How the love of God purifies the heart

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Church History, George Muller, John, Mortification, Submission

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Arthur Pierson, Church History, Faith, faith, Feeling, George Muller, John, love, Love, Love of God, Mortification, Mortification of Sin, Sanctification, saving faith, Self-denial, Submission

“Truly to grasp this fact is the beginning of a true and saving faith—what the Spirit calls ” laying hold.” He who believes and knows that God so loved him first, finds himself loving God in return, and faith works by love to purify the heart, transform the life, and overcome the world.

It was so with George Muller. He found in the word of God one great fact: the love of God in Christ. Upon that fact faith, not feeling, laid hold; and then the feeling came naturally without being waited for or sought after. The love of God in Christ constrained him to a love—infinitely unworthy, indeed, of that to which it responded, yet supplying a new impulse unknown before. What all his father’s injunctions, chastisements, entreaties, with all the urgent dictates of his own conscience, motives of expediency, and repeated resolves of amendment, utterly failed to effect, the love of God both impelled and enabled him to do—renounce a life of sinful self-indulgence. Thus early he learned that double truth, which he afterwards passionately loved to teach others, that in the blood of God’s atoning Lamb is the Fountain of both forgiveness and cleansing.”

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.” James Nisbet. iBooks.

The Sacrifice of Love in Romans 12:1

10 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Fellowship, Ministry, Romans

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Charles Gore, community, Ecclesiology, Fellowship, James Dunn, love, Love, Love fulfills the law, Ministry, one-another, Paul, Romans, Romans 12, Romans 13, Self-denial, Self-Examination

Romans 12 presents an interesting quandary for the modern, North American Christian. Verse one presents a command: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

That command receives further detail in the next verse: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The diligent, serious Christians reads these verses and thinks, I must do something. Yet, as John Street (TMC, head of Biblical Counseling department), explained once, Probably every sermon you have ever heard on this passage is wrong. Not wrong in the sense that it is used to teach a dangerous heresy. Rather wrong in the sense that we miss an important aspect of the passage.

The default of far too many Christians is to read an individualism into the passage which Paul never intended. We read the command “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” and think I, personally and independently, must do something. But consider the matter carefully: Bodies is plural, but the sacrifice is singular. All of you are presenting one sacrifice.

Consider the movement of the passage: Paul commands a living sacrifice. He then explains that we must live differently from the terms of culture; rather, our mind must be transformed. We not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Why? Because all the individual believers make up one body:

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Something rather interesting happens at this point: the next several verses do not contain a finite verb. A general rule of Greek grammar is that a sentence has a finite verb which is the main verb and other verbs which are either participles or infinitives. You could think of this as a main idea with the other verbs as related ideas hanging on the main idea. In fact, we have go to verse 14 and the word “bless” before we get a “normal” sentence.

It is typical to simply break this up into various sentences and infer a finite verb. For example, the translation handbook reads:

In Greek verses 6–8 form one sentence, and it is rather complex. It begins with a participle and there is no main verb in the entire sentence. Although a verb is not present in the Greek, the context makes it clear what verb is implicit: we are to use (RSV “let us use them”; NEB “must be exercised accordingly”).

However, as James Dunn (Word Commentary, Romans) explains, there is a different way to understand the structure which takes into account the actual grammar and the flow of Paul’s argument:

It is almost universally assumed that v 6 begins a new sentence (e.g., neb, Barrett, Michel, Käsemann), with the second halves of the subsequent phrases filled out with imperatival force—so particularly rsv: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (the last four words having been added to the text). This forces the sense too much in one direction (a “somewhat harsh ellipse,” as SH recognize). The sentence reads more naturally as a continuation of the body imagery of vv 4–5 with the meaning of ἀλλήλων μέλη spelled out in terms of different charisms. The point then of the following phrases is that they are a description of the Christian congregation functioning as “one body in Christ” ….

Considered in this way, the nature of the spiritual sacrifice comes into view. The sacrifice is not longer a “me and Jesus” sacrifice of radical individualism (whether the song means precisely that is a different question), but is a sacrificing of oneself in love: this is a passage which introduces an extended discussion on Christian community (see, e.g., 1 Peter 1:21-22, sanctification and being “born again” bring about a radical transformation of brotherly love; Paul’s argument concerning the law is that love fulfills the law, Romans 13:10).

