Imitation Invites Intimacy

A question.  Is it correct to reckon the Lord as a distant lighthouse, toward whom we sail tirelessly across a tumultuous, inky expanse?  This risks violating the spirit of some 1930s hymn, perhaps, but the simplest answer is "no."  If we are not lovers and followers of Christ, then our course across these hypothetical waters is as dark as our hearts.  If, however, we are Jesus' mothers and brothers and sisters, as He Himself described (Matt. 12:46-50), then He is - wonder of wonders - already with us, with us in this very instant.

The zenith of our religious experience, then, is not to be had in bending a quiet knee before a cold statue in some hushed place, nor yet in that prideful glow of deservedness that sometimes goads people into trying good works (they call it karma).  The wonder of our spiritual experience issues from the truth that God is with us and that we may know Him.  We may worship and serve Him directly; we may understand the humanly discernible parts of His character, and we may even be assured by His Spirit, who dwells within us, of His love for us.  Incredible! 

It is no wonder, then, that Christians are designed to desire nearness with God.  We know from Philippians 4:5 that God is near to His children, but we also know from James 4:8 that we may, with our choices, widen that nearness.  Even a very young believer knows the dull ache that comes from distance with the Lord, and a very mature believer recognizes that even one's best days do not usually foster the immense closeness with God that we grow to desire. 

How, then, do we strengthen our spiritual intimacy with our Creator and Savior?  Paul proclaims that God is near in Philippians 4:5, as we mentioned, and four verses later, he delivers these useful words:  "the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you."  Imitate my teachings and my actions, says Paul, and you invite the intimacy and intervention of God. 

A word of encouragement to the two involved parties in this transaction described in Philippians 4:9:

To the everyday believer:
This is not a mystical stream which we are to tap; this is obedience from the heart, by the power of the Spirit, to the precepts of Scripture - that obedience which is classified as love toward our God (John 15:14), and which is not, to our hearts, a cumbersome affair (1 John 5:3).  Of course our God will be with us, providing aid and comfort, as we avow our love for Him through ready, willing compliance to His righteous standards! 

A note about the specific obedience urged here in Philippians 4:  it is centered upon adherence to Paul's godly teaching, of course, but also upon his godly example.  When we regard the godly examples in our lives of those who teach us, like Paul, with the eye of biblical discernment, we are afforded a vista of biblical truth in action.  This is the idea of epignosis in the Greek - God's truth married with the godly experience that demonstrates that truth (we have looked at this in Phil. 1:9 before).  This is indeed a powerful blessing - to see God's Word for His people upheld and proven in the life of someone strong in the faith.  It brings encouragement and rejoicing in times of temptation, and it speaks to the wisdom and necessity of placing oneself in the care of godly teachers.

To the preacher of the Word:
One word comes to mind for the teachers of God's truth:  integrity.  Paul declared biblical truth; he imparted it verbally to the Philippians, and they received it, but they also had seen it working in his life, and had heard of its truth in his life (perhaps even from other believers outside of their community).  This was truly a man who exhibited a comforting sameness in his life - who lived by the same principles and truths that he laid upon others, whatever his (often difficult and sobering) circumstances. 

How simple a matter it is for a pastor to soil his own reputation by means of disqualifying sin!  How easy it is for him to squander and diminish his credibility by demonstrating that he does not cherish those principles which issue from his pulpit with as much fervor as he urges upon his own congregation!  Integrity, that non-negotiable, is as sweet and inviting as its absence is sour and foreboding.


God has truly blessed His people with the gifts of godly fellowship and example.  How wondrous indeed that He would give us the church, the bride of Christ, and would use the teaching and examples of godly preachers in her midst to invite His children into greater intimacy with Himself, our heart's desire!

God's Word and the Passionate Non-Pharisee

Not so long ago, we discussed the danger of pulling apart the strands of love and truth in the lifeline called Christianity.  As "knowledge" is frequently and foolishly vilified in many churches of today, it seems desirable to harken back to this subject from a slightly different path, to create a short tally of the immense and enlivening benefits that arise from understanding God's Word.  Psalm 119, unsurprisingly, has much to offer in this matter.  Here are four actions, all crucial to the believer, which an understanding of God's Word unlocks for us.  I will state them as commands to frame their critical nature in our lives; amen?

1.  Apprehend His glory.  "Make me understand the way of Your precepts, so I will meditate on Your wonders." (v. 27) We are happily used to seeing God's glory in the pages of His book, but perhaps it does not always occur to us to see His glory in His precepts.  Situated in those commands, though, are such wonders as His unwavering righteousness, His absolute wisdom, His sovereign hand, and His untiring justice.  These lie at the very heart of our Lord's character, and they radiate from His Word in very real and personal ways, because those very precepts are what shape our actions and choices as believers.  This is one of the invaluable ways in which God's glory becomes infused in our mission as His people - this is glory that we cannot afford to forgo.

2.  Passionately discern.  "From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." (v. 104) Here again, understanding is centered around the precepts in God's Word, but here the result is hatred of "every false way."  This is discernment of the most powerful sort.  It is discernment that informs literally every moral decision we must make, and it is discernment that is founded in a ferocious and dogged pursuit of God's righteous standards.  Notice the psalmist does not say, "I do not really like every false way"; he says, "I hate every false way."  Evil is repugnant to him; it offends him and excites a vehement and passionate reaction. He hates what is evil because he cherishes what is good (cf. Phil. 4:8).  Dare we attempt this class of spiritual discretion without understanding God's Word?  This is not sterile and pharisaical book knowledge, friends.

3.  Fervently obey.  "Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart." (v. 34) At first blush, this is very obvious - we understand the Bible and we therefore obey God - but look again.  Not only does it help us to obey, but to obey with all our hearts.  This is fervent, zealous obedience, as opposed to begrudging, joyless obedience - as John describes it in 1 John 5:3:  "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." 


We must examine this more closely for a moment - how indeed can a book accomplish such zeal as we see in the discernment and obedience described here?  First, it is because God's people read His book in the company of the Holy Spirit, who works powerfully through the Word.  We recall how similar the commands of "be filled with the Spirit" and "let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you" truly are (Eph. 5:18 & Col. 3:16).  God's Word and God's Spirit work together, or they do not work at all (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10-14).

