul David Tripp (Posted on Twitter May 22, 2009).

It is true.  Performance-based Christianity creates within us a self-righteousness that feels entitled to certain things, not blessed if it receives them.  The Bible calls that pride.  Humanly speaking, the scary thing about performance-based Christianity is that we can be completely blind to it when we are in the center of it.  I am speaking from experience, not theoretically. Performance-based Christianity, coupled with gospel-lite theology, can cause its proponent to be adversarial and critical for the sake of being adversarial and critical because of the ongoing need to be right.  Timothy was on the front lines of the battle for the gospel.  He was in the thick of it as he contended for the faith.  Yet it was in that context that Paul reminded him,

Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.  And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.  Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26, NIV)

Did you catch that?  Even when contending and striving for the purity of the gospel, Paul said that the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome.  I am never justified in rolling my sleeves up and looking for a fight for the sake of looking for a fight so that I can be right.  The Lord’s servant must not be characterized by being a bully or picking a fight.  As I mentioned above, being right can mean that I insist on you using my theological terms or my theological phrases instead of your own because mine are better.  Mine may be better, but because I am more performance-driven than grace-driven, I have to be right, therefore, you have to change to suit me.  I’ve actually been critical of other dear brothers because they have chosen to use a different vocabulary than mine in expressing a theological viewpoint.  I have been critical because mine is better and they should have used mine.  I have been critical of other dear brothers and been quick to shut them down when they approached me with many of these same ideas that I am sharing with you about performance-based Christianity and the need for a gospel-centered life.  But because their thoughts were still in seed form and not fully developed, and they weren’t using the same theological phrasing that we used to agree should be used, I was quick to criticize and slow to listen, all because I had to be right, even if it meant picking a fight.  I have even read books for the purpose of discovering what was “wrong” with them so that I could blog on it and be right.  I have deleted all of those blog posts.  This is the ugly outcome of performance-based Christianity.  It is deceptive and it creeps up on you slowly.  It is sinful pride in action.  But the Lord has graciously opened my eyes to it and he has granted me repentance.  I have sought forgiveness from those dear friends of mine whom I was critical of and our fellowship today is sweeter than it’s been in years.  God is good. God is gracious!  Speaking of grace, here’s another quote about the need to be right and the work of grace in our lives that I found encouraging.  You can find this quote on-line [HERE] at the Of First Importance web site.

The Paradox of Grace: “This is the paradox of grace. He who insists he is right will be pronounced wrong, while he who admits he is wrong will be declared right. The righteousness of God is only given to those who stand in the sinners place.” – Stanley Voke, Personal Revival (Waynesboro, Ga.: OM Literature, nd), 24.

Abraham Piper is correct when he says that the drive to have others always agree with me amounts to legalism.  This quote is written in the context of his marriage relationship, but the principles applies to our discussion.

We’re not always in perspectival agreement. And I don’t think that’s necessary. I think that’s legalism, where everybody must absolutely agree with my perspectives on everything. Abraham Piper You can view it in its entirety [HERE].

Setting the Performance Bar
I want to share a quick story with you before continuing.  For those of you who know me personally, this story will be a surprise. Are you ready?  Here it is.  I competed in track and field for 2 years in High School.  Yep, it’s true.  Me, in shorts, in the early ’70’s, outside, running and jumping over things.  It’s true.  I wasn’t any good and I never won anything, so that part should be no surprise to you.  But I did compete and I loved the high jump.  I could do the high jump all day.  Again, I wasn’t any good at it, and with my low center of gravity, it probably wasn’t a good choice of sport, but I loved it nonetheless.  I loved the feeling of accomplishment as I leaped over that bar without it touching my back or backside, and then falling on that soft mat and seeing the bar still in place.  I had made it over the bar!  That was the good news.  The bad news?  Since I had made it over the bar in its current position, it was raised to the next highest position and I had to try again to make it over.  It was inevitable that sooner or later (is that redundant?), the bar would be raised too high for me to make it over, and I would fail.