Gore explains that transformation sought by Paul is more than isolated holiness; it is a holiness, a transformation, a sacrifice which brings about a radical transformation of human life together:

And when St. Paul, justifying himself here, as before and later on, by the special divine favour which has made him the apostle of the Gentiles, proceeds to develop his exhortation, it appears that with him, as with St. James, the form in which ‘divine service’ shows itself must be love of the brethren. To be called into the body of Christ—the society which is bound into one by His life and spirit—is to be called to social service, that is, to live a community life, and to cultivate the virtues which make true community life possible and healthy. Of these the first is humility, which in this connexion means the viewing oneself in all things as one truly is, as a part of a whole. Of the faith by which the whole body lives, a share, but only a share, belongs to each member—a certain measure of faith—and he must not strain beyond it. But he is diligently to make the best of his faculty, and do the work for which his special gift qualifies him, in due subordination to the welfare of the whole whether it be inspired preaching, or ordinary teaching, or the distribution of alms, or presidency, or some other form of helping others which is his special function. Besides humility there are other virtues which make the life of a community healthy and happy, and St. Paul enumerates them, as they occur to his mind, in no defined order or completeness. There must be sincerity in love, that is in considering and seeking the real interest of others; there must be the righteous severity which keeps the moral atmosphere free from taint; there must be tenderness of feeling, which makes the community a real family of brothers; and an absence of all self-assertion, or desire for personal prominence; and thorough industry; and spiritual zeal; and devotion to God’s service; and the cheerfulness which Christian hope inspires; and the ready endurance of affliction; and close application to prayer; and a love for giving whenever fellow Christians need; and an eagerness to entertain them when they are travelling—for ‘the community’ embraces, not one church only, but ‘all the churches.’

Nay in a wider sense the community extends itself to all mankind, even those who persecute them.

In short, the spiritual sacrifice is a sacrifice of myself in love of God which leads to love of neighbor.

Volume 2 of the commentary on St. Paul’s
Epistle to the Romans, A Practical Exposition

By Charles Gore, D.D.
Lord Bishop of Worcester
Chaplain to His Majesty the King

Hebrews 13: Brotherly Love and Acceptable Worship (Men’s Breakfast CBC December 8, 2012)

08 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Francis Schaeffer, Hebrews, Obedience, Preaching

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1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 John 3;124-15, 1 Peter 1:21-22, 2 Peter 1:7, brotherly love, Colossians 3:12-14, Faith, faith, Francis Schaeffer, Galatians 6:10, Hebrews, Hebrews 10:19-22, Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 12:14-17, Hebrews 12:28, Hebrews 13:6, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 2:17-18, Hebrews 3:12-16, hEBREWS 3:18-19, Hebrews 5:11-12, Hebrews 5:14, Hebrews 8:1-2, Hebrews 8:10-11, Hebrews13:20-21, High Priest, Love, Mark of a Christian, Matthew 25:40, Matthew 7:21-23, New Covenant, Obedience, Old Covenant, Praise, Preaching, Romans 12:17

(Following are the notes for the monthly men’s breakfast lesson at Calvary Bible Church. As with other lessons, the oral presentation contains essentially the same doctrine, albeit with substantially different presentation. This year’s lessons have been on the book of Hebrews. They can be found here:

http://www.calvarybiblechurch.org/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=180007708&cpage_id=180032323)

Chapter 13 seems like an appendix to the rest of Hebrews. Some commentators have argued that it is not really part of the letter and was some one page letter glued onto the back of a beautiful sermon. It certainly begins strange. After the mountain tops of rhetoric; after theology which ascends into heaven itself and uncovers the mystery of the cross, we find some brief seemingly simple commands. It seems too plain to even rightly be part of such a letter. Be kind, be generous, be faithful to your marriage, be respectful of your church leaders, pray for us.

I must confess that as I began to study for this lesson, I had trouble seeing the way in which these commands attached to the rest of the letter. And yet, as I studied and meditated and prayed the connection between the parts became clear.

I learned that rather than being an appendage to the whole, this final chapter in a manner is the point of the book. The book exists to teach us doctrine so that it can teach us how to worship. The book teaches about Jesus, so that we can glory God and enjoy him forever.

Let me show you. First, I want you to see the overall doctrinal purpose of the letter – and then how that doctrine ties into the practice. In the second part of this exhortation, I will speak with you briefly about the content and manner of our worship.

First: A Call to Worship

At the end of the fifth chapter of Hebrews, comes a section which almost seems a joke. The writer explains that he cannot go further in setting forth doctrine because those who received the letter “had become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews 5:11-12). Can this be serious?

Hebrews contains perhaps the most difficult doctrine in the entire Bible. Here we read of the divinity and humanity of Jesus, his work as the true high priest, the relationship between the old and new covenants, the true purpose of the Temple, the mystery of Melchizedek, the mystery of the cross, the nature of the church, the necessity of faith, the kingdom to come. The short sermon — for it is indeed a sermon — acts like a commentary on the entire rest of the Bible. To read the book of Hebrews one must drink in the entire Scripture at a gulp. There is nothing elementary about it.