Second, as we read God's Word, and God's Spirit works within us, we encounter none other than God Himself on the pages.  We behold His priorities, His perfections, and His precepts, and so we are given all the reason in the world (or properly, in Christendom) to love His beauty, to understand His commands, to pursue His righteousness, and to fear His judgments.  This is why we had to begin this blog with God's glory - it is the impetus, the force that imparts true spiritual momentum.


4.  Partake of true life.  "Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live." (v. 44) As God's Word is immutably righteous, being laid down and preserved by He who is immutably righteous, it imparts spiritual life to those who understand it.  We do not, as Moses tells us, "live by bread alone," but rather, "by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." (Deut. 8:3b) We cannot be pulled out of our Ephesians 2:1 spiritual death into Ephesians 2:5 spiritual life without an understanding of the Word.  Once God has given us life, we cannot grow and continue in that life without an understanding of the Word.  Would we scoff or ignore the very book that unlocks life itself?  By no means.

God has blessed us beyond measure with His Word, and it becomes us in every respect to seek a knowledge of it.  We must not fear becoming Pharisees simply for poring over its wealth, but we must see it as the divinely-appointed flame that truly ignites our hearts.  As a final note, do you see how every last one of these blessings (God's glory, obedience, discernment, and spiritual life) represents something that is beyond our natural inclinations?  We would not give glory to another, would not trouble to improve our discernment, and so forth, were it not for the work of the Spirit through His Word.  It is remarkable how the Lord turns us right side up, with powerful blessings which come through the Bible.

The Tree of Love Thrives in the Soil of Truth

Sometimes you come across a church that says something like, "we are a loving church we dont stress knowledge we just want to love jesus thats the important thing" (note the sarcastically intentional lack of capitalization and punctuation).  If ever you find such a church, or its close cousin, the "knowledge instead of love" church, make a note of its location so you do not inadvertently find yourself there on a Sunday morning. 

The idea that we can or should afford a higher premium to either truth or love is devastatingly false, as is the concept that these are entirely separate from each other.  We separate the two ideas, and we pick our favorites, according to our natural temperaments.  Love seems like less work than truth, and it would be less confrontational, right?  Or, Truth is simpler because I do not make obtrusive sacrifices for others. 

We cannot expect God's truth to have any significance in our lives if we do not love according to that truth.  Love is not an optional feature of God's program.  Similarly - and this is what I want to discuss - we cannot love while neglecting truth.  Paul makes this clear in Philippians 1:9-10:  "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ."

Paul's prayerful desire for the Philippians is that they grow in love - in a very specific manner.  Their love, their godly, agape love, requires two specific (and perhaps unexpected) catalysts in order to exceed its present quality. 

1.  Real knowledge.  The Greek is epignosis, which moves beyond simple knowledge to a more participatory understanding - one might say we are living the Word with epignosis.¹  It is an understanding of the Word, cemented more firmly and genuinely into our hearts and minds by the mortar of experience. 

How does this help me to grow in love?  If God's Word reveals how love is supposed to look, and then my own actions affirm that truth (whether I succeeded or failed), then my heart clamors all the more loudly for me to adhere to God in the future.  I am far less likely to act selfishly if I know that God's Word decries such behavior, and if furthermore I know from personal experience the damage that is dealt to myself and to others by my own selfish behavior.  All my experience in a given area must necessarily teach me that God is right in that area, and that any opposition of mine is always wrong - thus am I given a yet stronger calling toward love. 

It becomes my lot, then, to discover still deeper what the Bible says about how I must love God and love others, and then to go out and apply that love in every conceivable area and corner of my life.  My very real experience will marry with very true biblical knowledge, and will birth a more solid conviction about the absolute need to love even as Christ Himself does.

2.  All discernment.  The word used here for "discernment" is aisthesis; and "discenment" is a fair translation; the only other use of this word group in the New Testament is in Hebrews 5:14, where the distinguishing of good and evil is in view.²  We note immediately that this also has its roots in biblical knowledge; discernment is useless without some healthy understanding of what righteousness is.  Paul bears this out in the Philippians passage we quoted above.

But how is discernment connected to love, you ask?  Most strongly, we reply.  It does us no good at all to proclaim the profundity of our love for God, if we are going to push aside every command He makes.  Consider 1 John 5:2-3:  "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."  We love God by obeying Him, and consistent obedience requires great discernment in the foxholes of life.  Consider the dangerous inconsistencies in seeing a person who makes no effort to discern what would please God (and thus usually fails to do so), and then watching others commend that person for "how much you love God."  Baffling, no?

Discernment is also greatly needed in our love of others.  How blessed is a brother or sister in the faith who will not lead me into temptation, but actively seeks to avoid that temptation!  How needed and how loving is such a one who gives a clear, compassionate warning, when he or she sees sin in my life (though I may chafe or cringe in that moment)?  And how utterly tragic to withhold such careful, humble warning, in the name of love!  I choose not to warn a brother about the danger of a sin I see in his life, because I love him too much.  Impossible.


Truth and love are designed to be dear, inseparable friends in the life of a believer.  As we grow in our love, let us seek to season that love with "real knowledge and all discernment," that we may find ourselves squarely within the bounds of that program of love which God, who is love Himself (1 John 4:8), has established so perfectly.


¹ Vine, W.E., Merrill F. Unger, & William White, Jr. Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. "An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words." Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1996. p. 348.
² Brown, Colin.  The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology.  Vol. 2.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan, 1976. p. 391.

I Did It My Way

Honesty compels us to admit that at times, it is difficult to construct genuine enthusiasm over reading through the Law.  Sometimes, there comes a still, small voice from inside (decidedly not the voice of God, especially since the canon is closed) which whispers with wistful apathy that the stickier regions of the Pentateuch do not apply to the Christian soldier, fighting on this side of Calvary. 

Of course, this is far from true, and so we tell ourselves, but that voice responds with cloying plaintiveness that perhaps we would care to name a reason these books are so useful.  Rest assured, I am not about to enumerate all of the reasons - the limitations of both my understanding and my blog space preclude this.  However, I would like to make mention of one.