My experiences with performance-based Christianity were similar.  Slowly, over a period of several years, I unknowingly set a performance bar and the bar was a contrived, arbitrary standard that I had set for myself and then imposed it on those around me.  I would say things like, “When someone professes to believe, our expectations go way up.”  Or I would say things like, “A believer would respond to a trial like this.”, or “This is what a believer would look like” in any given situation.  The bar I had set was legalism or works and it was disconnected from the gospel.  Setting a performance bar does lip service to the gospel because if it truly understood the gospel, it would recognize that there is no need for it to be there in the first place and it would cease to exist.  But in my experience with performance-based Christianity, the bar is there and the bar is real.  The bar is the measurement of my performance, and so much depends on my performance.  My performance becomes the barometer of how I am doing spiritually.  It becomes a false standard that either comforts me or discourages me, depending on how I am performing at any given moment.  Let me give you a couple of examples of how this worked out in my life when I was caught in the trap of performance-based Christianity.

I might see a friend and ask, “How are you?”, followed immediately by, “What are you reading?”  Now, there is nothing wrong with that and it is good for a believer to read a lot.  But in the context of performance-based Christianity, that question can subtly translate into, “How is your reading performance? “Does it measure up to where I think you ought to be and to where I have set my performance bar for myself and those around me?”  Before you chop off my head, let me say that reading is good and helps us to grow in the Lord.  But in a performance setting, it can easily become another feather in my performance cap to show off to my peers.  In the context of performance-based Christianity, I have actually read books in anticipation of that question so that I could stay one up on the one asking me the question.  I have read books so that I could be prepared for the question that I knew was coming, and it came.  The same could be said of hospitality or anything else we fabricate so that we can compare ourselves to each other.

Another example that comes to mind is that of doing lip service to the gospel itself.  I would remind others and myself that we needed to be preaching the gospel to ourselves, and that is a good thing.  We do need to be doing that – all the time.  But in my experience with performance-based Christianity, those words simply became another performance bar.  I was expected to say it, so I said it without really applying it to my situation.  If I had applied it, I would have been truly resting in the gospel and resting in grace instead of continuing to put so much stock in my performance.  But that phrase slowly became another feather in my performance cap.  I would say it, and then get back to performing.

Uncomfortable Grace
Performance-based Christianity is legalism because it takes my eyes off of Jesus and the cross, and puts them on me, my performance, and the performance of those around me.  It feeds my pride if I’m good at it and it defeats me if I’m not.  This has been our experience and it is one reason why I started this post with Rayburn’s definition.  I was pretty good at it and it fed my pride.  My spouse was not as good at it, and she fell into a deep depression and became defeated by it.  But we weren’t always like that.  It happened slowly over a period of a few years, and we didn’t even notice it until the Lord took us through a severe trial and graciously and gently revealed it to us.  Thankfully, we have experienced what Paul Tripp calls “uncomfortable grace.”

Trials = Uncomfortable grace… God will take you where you do not want to go to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own… Paul David Tripp (Posted on Twitter May 5, 2009).

The only way to battle performance-based Christianity is to remember the gospel and to put it into practice all over again, regardless of personal loss and trusting in nothing else.  We never outgrow our need for the gospel and our need for grace.  Our theology and our practice need to be bathed in both.  Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).  He was 100% grace and 100% truth and we are to be like him (Colossians 4:6).  Sometimes the Lord brings us through extreme trials to get our attention and show us our sin and that is certainly the case with us.  The next time someone suggests to you that you need more of a gospel focus, ask them what they mean by that, and then please listen patiently.  They may be right.