Seeing that the book contains such difficulty, many Christians will prefer to leave it alone. After all, “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). And, we will not be saved by a final theology exam given at the gates of heaven. If I know the contents of a gospel tract, then I know enough to be saved.

But look back again at chapter 5. The reason why those who received the letter could not take more “solid food” is because they had not lived as God required, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

There is a motion of the Christian life: First, we learn. What we learn affects our desires. What we desire affects our conduct. Our conduct itself changes our heart and thus gives us more capacity to learn – and so the process continues like a system of gears, each which pushes on the other.

But that still leaves one with the excuse that I don’t need to learn more to be saved, and I don’t need to behave to be saved, so why bother anyway? I may not be perfect, but I am better than most people. I may not know everything about Jesus, but I know Jesus loves me. Why struggle so hard with this book?

Turn to chapter 8: verse one identifies for us the purpose of the book of Hebrews: “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, and the true tent that the Lord set up, not man” (Hebrews 8:1-2). There you will find the central doctrine of the book of Hebrews: Jesus is the true high priest.

As we read through chapter 8, we learn the effect of this change of high priest: It came about as part of the institution of the New Covenant. Throughout Hebrews, we learn that the Old Covenant – that is, the Old Testament – was temporary: it operated with temporary high priests, who worked in a man-made temple, and offered sacrifices repeatedly – and yet these sacrifices never saved anyone of sin, “But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4).

But in Jesus, the weakness of the Old Covenant passes – for Jesus is in every way superior to the Old Covenant. That old covenant was merely a picture of the true covenant to come: As Paul writes in Galatians 3:24, the old covenant – which Paul references as “the law” “was our guardian – or school master – until Christ came”. That Old Covenant could not remedy sin, but it did instruct until the true High Priest came into the world to offer the sacrifice which could redeem and reconcile us to God.

This does not mean that the law of God has vanished. In the New Covenant, the law is no longer written on tablets of stone. In the New Covenant instituted by Jesus, the law is written in us:

Hebrews 8:10–11 (ESV)

¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹¹ And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

Hebrews 2 explains that the promise and command of the Dominion over the creation given to Adam is now fulfilled in Jesus, the one whom even angels worship. This same Jesus is also our brother and our high priest:

Hebrews 2:17–18 (ESV)

¹⁷ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

You see, all the various strands, promises, problems, of the Bible finally come together in Jesus: Jesus undoes the damage of the First Adam. Jesus takes up the story of Israel and the Old Covenant and brings into the world the New Covenant which brings the law of God into the hearts and minds of those redeemed.

Since these things are true, we are called to live in a new and different way. The doctrine of the book of Hebrews is not a matter of intellectual or academic interest. It is a matter of the gravest importance:

Hebrews 10:19–22 (ESV)

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Here is a command: We are commanded to draw near to Jesus by faith. Now we can certainly not draw hear to a God whom we do not know: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6.

And, we cannot draw near to God of surpassing holiness without seeking to come as he commands:

Hebrews 12:14–17 (ESV)

¹⁴ Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

This should cause the shutter and the bleeding heart. It is not to say that we are saved by works, but that there is no true saving faith unless there is obedience:

Hebrews 3:18–19 (ESV)

¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

A belief which entails no obedience is no true belief. A belief which does not draw nearer to God is not a belief which will end in salvation. We cannot live as if we were bound for hell and expect that we will end up in heaven. We cannot expect that we will be the dearest of friends with the devil upon her and the dearest of friends with the Lord in the new earth.

This letter of Hebrews was not given so that we could gain a trunk of theology to drag to heaven. This letter was given to make us fit to see the Lord. We cannot willfully ignore our God and think that he will remembers us:

Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The book of Hebrews is filled with such warnings. Now many think that such warnings are given to the unbelievers in the midst of the congregation: unbelievers certainly should take such warnings to heart. A faith which exists in one’s mouth but not in one’s hands is not a true faith.

Yet, it is only the true believer who can hear and respond to such warnings. If it takes faith to draw near to God, and if faith is a matter of head, heart and hands, then only a believer can hear the call to live as one drawing near to God and follow up that command. If a man were to come in this room and shout a command in Spanish, only those who speak Spanish could obey. If God gives a command of obedience, only those who have an obedient faith will obey.