The Law shows us that we must do things God's way, if He has established one.

Consider this for a moment.  On one hand, there is much hue and cry regarding how works can by no means save us.  This is indisputable; however, it has given some people undue cause to move toward the opposite pole and suggest that obedience is a matter solely of the heart.  In other words, what we do is not important; only the spirit in which we do it matters.  So we speak of someone's "heart being in the right place," or we suggest that they have a "good heart," even if they are flagrantly disregarding some clear principle laid down in 1 Corinthians or Philippians or Matthew. 

What we see in the Law is a picture of our unchanging God, who delivered a very specific and lengthy prescription for all manner of ceremonial happenings and national government.  These commands were issued by God with the full desire that His people be obedient in those specific ways, or else He would not have troubled to give them.  This is how you must worship Me.  This is how My people are to be ruled.  This is how you are to conduct yourself toward foreigners.  And yes, this is how many, exactly how many, loops you are to sew into each curtain of My tabernacle. 

Nobody would have dared to say, "I believe the tabernacle curtains would be better with 40 loops instead of 50.  It is more inviting somehow."  And even if someone had, his or her friends would not have answered, "We believe your heart is in the right place, and that you are seeking to honor God, so let us do as you say with the tabernacle loops."  They would have said, "This is in such obvious contradiction to God's delivered command that we beg you would not speak of this thing again."  The heart, you see, has no bearing in it at all.

However, have we not done this very thing in the church age?  "I could not bear to hurt him when he asked me that question, so I hid the truth from him."  "Amen; you have a true heart of compassion."  Or, "I know I was using profanity, but with some unbelievers, this is the only way to really connect with them."  "You have such a heart for the lost."  Indeed.

The sort of God who would share this optimistic indifference to His own commands is nowhere found in the Old Testament.  The biblical God is insistent that His law be kept; He is neither pleased nor amused by alterations of any sort.  The Israelites understood this (Ex. 24:7), and God was careful to command this (Deut. 4:2). 

The Old Testament God is not a whit different than the New Testament God.  His expectations have not diminished; His morality has not altered.  Though we do not, as the church, live under the ceremonial or national laws laid down in the Pentateuch, yet we understand from these books that God was, and therefore is, specific in His commands and desires, and we must fall in line with Him.  Here are a couple principles:

1.  Worship and seek God as He desires to be worshipped and sought.  We do not have sacrifices or priestly garments or a tent of meeting, but we see from the Law that God is very concerned with how His people gather and approach Him.  We therefore dare not forsake the construct which He has established for believers in light of the completed gospel:  the church.  We are designed, and indeed commanded (cf. Heb. 10:25), to fit within a body of believers, to worship Him and to serve Him as an active part of His bride.  This does not negate the personal disciplines that must incubate in our souls, or the need for godliness throughout our week, but we understand that the church is a gift from the Father to Christ His Son.  We cannot seek our Lord on different terms and expect blessing or recognition for it, just as the Jews could not scorn the tabernacle and the sacrifices.

2.  Find contentment where you have been placed.  God desires quality.  He commands skillful work repeatedly as He relates the details of the tabernacle and the garments in Exodus, and later Moses carefully recounts that skillful work.  It is axiomatic that God desires and deserves quality in all areas of devotion, so we must function within His church in those areas in which we can contribute quality.  The temptation here, of course, is to conclude that we could be of greater service if only we were allowed to work in a different ministry, or to head up the ministry in which we currently work, but we must question our own hearts.  Are we simply looking to avoid the work that we feel is trivial?  Are we looking for recognition?  What is our actual (not perceived) skill set?  Someone says, "God qualifies the called, and not vice versa."  This is true, but we must be careful how we mean by "called" in this case.  A burning desire to do a certain ministry does not necessarily mean one is called to it.  Take care with your ministerial discontentment, and do not trust your own heart alone in these matters.

In a nutshell, do it God's way, whenever applicable.  He has never been silent on the matters that are dear to Him.

The Exemplary Savior

The earthly life of Christ is an unprecedented gift to the believer.  Aside from its glorious culmination in satiating the Father’s just wrath for the sins of His children, it also provided a dramatic paradigm of what a life of total obedience looks like.  Our Lord did not hesitate to demonstrate the very life that He expected of His followers, and afforded a truly complete example of a God-centered, righteous life.  We see the effects of this example throughout the New Testament.

Romans 8:29 – we have been “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”  The example of Christ becomes indispensable as we strive to grow in Christ-likeness, or to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 13:14; cf. 1 John 2:6)

Hebrews 4:15-16 – Christ’s earthly perseverance in the face of temptation emboldens us to seek mercy and grace because we understand both that it is effectual and that our Lord is sympathetic! 

1 Peter 2:18-25 – Jesus’ righteous example in an evil world demonstrates that we are obliged to suffer for the reason and cause of righteousness.   If persecution was visited upon Him, then we ourselves ought to anticipate it fearlessly as we grow to be more like Him.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 – the Thessalonians were said to have become imitators of Jesus Christ because they “received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”  Like Christ, they could not be dissuaded from joyfully holding fast to the Word of the Lord in light of earthly suffering.

Ephesians 5:1-2 – the example of Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross should stir us to exhibit a selfless love.  If Christ could love even those who were yet His enemies, surely we should work to free our own love from the fetters of human inclinations.

Romans 15:2-3 – we must work in selflessness (and righteousness) to please others, for, search the gospels though we may, we will never find an example of Christ serving Himself.

Philippians 2:5-11 – Jesus’ humility before the Father, even to the point of horrific death, rises into view here.  Clearly if our divine Lord did not hesitate to humble Himself as profoundly as He did, so too must we humble ourselves.

John 13:14-15 – “For I have given you an example,” Jesus says, “that you also should do just as I have done to you.”  He upholds His life here as an example of how to serve one another with humility.

1 John 3:16 – by Christ’s sacrificial example, we come to understand the extent of selfless love, and seek in turn to love our brothers and sisters in Christ in the same way.