I guess this amounts to the lazy man’s guide to blogging, but if it’s good, it’s justified, right?  And this is good.  I’m still not sure what I did before Twitter, but here’s another tweet that appeared this morning on TweetDeck, from Justin Taylor and Between Two Worlds.  I really enjoy Clowney.  Check it out…

http://tinyurl.com/qv3b9w

In 1978, I was cast as an extra in a made for TV mini-series called Great Stories from the Bible.  I think that’s what it was called.  If you were a fan of late 70s mini-series, you probably remember the “Shick Sun-Classic” production company that produced a good number of them.  That’s the company that did this series and that “discovered” me as I was eating breakfast with my wife in a local restaurant in northern Arizona.  That series was a real blockbuster and I’m sure you’ve all heard of it.  No? I actually found it on Amazon a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to put out the shekels to buy it.  I was curious to see what I looked like at that age, dressed up as a pagan with a spear, but not curious enough to buy it.  I was in the Walls of Jericho episode and I played one of the pagan soldiers living in Jericho before the walls came-a-tumblin-down.  In 1978, I was 23 years old.  But I had a beard.  I had a real beard.  The other extras on the set were kids my age or younger, but they all had fake beards that the makeup crew had to glue onto them every day.  Since my facial hair was real (and long), they put me in most of the closeup shots with the stars.  They wouldn’t allow me to speak though, because that would mean they would have to pay me more than my $50 a day plus 3 square (and delicious) meals.  That experience was pretty cool and it is something I will never forget.  Cameron Mitchell was a very good actor and he had a real presence about him.  One of the things that I remember about being that close to the action was occasionally hearing the question, “What’s my motivation?”  I don’t remember who asked it, but I remember hearing it. That’s a good question for us as believers to be asking ourselves too.  What IS my motivation?

Paul is crystal clear in his words to Titus that grace alone is our motivation. Saving grace is our motivation for loving God and doing what pleases God.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Grace is God’s work in our lives. Grace alone brings salvation and grace alone teaches believers to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, while at the same time, living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.  It is saving grace alone that causes and empowers us to put off the old self (ungodliness and worldly passions) and to simultaneously put on the new self (self-controlled, upright, and godly lives).  Every believer experiences this, but that doesn’t mean that it looks the same in each of us because we all grow and change at different rates.  While the principle is identical in every believer, how it looks at any given moment can be quite different.  But that’s grace and grace is our great and precious motivator.  My responsibility is to be gracious and patient with others and allow grace to be grace and finish its work, because grace will finish its gracious work.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 4:32-5:2)

I’ve been reading some encouraging blogs that Alan Knox has written at The Assembling of the Church, reviewing the book, Total Church, by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.  I thought I would pass them on to you.

The first one is entitled, Total-Church-Principles. The second one is called, Gospel, Community, and Beyond, and the third one is, Gospel and Community Based Discipleship.  Check them out and see what you think.

Today, Terry Rayburn started following me on Twitter (what did I do before the days of Twitter?), so I hit his web site, Grace for Life, and found the following blog post entitled, What is Our Highest Motive? I thought I would link it here for you.  He begins,

I was listening to some instruction on the difference between secular psychology’s “Behavior Modification” and Biblical change of behavior. It was pointed out that the important difference is motive, and I couldn’t agree more. However, a chart was drawn on a white board showing two motives. Behavior Mod’s motive was portrayed as “pleasing self”. The motive for biblical change was shown as “glorifying God”.

So far, so good. But it occurs to me that there are at least two other motives that should be mentioned. One is bad, one is good. [Continue reading]

I had to ask this sooner or later.  You probably saw it coming.  With all of the social networking software and sites out there, I’m just curious to see how many of you are on Twitter.  I am.  Want to follow me?  It’s pretty exciting!  You’ll need a Twitter account to track me.

[Follow Love Broke Thru on Twitter]. 

Please take a moment to do this poll.  It’s harmless.  Maybe I should do one on Facebook too.

Wondering what’s up with the new look?  Well, I had 3 different people tell me over the last few days since putting up the red theme on LBT, that it looked like a scrapbook.  Say no more!   I don’t scrapbook.  So I started scrambling to bring a new look to LBT that wouldn’t have a hint of scrapbooking to it.  I had to move quick before my self esteem took any more hits.  I think this look’s going to stick!  One nice thing about Wordpress these days is the enourmous amount of themes you can get for it.  It’s a blessing and a curse if you’re a perfectionist!

Crossway Books posted this link on Twitter earlier today.  John Piper, Rethinking Retirement: Finishing Life for the Glory of Christ.  ”

The World’s suggestions for retirement call us to live in a way that would make this world look like our treasure.