These examples from Scripture are of the most personal importance to believers, because - incredibly - the very power, love, and patience that fueled Jesus Christ in His earthly work are the selfsame ones that are wondrously and abundantly furnished to us through the work of the Holy Spirit (Phil. 2:12-13; 2 Pet. 1:3-4).  This is a blessing beyond human perception, a gift beyond our paltry understanding!

Three Things We Learn from the O-Word

Fear not.  The O-word cannot hurt you.

 

1.  Obedience Is an Indispensable Part of Loving God.  "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3; cf. John 14:21)  Do I love God as I should?  Have I a genuine love for Him?  Says John, look to your obedience - is it genuine and heartfelt?  Do you desire to obey Him freely?  If these things be so, then I have a clear indicator that I do truly love the Lord.  Simply keeping the commandments, according to John, is not enough - we must find the yoke to be easy and the burden light (Matt. 11:30).  Such an attitude is not possible unless we are resolved in our hearts that God's ways are best, and that He is praiseworthy and gracious in His ways.  If we truly love God, our hearts should be glad to obey Him.

 

2.  Obedience Is an Indispensable Part of Belief in God.  "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)  Here, belief and obedience are equated:  one either believes in Christ unto eternal life, or one disobeys Christ unto eternal damnation.  And before the clamor of "works based salvation" arises, let us note that these two ideas are mutually exclusive; John the Baptist does not say here that one may believe but disobey, and thus lose salvation.  He says in effect that to believe is to obey, and vice versa.

What is here rendered "obey" is in some translations given as "believe," but this is misleading, as it is a different word in the Koine than the "believes" earlier in the verse, and, unsurprisingly, carries different connotations.  To believe in God is to possess obedience toward God; belief without obedience is like a song without sound.

 

3.  Obedience Is an Indispensable Part of Having a Relationship with God.  "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments." (1 John 2:3)  Knowing God, of course, goes far beyond mere intellect assent or understanding.  It is used as a term of intimate relation by the Bible writers - thus Adam knew Eve and she conceived (Gen. 4:1).  Christ the judge tells the hypocrites, "I never knew You; depart from Me." (Matt. 7:23b)  The Galatians are urged, as they have come to be known by God, to not enslave themselves to worthless things (Gal. 4:8-9).  According to 1 Corinthians 8:3b, "If anyone loves God, he is known by Him."

To know God, then, is to possess a close and loving relationship with Him.  This is the state of salvation, friends - such a relationship could never be, otherwise:  our deadness of soul will prevent it every time.  The loving walk with God must be tended with obedience from His children.  Yes, Lord; we are walking together and I agree with you as my Lord wholeheartedly; I see who You are and what You have commanded, so I respond with obedience to Your revealed will.

So we see how, in one deft move, our obedience irreplaceably contributes to the proof of our love for, belief in, and walk with God.  See how obedience cannot help but strengthen all of these!  We rightly view God as our Father; it is just and good that our hearts love and obey Him.  We believe in Him as our sovereign God; our obedience lends hands and feet to that otherwise false and hollow belief.  And we know Him as a kind and gracious King; the more we know Him, the more we seek to follow Him. 

His commandments are by no means burdens!  Far from it - adhering to them helps us to draw closer to our God, to possess assurance of His good pleasure, and ultimately to walk in deeper fellowship with Him.

The Strength of Adoption

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12) How comforting it is that our adoption by God is not simply an empty title or an honorary position – we are not merely called children of God; rather, we have become children of God by His grace.  As the hymn says, “I, thy true son.”

 

If anyone doubts the strength of adoption, we remember what some have pointed out regarding our Savior’s earthly kingship.  Although both Joseph and Mary were tied directly to the line of David, Jesus would have inherited His claim to the throne from His paternal side, per Jewish custom.  Thus His right of earthly kingship came from Joseph, who was not His father by birth, but by adoption.  If there were no strength behind adoption, then, Christ would have no claim to the throne, and He would not fulfill all the Messianic prophecies, meaning that He could not be our Savior!  The strength of Christ’s earthly adoption is the basis for the strength of our heavenly adoption!

 

We also see its strength by its longstanding nature.  Our adoption was in the Lord’s plans before time began (Eph. 1:5), and it will culminate through to eternal glory (Rom. 8:23)!  This is no casual undertaking by the Father, but carefully calculated and painstakingly brought about.  We are certain that God is faithful to complete the work that He starts in His people (Phil. 1:6).

 

Finally, its strength is made obvious when we consider our own hapless natural parentage.  We were formerly sons and daughters of Satan (John 8:44, 1 John 3:8) , to be classified as “sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2) and “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).  This is an evil, self-destructive, despondent sort of lineage; children from this family possess absolutely no qualities that might charm a holy Judge to spare them.  In spite of this, however, that very Judge has made Himself to be the heavenly and eternal Father of a great multitude adopted out of this natural family.

 

Our response to our own adoption should reflect an intimate awareness of its strength.  For instance, we know that the Holy Spirit brings a powerful testimony to those adopted by God that they are indeed His children (Rom. 8:16).  This certainty is what allows us and strengthens us to hold to the Lord and to get on with His kingdom work, in spite of seemingly overwhelming adversity.

 

Along these lines, Paul proclaims that our adoption by God should generate a ruthless attitude toward personal sin (Rom. 8:12-17).  Gone is the spirit of slavery within us, and in its place, the spirit of adoption powerfully directs us away from fear and toward Spirit-led living!  We thus cling with a divinely-imparted tenacity to our newfound Father through earthly temptation until our labors give way to the triumphant glory of eternity.

The Imputation: Yes, But What Does It Actually Mean?

In the last blog post, we addressed some glorious considerations surrounding the Father's imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, and of our sin to Christ.  We can all, I think, agree that the imputing work of the Father is indeed glorious, but it seems important to take an "at the end of the day" sort of look at what it truly means to have Christ's righteousness imputed to our spiritual accounts:  what are the practical ramifications of this mighty undertaking? 

Some will say that justification results in God's children receiving the righteousness of Christ.  In several senses, this is entirely correct:

• Christ's righteousness is credited to our spiritual account (2 Cor. 5:21).
• Upon justification, the Spirit of Christ takes up His permanent residence in our enlived souls, and works in and through us (Phil. 2:12-13, Gal. 2:20).  This moves us firmly and wondrously into the place of posse non pecarre (the ability not to sin).
• Justifications sets us on a path of growth in personal holiness that will continue through our lives (James 3:2, Romans 7:14-25) and culminate in sinless glory in the presence of the Lord.

Far be it from us indeed to dispute such clearly-articulated, peace-giving, and God-glorifying principles; they are heartening companions in life's foxholes.  However, this is one path along which we cannot push even one step too far - the consequences are too dangerous.  Those who force this issue further arrive at the tragic conclusion that imputation means that Christ's righteousness becomes our own in the fullest extent - it is not merely credited to our account, but wield it in life with nearly sinless efficacy.

Even if we manage to overlook clear lexical evidence to the contrary (look up dikaioo, or "justify" sometime), we can still reap a sizable harvest of concern and disappointment at these thoughts.  To those who believe that Christ's righteousness is their complete and pervasive possession, the path to obedience is not about seeking obedience to the Word of God.  Rather, it is tied closely to knowing that the righteousness of Christ is active within them, and if they can simply keep from getting in the way of the natural righteousness which Christ has placed within them, then natural obedience is the natural result. 

This may strike you as odd or silly, but this sort of mindset is pervasive.  You may have heard it said that in order to obey, believers need simply to stop getting in God's way with their own efforts to obey Him.  If so, then you have struck pay dirt.  "Don't try; just trust"?  "Let go and let God?"  There is theological fool's gold in them there hills.  It may seem an innocuous frame of mind, but let us consider three pertinent points:

1.  This point of view blasphemes Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:21 proclaims, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  We see here that we become God's righteousness because Christ became sin.  If we hold that our becoming God's righteousness signifies that we were made righteous, then we are left with the unenviable task of maintaining that Christ similarly was made a sinner when He became sin.  The clear parallelism of this verse cannot be argued; we cannot suppose from these words that Christ's "becoming sin" is a different sort of "becoming" than our "becoming God's righteousness" simply because we wish to. 

Of course, to label the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Lamb of God, as a sinner of any sort is rank blasphemy.  He became sin only in so far as He stood condemned in our place for those sins, so that we might stand justified in His place for His righteousness. 

2.  This point of view sunders our reliance upon Jesus.  If the imputation of Christ's righteousness, such that we stand justified before God, means that we are natural obeyers, how little do we need Christ in our moment-by-moment as our authority!  Natural obedience negates our need for the Word which the Spirit of Christ wrote, preserves, and illuminates.  The conviction of His Spirit is scarcely necessary if our obedience is automatically engaged merely by a passive acknowledgement of the work that Christ has already completed in us.  Ironically, I become my own authority as the righteousness of Christ is channeled into my sanctified bosom.

Rather, passages like Philippians 2:12-13 or 2 Peter 1:3-11 teach us with diamond clarity that the presence of Christ in us, working in our souls, should prompt us to strive for obedience, rather than assume its existence. 

3.  This point of view belittles the glory that Christ wishes to reveal in our lives.  The Lord has determined that His people would see His glory through the travails of life.  "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom. 7:24-25a) "Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.  And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (2 Cor. 12:8-9)

We see who our Lord is when we are obliged in our weakness to turn to Him.  His compassion, patience, and wisdom are clear and comforting, and we have the blessing of seeing faithful biblical truth come to brilliant life in our own hearts!  Our weaknesses are intended to humble us before Him in all of His gracious wonder, and He allows us to soldier through weakness for this reason.  It is no use to pretend those weaknesses have departed when they are still very real, my friend.


The imputation of Christ's righteousness to our spiritual accounts has given us salvation and paved the way for our growth in holiness.  It is devastating folly to conclude otherwise.  What else is there, but to humbly and gladly serve the Lord of glory?

Christianity A La Carte: Salvation Without Lordship

In our discussion about how glory and belief are intertwined, I made an assertion to the tune of "you will have works if you are truly saved," and stated simply that it was a separate topic.  Here, friend, is the separate topic. 


Effectively, there are those who maintain that the grace of salvation, dependent solely upon the work and discretion of God Himself, costs us nothing, and, as such, requires nothing from us but perhaps an assent of gospel truth, and an acceptance of salvation.  Anything else would add an anthropic element to the gospel:  we crowd upon the grace of God with some sort of required human work, thus removing the graciousness of God's grace.  On the surface, this appears as good sense, but we must take care.  True, we cannot earn our salvation with goodness; to suggest otherwise is to diminish the unique value of God's gracious gift.  However, somtimes the idea is moved much further:  it is said that we cannot expect Christians to live righteous (or even repentent) lives, because to affix such expectations to life in Christ would be to attach external requirements to the gospel, and thus render it more man-centered than Scripture can support.  "If you say you must do certain things as a believer," they cry, "then you are saying you must earn your salvation.  All you need to do is believe."

As I write this, it seems so ludicrous as to not require refutation, but this, alas, is not the world in which we live.  There is no longer any falsehood in all of Christendom which we might regard as so foolish that we need not decry it.  So let us begin, and if we find our hearts and minds familiar with these ideas, as many might, then at least we might rejoice once more at their powerful truth.  Here are some lines of reasoning to refute this thinking.

1.  The Divine Revelation of the Relationship Between Faith and Works
James, who was tolerably active in the church, and had at least a passing acquaintance with the Christ (note sarcasm), said this:  "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?...But someone may well say, 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'" (James 2:14, 18) This is simple and wonderful - saving faith does not, does not, does not fail to produce good works.  As a believer, my works should demonstrate the reality of my faith, according to James.  These works do not produce salvation; rather, it is salvation that gives rise to the works.

Paul testifies along this same thought that we are saved by grace through faith (familiar lines in Eph. 2:8-9), and continues, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (v. 10) Paul upholds salvation by grace, and then in the next sentence explains that this salvation, by God's expert work, leads us into good works.  The Father has decreed that the Christian life should be freighted with righteousness!  Does your life possess a focus of righteousness, my friend?  What does it mean if it does not?

2.  The Unchanging Character of God
Joshua 5:6a:  "For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord."  The Lord has never cared for sin (to clothe it in the mildest possible terms), and it seems unwise to suppose that He is indifferent to its motions in those whom He has saved from its consequences.  His will is indeed our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3a), which is not at all surprising.