It looks good.  I think I’ll get a copy.

http://bit.ly/jgwK

This link to a short article called “Waging War Against Fellow Believers” surfaced on Twitter today.  It is very good, convicting, and thought-provoking, so I am passing it on to you.  Please take a look and see what you think.

http://tinyurl.com/dj5qa6

This morning, my first wife (and my only wife) and I started reading Comforts from the Cross, by Elyse Fitzpatrick.  It’s subtitled, Celebrating the Cross One Day at a Time.  If you haven’t read it, it’s a series of daily devotionals about the gospel.  I was reminded this morning of my ongoing need for the gospel and what that means.  Check out this quote from Day 1 – Celebrate Jesus, which talks about remembering the gospel when taking the Lord’s Supper, and how that fleshes out in real life:

We do that [proclaim the Lord's death until he comes] by intentionally focusing our thought on him instead of on ourselves or on what we think we’re missing.  I think it’s very easy for me to focus my attention on myself.  I don’t mean that I just sit around thinking about me and how wonderful I am (although I am not above that!).  No, I mean that I tend to focus my thought on my Christianity-how I’m doing, what I’m learning, how my prayer time was today, how I avoided that pesky sin or fell into it again.  I think about what I’m supposed to accomplish for Christ and I interact with others on that same works-oriented ground.  But this day isn’t about me at all.  It’s about him: his sinless life, death, resurrection, ascension, reign, and the sure promise of his return.  It’s the gravity of his life that should attract my thought toward him.

Something that really jumped out at me in that quote was how easy it can be to focus on my Christianity-how I’m doing, what I’m learning, or how my prayer life is instead of on the Lord and what he did for me and on my behalf.  It’s easy to fall into the trap (and I have been guilty of doing this) of becoming performance based in my walk with the Lord, and to subtly begin to gauge my spirituality by what I do, accomplish, or believe instead of by what he did for me.  In short, it’s easy to treat the gospel as something I learned “way back when” and I have since moved on to the “deeper” things in Scripture.  We can sometimes think of the gospel as elementary school and we’ve since graduated seminary.  Why go back?

When I become performance focused instead of gospel focused, it gets easy to start projecting my performance standards onto others and holding them accountable to my standard.  I’ve actually done this without realizing I was doing it.  This gets dicey, especially in the midst of trails, when performance lags, sometimes severely, and sometimes it’s not there at all.  Sometimes, especially during severe trials, there is no desire to perform or to love God at all and no strength to do so.  It is during those times that we most need to remind ourselves of the cross and the work Jesus did there for us because we couldn’t do anything to please God.  It’s a good thing when the Lord brings us to a place where we can do nothing, because that’s where we started with him and we get the opportunity to remember the cross all over again and to experience the grace that is in the gospel alone, apart from any performance or works.

If we get caught in the trap of looking at our Christianity instead of the cross, we can end up doing lip service to the gospel.  By that I mean that I can (and I have) told myself and others that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day, but when I was in performance mode, what I meant by that is completely different than what I mean by it now.  If I am more focused on my Christianity and how I am performing than I am on the gospel and the cross, then preaching the gospel to myself has the potential of amounting to one more task in my performance cap instead of a realization that I am a destitute sinner who brings nothing good to the table.  Preaching the gospel to myself means understanding that I can’t perform, but trusting in his performance for me.  It also means that the other believers around me are in the same predicament.

The truth is, I never outgrow the gospel or my need for it.  I need the gospel every day and every moment of every day.  It is not something that I master and then move on to the deeper things of Scripture.  It is at Scripture’s center.  It is the Bible’s storyline.  It is through the gospel that I have been unconditionally accepted by the Father because I couldn’t perform and I desperately needed God himself to perform on my behalf.  I need the gospel because my Christianity is always scarred by my remaining sin, but I am accepted by grace alone.  I know the context is a little different, but I want to leave you with a verse to ponder because the principle behind it (being performance focused) is the same.