3.  The Impartation of New Life in Christ
At the start of Romans 6, Paul voices the opinion of some that grace permits sin, and then dismisses it not only as the gravest absurdity, but as an actual impossibility:  "May it never be!  How shall we how died to sin still live in it?" (Rom. 6:2) We who have been saved, says Romans 6, have been united with Christ in His death and resurrection, and the strength of this identification with the Savior shatters our enslavement to sin.  Marvel how Paul later describes himself in Christ, in spite of sin and temptation, "I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man." (Rom. 7:22b) This new life, while retaining a capacity for sin, nevertheless has lost its appetite for sin.  Do you see this hunger for purer things in your life?

4.  The Equality of Belief and Obedience
John the Baptist renders a great service in simply equating belief with obedience:  "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36) To John, one either believes and has eternal life, or does not obey, and receives wrath. (Take care with your Bible translation - some translate "obey" as "believe," but the word is not the same as the "believe" earlier in the verse.) The writer of Hebrews further declares that Christ "became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." (Heb. 5:9) Do you perceive the importance and essential quality of obedience? 

5.  The Assurance of Obedience
Is still more clarity needed?  Is your heart yet doubtful?  Let us learn from the apostle John:  "And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar." (1 John 2:3-4a) "No one who is born of God practices sin." (1 John 3:9) "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3) Taking these as a whole, we see that true believers do not, and indeed cannot, make sin a continual lifestyle.  They have a spiritual buoyancy:  though they will at times sink into the viscous, black muck of temptation, yet they will spring out again, crying for divine cleansing.  Obedience can be assumed or pretended, at least for a season, but the true longings of the heart cannot be falsified, so again I ask, do you desire righteousness, deep down in your very bones, friend?  Does Christ-likeness remain your earnest quest?


Obedience, brothers and sisters.  Jesus has set Himself up to be our Lord, and His Word reveals that He will not trouble to be our Savior if we do not welcome His lordship as well.  Again, our obedience does not buy salvation, which would be a grievous blow indeed to divine grace, but it is a ringing declaration of the heaven-and-earth transformation which His gracious and unspeakable salvation has wrought within our unyielding, undeserving souls.  We obey because He has saved us, and if we find obedience repugnant in our quiet and honest reckonings, then we have not yet approached the point of salvation.  If this describes you, I beseech you to apply to the Lord - ask Him for the humility of spirit which will allow you to repent.  You cannot have it on your own.

Far from detracting from the glory of His grace, the requirement of obedience in fact sets it firmly upon a loftier, more stunning peak than we could have envisioned.  Praise be to the God who transforms those whom He adopts!

Glory, the Gatekeeper of True Belief

How does one seek the glory of God?  The seraphim agelessly declare that this world is filled with it (Is. 6:2-3); the psalmist tells how the heavens declare it (Ps. 19:1).  It surrounds us, then, and it all points back to the Lord of glory, as it should, but of course there is a prolific and powerful satanic endeavor afoot which precludes the possibilities of the unbelieving grasping it in its vast implications (2 Cor. 4:3-4).  God's sovereign and effectual salvation is the event whereby this spiritual blindness is lifted, and we begin both to see God's glory and to reflect it (2 Cor. 4:6, Matt. 5:16).  But how do we go about seeking it?  How do we prefer it in our lives above the glory that we give to, or receive from, others? 

The case can easily be made that we seek God's glory by those classic and basic disciplines of the Christian faith:  prayer and Bible study.  Scripture instructs us as to what sort of God we serve and the promises He has made; there is unending glory, then, in its pages.  Prayer is a means of humbling ourselves before God, and indeed our supplications invite the Sovereign to visit the manifestations of His glory upon our humbled hearts as He moves to answer.  These two disciplines constitute both directions in the blessed communication between us and our Lord, and there is stunning glory in each.

We can and should make the case, however, that God's glory also must be sought in obedience to His commands.  Paul makes an example of Romans 2:7b of "those who in perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality."  Christ Himself instructed His listeners in the Sermon on the Mount, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16) Our good works, as directed by God in His Word, stir up His glory!  They do not create or augment God's glory, but they render it more visible to the eye of the vigilant soul.

Some will say, "There is glory enough in prayer and study, without adding obedience on top, thank you very much."  The fear in such as these is that an intent focus on obeying God will send Christians by the legion down into the murky pit of legalism, untroubled by thoughts of love.  Aside from this, who knows but it will impugn the graciousness of God's gift:  by requiring obedience of Christians, we make a thinly-veiled assertion that Christians must buy their salvation with deeds.

These are the protests, but they do not get very far.  We cannot cherish prayer or study with one hand while pushing obedience away with the other.  If you do not seek to obey Him, what use are your prayers?  Is there glory in seeking your own comfort, in not offering praise or contrition?  And again, what will it avail me if I study the Word of the Lord, but suffer it to have no bearing in my life, because I do not care to obey?  Will this accomplish a vision of His glory?

Christ raises the stakes to perilous proportions with His statement in John 5:44:  "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"  In other words, if we seek a substitute for God's glory, we quite simply cannot believe.  Paul intertwines the issue of obedience in his statement about "God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation." (Rom. 2:5b-8) The people who endure in righteous deeds are the ones who are seeking His glory, and so are the ones to whom eternal life will be given, in blunt contrast to those who act selfishly.  Although it is a separate discussion that must be had (right here, actually), such people are not earning their salvation, but merely proving it.

The overarching implications are stark and simple - those who believe are those who hunger for God's glory, in whom the desire for that glory sparks obedience.  There is no such thing as a Christian who is unmoved to righteous acts because of an indifference to the glory of God.  Two questions spring to the fore -

1.  Christian, was your conversion attended with repentance?  Did you (and indeed, do you) loathe your own sinfulness in the light of God's perfect holiness?  Did you begin to desire to please Christ?  This is what it is to turn from your sins and seek God's glory - if this is alien to your soul, by what measure can you pronounce yourself a Christian?  I beg you would count this a word of compassion and warning, my friend - consider your salvation closely.

2.  Again, Christian, are you settling for less of God's glory because your obedience is apathetic at best?  We have each of us been there before; I can say with confidence that these are not unfamiliar shores to my eyes.  But behind obedience lies the dazzling vista of God's glory!  You and I will not be disappointed in the slightest if we dare to obey with greater zeal and endurance!  The mere mention of the fact that God's glory lies on the other side of obedience should spur us to the swiftest action!  May our feet not hesitate; may our hearts not quail.  Obey and wonder!

Herein lies yet another blessed moment in which I am obliged to conclude quite simply that the glory of the Lord is incredible beyond the paltry frame of human thought. 

The 1-2 Punch of Scriptural Authority - First, Divine Authority

As believers devoted to God's Word, we are not afraid to beat the drums that have been sounded throughout the life of the church.  We know that the truths of scripture are never worn out, exhausted, or depleted by anything, be it time, culture, science, human progress, demonic intrigues, or all such things en masse.  Scripture is just as fresh, urgent, and applicable to our lives as ever it was in ages long past, so we gladly tread the selfsame paths that our fathers have beaten through a hundred generations.

With this in mind, I do not in the least mind sharing a few thoughts that are, if not novel, at least crucial and basic and cherished.  Peter did this very thing in his day, did he not?  Consider 2 Peter 1:12-15.  At any rate, were the truth told, in such a day as this, when we fight off the double envelopment of liberal scholarship and relativistic apathy, these truths may come as novelties - not because they are new, but because they are not heard nearly so often as they once were. 

We will say some words about the authority of scripture, then, using a classic text.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 makes several categorical statements regarding the authority of God's Word:  "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."  I would like at this time to briefly consider the more commonly-celebrated element of scriptural authority here; namely, its divine origin. 

If scripture is inspired by God, or, as the English Standard rightly has it, "breathed out by God," this means of course that its origins lie, incredibly, with a God who cannot be false (Titus 1:2).  Although sinful, finite men lifted their pens and wrote the Bible from their own hearts and minds, yet God superintended its creation with such utter precision and specificity that His flawless character and omnipotent care sponged away any traces of fallibility, such that the end result was a divine revelation without error.  Do we trust this work of grace that we call the Bible as much as its divine origin would demand?  Do we believe its truthfulness in all matters?  Are we glad in our hearts; do we marvel that the Word of God is truly the Word of God? 

And do we obey it as the Word of God?  This is another matter, but one of the first importance.  The Word of God is not one man telling another what to do; nor yet is it an earthly sovereign decreeing laws for his or her subjects.  This is the holy, sovereign Deity, whose anthropomorphic hands encompass all the universe, immovably laying down His commands for the whole of mankind.  He is Creator; He is King; He is Judge - and He did not deliver His book to us as a trifle.  "But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." (Is. 66:2b; ephasis added)

When Paul therefore makes statements like, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God" (Rom. 13:1), it is necessary for us to muzzle both the scornful disbelief of modernity and the clamor of excuse in our own hearts.  This statement, along with all of its fellows, did not originate in the mind of Paul; it came first from God Himself.  We find ourselves mocking the divine with our disbelief; indeed, we say, even as the serpent said, "Indeed, has God said...?" (Gen. 3:1) The unchanging and holy Father clothes Himself with an immeasurable glory when He suffers His children to question His Word, even as Adam and Eve questioned it so long ago, without responding to us as He did to our earliest progenitors. 

Patrick Henry once famously said, "Give me liberty or give me death."  We Christians may well say, "Give me scripture, or give me death," for without the divinely-appointed Bible, God is silent.  Salvation is an indiscernible vapor because we do not understand God and His holy character!  How could we ever perceive our need for a Savior without knowing what God expects of us?  How could we discover such a Savior?  We have made many attempts to guess over the years - survey the false religions around us - but our sin-choked hearts assure that this effort amounts to naught but blasphemy.

Gladly, though, God's Word is real and authoratative.  For the one who knows and affirms this, Psalm 119 becomes the glad and perpetual anthem in all seasons of life, for by His Word are we given reverence for God (v. 38), delight in His commandments (v. 47), the pure way of living (v. 9), revival in affliction (v. 50), divine wisdom (v. 24), continual thankfulness (v. 62), illuminating direction (v. 105), hatred of sin (v. 128), worship of God (v. 164), and still far more.  When we understand that God gave the Bible in order to deliver to us a divinely authoratative account of Himself and His glorious character, how wondrous are the results!  This is our lifeline to God, and our only true testimony about Him!  No heart that truly knows this and humbly seeks out the one true God in His Word will be disappointed.

(The series is continued here)

What to Do with the President

The presidential election has come and gone once more here in America, and the Christian community has mixed feelings.  Some believers are ecstatic, when they certainly should not be.  Some are downcast for purely wrong reasons.  Some have good call for concern and sadness. 

It becomes every believer living in a democracy to cherish a uniquely Christian conviction when scrutinizing political candidates.  Dr. MacArthur said it well recently:  "You’re not voting for a pastor, you’re not voting for a spiritual leader, you’re voting for someone who has some sense of morality. Since the Bible says that the role of government is to punish evil doers and protect the good, you better have somebody in power who understands what is good and what is evil."  This is good perspective to bear in mind - let us spend our passions upon those things regarding which the Lord has spoken clearly and loudly in His Word:  the sanctity of unborn life, the narrow definition of marriage, the call to earn one's bread, the relationship we are to have with Israel, and so forth.

Much may be said about these matters, and indeed much has been said in the months leading up to the election, so I will not belabor this any further.  However, I would like to address the question of what we do from here as believers.  We have made our choices and cast our votes, and I would hazard to assert that any believer that loves God and His timeless truth is not pleased about Obama's re-election.  However, what do we do from here?  Three brief suggestions:

1.  Prayer.  "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim. 2:1-4) We are to pray for our leaders, that they may be saved, for two reasons.  Not only is this attitude pleasing to our God, who loves to save people, but it will help us to conduct ourselves as believers in peace as we strive to carry out God's call to make disciples.  Consider for a moment if our nation were largely governed by people of true godliness and Christlike integrity - how might the Lord use such conditions for the furthering of His kingdom?  A direct question, now - do you pray for President Obama's salvation?