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit , are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?(Galatians 3:2-3)

Be honest.  What do you think of the red template?  Now that it’s been active for a day, I’m not sure I like it.  I liked it more at first, but now I’m having second thoughts.  I do like the grungy look though.  What do you think?  Too much red, or just right?  It does match the inside of my house, but if you’re not inside my house, it’s hard to appreciate that.  Let’s do a poll.  Give me your thoughts.

There has been a lot going on in my life the last two years.  The last two months in particular have brought major changes (via trials) in some of my thinking and in the ways I’ve been doing things over the years and even in some of my theology – all for the good.  I am excited to retool Love Broke Thru to reflect some of those changes as I move ahead.  I’m still not completely sure what things are going to look like once all the dust settles, but that contributes to the anticipation.  If you’ve been a regular visitor here, you’ll notice some changes on Love Broke Thru.  Some of my previous posts are gone now because they either no longer accurately reflect my views on things, or I just want to be able to restate them, but in different ways.  It’s usually the latter.  In some ways, I’m almost starting over with Love Broke Thru because I want to say what I want to say in different ways than I’ve said them in the past.  I have discovered that in the past, I was writing mostly with my head and very little with my heart.  What the Lord has brought me through, particularly in the last couple of months, has impressed upon me the need for more grace in that area and Lord willing, that will be reflected in future posts on Love Broke Thru.  Please stay tuned… Mike

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6)

Registration opened yesterday for T4G’s conference, The Unadjusted Gospel.  The title alone grabbed my attention.  It’s scheduled for April 13-15, 2010 in Louisville, KY.  Registration, lodging, and speaker info is posted on Together for the Gospel’s web site.  Check it out at http://www.t4g.org/conference/t4g-2010/.

Has anyone read the book, The Heart of a Servant Leader, by C. John Miller?  I’m just starting it.  I was on Skype with a friend the other day and he recommended it to me, along with another one called, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible, by Vaughan Roberts.  Lord willing, I’ll be devouring that one once I’ve finished Miller’s book.

The Heart of a Servant Leader is a compilation of letters written by Jack Miller to different people that he mentored at different times and in many different circumstances.  I’m enjoying it.  Not just because it’s a good read (it is that!), but because it’s challenging me to return to the basics.  It’s causing me to embrace the gospel all over again and to see it anew.  I think most of us view life as a series of events.  That’s good I guess because life is a series of events most of the time.  But I’m beginning to notice that I’ve done the same thing with my theology as well.  I get one theological thing “down” and then move on to the next one.  Unfortunately, I think I’ve done that same thing with the gospel.  I think I’ve treated the gospel as one of those theological truths to be mastered and once mastered, it’s time to move on to the “deeper” truths in Scripture.

In the Lord’s timing, The Heart of  a Servant Leader arrived from Amazon.  I’m not very far into it yet, but there are two things that have jumped out at me already. Prayer and Motives.  What I especially like so far is how he brings them up in the context of the gospel and our unconditional acceptance with the Father because of the cross.  In a letter to a young couple on the mission field in Uganda, he makes this simple statement about effective prayer:

I am convinced that prayer, effective prayer, is a divine gift that comes while praying.

This hit me between the eyes because a consistent prayer life is such a struggle and for an endless number of reasons, it’s so easy to be in a hurry when praying and to not take the time in prayer, to pray.  I needed to hear that, but it was good to hear it couched within the context of the gospel and my unconditional acceptance by grace.

Think much of the Savior’s suffering for you on that dreadful cross, think much of your sin that provoked such suffering, and then enter by faith into the love that took away your sin and guilt, and then give your work your best.  Give it your heart out of gratitude for a tender, seeking, and patient Savior.

The second thing that has caught my attention so far in this book has to do with motives.  I know that it is possible to get so wrapped up in trying to sort out our motives that it can cripple us or handicap us in our walk.  But I think that tendency is only there if we are encouraged to examine our motives outside of the context of the gospel.  I’ve examined my motives outside of the context of the gospel and come away so discouraged because my motives are never 100% pure, that I’ve vowed never to do that again!  What was refreshing this time was that the discussion about motives was completely couched in the gospel.