2.  Obedience.  The unsavory aftermath of this election does not arm believers with any sort of license to disobey their government.  Do we fear that injustices against God's established moral system will be redoubled?  Certainly.  Will we be disappointed, distraught, and dissatisfied with many of the choices made?  Without question.  However, this objections can hardly surmount the decree of the Lord concerning authorities, delivered by Paul to the believers living in the capital city of Caesar, of all rulers:  "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.  Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." (Rom. 13:1-2) These are strong words that brook no excuses. 

An example close to home may illuminate.  I am a gun owner, both for personal enjoyment and for personal defense.  I believe firmly in the right to own firearms, and adamantly oppose modern gun control efforts for law-abiding citizens.  This being said, what should be my response if, say, the 2nd Amendment were repealed, and the government required all citizens to turn in their firearms?  Quite simply, my response needs to be to take my entire firearms collection to the appropriate collection point and turn it over without a joyful heart.  God's Word makes no provisions for my hiding guns under the floorboards, or burying them in the desert, or marching on Washington with a gun in my hand.  Such a response conveys a greater trust in metallurgy and smokeless powder than in the sovereign God of Romans 13. 

3.  Patience.  We Christians tend to not be dull and passionless.  Let us take care, though, that our passions are not misspent or poorly focused.  You discuss abortion with a staunch pro-choicer, for instance.  Are you consumed with a defense of pro-life philosophy, or with concern for this person's soul?  If they are saved, they need loving correction.  If they are not, the gospel is the first priority.  Rallying to a pro-life banner will not, in itself, alter an unbeliever's trajectory one hundredth of a degree away from eternal hell.

The same applies on a larger scale.  We can rant and rail about the poor decisions that the present administration is making, but do our just concerns prompt us to become embittered worriers, or praying, zealous workers within God's eternal kingdom?  Treating the symptoms of unbelief without addressing the unbelief itself does not breed salvation, only hypocrisy, and as a side note, will not save this nation.  This thrusts us, quite appropriately, into the realm of evangelism, and evangelism requires patience and compassion.


The same truth lies at the root of all of these points - the truth of Psalm 103:19: "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all."  We can follow a sovereign God in the program He has determined for His people because He is utterly sovereign, and His omniscience, compassion, wisdom, and omnipotence accompany Him through His sovereign work. 

Simple Truth Revisited: The Response of Believers (Part 2 of 5)

Simple Truth Revisited:  The Response of Believers

Clearly, gospel truth seeks a response from the unbeliever, but what of the believer?  There are those, who, after (evident) conversion, revisit the gospel but rarely; these may, I think, be sorted into two groups.  The first group, after making a profession of faith and repentance, make no move to grow or to obey.  If their cars leave the driveway on Sunday, it is to avert a culinary crisis, not a spiritual one.  And the next year, when the spring cleaning unearths their Bibles, they find a place for them on that shelf of books which they fully intend to read someday when life has considerably slowed (perhaps by Shakespeare, next to which the Bible seems to them no more important, and no easier to fathom).  To these, we say – read on, friend.  There are words in here for you. 

The second group is more careful to study and to enjoy fellowship, in accordance with scripture, but they consider that the gospel, having saved them, can impart but little further consequence into their spiritual life.   This is, in their thinking, the difference between the milk and the meat, as the author of Hebrews says, and they conclude it, then, a mark of immaturity to be shackled to the gospel.  Again, read on, friend. 

Four reasons come readily to mind as to why the believer benefits from returning to the true gospel time and again. 

1.  Adoration and Humility.  “Consider your calling, brethren,” Paul urges in 1 Cor. 1:26.  “…and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.  But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Cor. 1:28-31; emphasis added)  In other words, we are called to consider our own consummate weakness, and the complete life that God Himself has bestowed upon us, in direct opposition to that weakness.  Does this not stir our hearts to remember the indomitable force of God’s grace in our lives?  What place, then, has pride in our hearts? 

When we transfer to our God the esteem that we would otherwise squander on ourselves, we see God magnified, as He should be, and ourselves humbled, as we must be.   If we dare to suppose that this sort of attitude is fit only for infant believers just starting out, we simply guarantee that we will always be infant believers ourselves.  The Holy Spirit does not grow those who are insensible to the grace by which He always works.  Our humility before God communicates our acknowledgement of the insurmountable spiritual and moral failings which we possess, and our adoration of God recognizes the presence of His manifold spiritual and moral perfections.  The gospel rests at the very center of this understanding, and, as such, resides at the very center of life in Christ. 

2.  Righteousness.  The gospel, like salvation, extends beyond simple redemption.  Our Lord Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:14b)  Redemption was not the end of Christ’s aims; He sought to create a people who would pursue righteousness and grow in it.  Remember Ephesians 2:8-10:  His grace has made us, making boasting impossible, and His grace has indeed made us for specific good works.  The will of God is our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3a). 

God’s call to righteousness is therefore traced back to His desire for righteousness, which is expressed, and indeed made apparent, in the gospel.  When we return to the gospel, the clarion call to righteousness sounds with divine urgency.  Are the wages of sin not death?  Was it not unrighteousness that earned this fate for humanity?  Survey the vast cost of salvation, won by a perfect obedience before the Father, the last Adam sustaining the utter righteousness that the first Adam could not!

It is obvious, then, that the gospel is not morally ambiguous, and it makes no provision for those who seek to maintain moral ambiguity.  In other words, it is an offense to the gospel to seek salvation from damnable sin without any desire to be removed from the mire of that very sin.  Be assured that any appeals for salvation made in this spirit will be spurned by the Father.

The gospel exists because of unrighteousness.  It counts an unmerited, perfect righteousness to the credit of those who repent, in order to surmount this human unrighteousness, and it sets people upon a lifelong pursuit of righteousness.  Thankfully for sinful humanity, within this calling resides powerful hope:  the grace of God that accompanies us in our righteous endeavors (Titus 2:11-12) has already been proven in our very redemption.  If His grace was able to draw us powerfully out of hopeless darkness, then surely we may trust in its ability to guide us in light!