What I finally came to as I walked and prayed for you is the old, old story of getting the gospel clear in your own hearts and minds, making it clear to others, and doing it with only one motive-the glory of Christ.  Getting the glory of Christ before your eyes and keeping it there-is the greatest work of the Spirit that I can imagine.  And there is no greater peace, especially in the times of treadmill-like activity, than doing it all for the glory of the Lord Jesus.

In a separate letter to another missionary couple, he mentions his own struggle with motives, reminding them that our selfishness does not get the last word where saving grace and the gospel prevail.

When I do this [fast and pray], I ask the Holy Spirit to search out my innermost heart motives.  Guess what I often discover?  That my motives are usually mixed.  Especially I am likely to discover I am not doing things for God’s glory and out of delight and fellowship with Him, but out of half-concealed self-interest and self glorying.  I do not mean that no heavenly motives go into the mix of my inward thoughts, but often because I can detect some good motives in myself, I feel that this is the last and only word.  Don’t believe it about me, or Charles, or yourselves.

That’s me!  I have those same struggles.  But by grace, I am not accepted because of my performance or pristine motives, but because of His performance on my behalf on the cross.  That’s grace!

The Heart of a Servant Leader, by C. John Miller, P&R Published 319 pages.

I’m going to write this blog, not knowing exactly where it’s going.  But that’s ok because spontaneity doesn’t ALWAYS have to be planned!  Just most of the time.  I’ve been coming back to 2 Corinthians 4 over the last week or so, and reading and rereading it as a devotional.  Maybe I should put it here for you so you can have it in front of you.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  (2 Corinthians 4:7)

The treasure that Paul is speaking of is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” from verse 6.  It is the life-altering power of the gospel.  It is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  It is a participation in God’s glory because of the cross of Christ.  It is knowing Christ intimately and knowing the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10) firsthand.  It is the forgiveness of sin and unconditional acceptance with the Father because of the cross.  It is a knowledge OF God, not a superficial knowledge ABOUT God.  This is experiential knowledge because every believer experiences God.  Every believer experiences saving grace.  This is treasure!  This is true and lasting treasure!  This is priceless treasure (Matthew 13:44) that never fades away and is reserved in heaven for those who believe (1 Peter 1:3-5), and it can never spoil, fade, or rust away.  God himself is its keeper.  This is true and lasting treasure.  This is ours in Christ by grace alone.  And yet, we have this all surpassing power in jars of clay to demonstrate that our perseverance is from God and not ourselves.  We are weak but he is strong.  He is always strong and we are always weak – even when we think we are strong.  Paul goes on,

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Possessing this treasure in jars of clay means that we are weak in ourselves.  Our humanness is fragile, but God is strong.  We may have times in our walk when we feel crushed, in despair, abandoned, and destroyed.  We’ll think we’ve reached the end of our rope and our life may start to unravel before our very eyes as things seemingly spiral out of control.  What we are experiencing can be very real and we may think all is lost.  But if we are truly his, we aren’t really crushed, in despair, abandoned, or destroyed, as real as those things can seem at times.  We’re really just hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, much like Paul was.  But that describes our struggle and losing perspective in the midst of it is real when it’s happening to you!  In the midst of being hard pressed, we can easily melt down for a time.  In the midst of being perplexed, life can seem to unravel in front of us and nothing makes sense anymore as we begin to question every motive.  In the midst of persecution, we can experience moments of anger or even hatred which can lead us to the conclusion that God must not be at work in our lives, all is lost, and we are on the road to destruction.

We must be patient and give those in severe trials room and time to work through them, allowing the Spirit to accomplish his purposes in them.   A heart can be a fragile thing, not because we run the risk of failing to persevere ultimately, but for the simple reason that it is housed within a jar of clay and that jar is fragile.  It’s true that every believer perseveres to the end in loving Jesus, but perseverance is housed in a fragile jar which means that trials can knock us around and sometimes overwhelm us.  But not ultimately.  Perseverance can be temporarily interrupted, but that is all.  But here’s the good news: we have this treasure in jars of clay for the express purpose of showing us that this all-surpassing power is from God and not us.  He is strong even when I am weak.  In fact, He is at his strongest when I am at my weakest.  Ultimately, we will persevere if we do love him. The cross ensures that and the cross is our hope.

We dare not become impatient with those under fire by raising the bar of the changed life higher than where Scripture has set it and then expect an unrealistic level of performance from those in the midst of severe trials.  Trials are real.  Especially to the one in the trial.  Our only job is to be a patient resource and help to those other jars of clay who are hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down and to gently come alongside to lovingly remind them that God would never crush them, put them in a place of utter despair, abandon them, or destroy them, if they are truly his.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  (Galatians 6:2-3)

A friend of mine shot me an email asking for my take on the problem of evil in the world and how to walk someone through it.   My reply to her is below and I thought I would post it here as well.  Short and (hopefully) sweet.  Here it is…

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First, God is the first cause of everything, including evil. He doesn’t just allow evil, but in a way we don’t understand, he causes evil. But God is not evil and can never be blamed for the evil done. God is the first cause, but man gets blamed for the evil that he does. Man is evil to the core and God is righteous, holy, and good all the time.  He is separate from sin, even though he is the first cause of everything, including evil.

That God is the first cause of everything is evident in passages like Ephesians 1:11 where God is actively working out everything in accordance with his will. Everything.  He is not passive and never taken by surprise, but he is actively accomplishing his sovereign will. The crucifixion is a good example of God being the first cause of evil and man being blamed for it.  The crucifixion is by far the most heinous sin in human history.  But if we look at what the Apostles said about it in Acts 2:23 and 4:28 we see that in both instances, God determined and orchestrated what happened, and yet man was blamed for the evil.

Second, hell for some (most) is part of God’s predetermined plan. Most people (the non-elect) have been created for the purpose of bringing glory to God by being destroyed in hell forever. Wow… I’m reading what I just wrote and it sounds pretty harsh, but that’s Romans 9. Look specifically at 9:14-24 but pay special attention to verse 22. There are those who have been created for the purpose of going to hell. And God is glorified in that. The theological term for them is reprobate. The normal response is to think that it’s not fair, but Paul addresses that argument in vv. 19-21. God is sovereign and can do as he pleases. What we ought to be asking is why any of us get mercy at all since the wages of sin is death, all of us have sinned and are God’s enemy because of sin. The reprobate get what they deserve because they have sinned. Some of us get mercy even though we too have sinned. Amazing grace!!  Fortunately, we aren’t told who the reprobate are, so we share the gospel with all and God saves those that trust in him by faith alone.  The elect.

Third, concerning evil angels, it is common to assume that they were once good, and then sinned, and that may be true. The problem is with some of the proof texts that are used to support the idea. The most popular one is Isaiah 14:12-17. It talks about the Morning Star (or Lucifer, depending on your version). But in the context, it is a verdict spoken against the king of Babylon (verses 3-4). It’s not a dialog about or with a fallen angel. The second passage that is usually pointed out is Revelation 12. In that one, Satan is cast down to the earth and his tail takes 1/3 of the stars with him. This is an obvious reference to Satan, but what the stars represent isn’t clearly stated in the passage. Plus, the timing of this casting down is in question. We know that Satan was present in the garden meaning that if he was created good and then fell, Revelation 12 must be referring to that. But the context of Revelation 12 is the birth of Christ and the incarnation (verses 4-5), so I don’t think it’s a reference to a pre-fall casting out or fall of Satan. It might be better to tie it to the beginning of the New Covenant era and the going out of the gospel in this age of the Spirit (Luke 10:17-20). We just don’t have enough information in Scripture to draw very strong conclusions about the origin of the devil. He may have been created evil for all we know. Jude vs 6 does reference angels who did not keep their positions of authority (whatever that means!), but beyond that, there is nothing real clear and conclusive on the origin of Satan.

When I try to embed a video here, it always messes up my RSS feed for some reason, so I’m just posting the link this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOR1wUqvJS4

Please let me know your thoughts…