This beautiful sermon we have as the book of Hebrews was given as a guide to bring us safely through this world to our Lord. Our Lord knows our weakness and frailty, he knows the surpassing darkness of this world and so he gave a radiant guide to show a path through that darkness. We will pass through the valley of the shadow of death – but we will pass through with Jesus.

The radiant display of the glory of Jesus, our great High Priest, must stir in us a desire and thankfulness and love to draw near to him. If we do not see Jesus as a beautiful Savior, the supreme object of our desire, worthy of all the glory and praise, then we will not have the strength to persevere until the end. As our Lord says in another place: “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13).

We see all these strands of thought brought together in the final chapter of Hebrews. Beginning in verse 12 of the 13th chapter we read:

Hebrews 13:12–16 (ESV)

¹² So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. ¹³ Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. ¹⁴ For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. ¹⁵ Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. ¹⁶ Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

When we read the command that we are to go to Jesus outside the camp, we may not understand what that means. It sounds very far away and foreign. Perhaps it means to be a missionary, or perhaps it means to go out of the world altogether and be with the Lord death. When we read that we are to acknowledge his name, we may think that we have done our duty when we sing the song or say a prayer and then are done.

Now certainly we are to sing and pray. It may be fitting for one to be a missionary. But we will certainly all out some day go out of this world. But in the context, the Lord calls upon us to do something much more physical and practical.

Look at the end of chapter 12, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and doesn’t let us offer to God acceptable to worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). Here is a command frightful warning. We must offer acceptable worship, worship with reverence and awe. Such worship must be given because “our God is a consuming fire.”

Chapter 13 ends with a prayer in verses 20-21:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

²⁰ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This prayer tells us what the book is intended to do us and in us. The letter tells us at profound length of our Lord Jesus not so that we know about Jesus, but rather that we would know Jesus. The letter was given to “equip up with every good thing. The words “that which is pleasing in his sight” match the earlier command of 12:28 that we must offer “acceptable worship” (NASB “acceptable service”).

The purpose of all this doctrine in the book of Hebrews is that we know of Jesus so that we can offer acceptable worship to God in Jesus Christ. Earlier we spoke of the Christians who pass off the study of the Scripture and obedience by claiming that they know to be saved and so they are through with their duty. But here at the end of Hebrews we learn the answer to such people:

You must learn and obey so that you can offer acceptable worship to God in Jesus Christ. The first 12 chapters of Hebrews are a call to worship. The letter ends with a prayer that you may know God so that you may worship God.

Point Two: Love God and Man

What then is the acceptable worship? The temple no longer stands; bloody sacrifices are no longer needed. What then is our worship? How do we go to Jesus outside the camp?

That is the point of chapter 13 – in fact, in a manner, the rest of Hebrews exists so that we can receive this brief instruction.

First command: Let brotherly love continue, remain. Believers are commanded to love all persons – even our enemies. But to our brothers, we are called to special service. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

This is no ordinary command. It occurs over and again throughout Scripture. As Francis Schaeffer put it, brotherly love is the true “mark of a Christian”. In John 13:35, Jesus said that love for the brother demonstrates true faith, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Paul repeatedly commands brotherly love:

Romans 12:17 (ESV)

¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Colossians 3:12–14 (ESV)

¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Peter 1:21–22 (ESV)

²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. ²² Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

Peter also commands brotherly love in 2 Peter 1:7. Jesus, Paul, Peter, John all command brotherly love – it also commanded here in Hebrews 13:1. In fact, it stands at the head of commands in this chapter.

One way to understand the flow of the commands in the next few verses is that such commands help to flesh out the command of brotherly love: Show hospitality. Care tangibly for the persecuted brother. Flee sexual immorality – and honour your marriage. Do not be greedy; rather be content with what God provides. Be respectful of your leaders, those who teach you the Scriptures – because it is by the Scriptures that you will come to develop brotherly love.

Before I give some practical advice on how one develops brotherly love, I want you again to see the connection between the call to worship and brotherly love. True brotherly love is true worship. A sacrifice of thanksgiving is giving praise to God, but it is also showing hospitality to a stranger.

Jesus, in Matthew 25, explains that at the judgment we will be commended for showing true, tangible love to other human beings because such service to our brother is service to Christ himself:

And the King will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40.

The call to brotherly love is not some throw away, not some addition to the Christian life. Brotherly love is the Christian life – you cannot be a Christian and not love your brother:

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

(1 John 3:14-15 ESV)

Remember all the discussion of faith and obedience and salvation? Here is where that comes together. Without love there is no true faith and no true obedience. True faith necessarily produces brotherly love – and this brings us back to an earlier point: Obedience makes it possible for us to better understand the Scripture.

In the very act of loving of our brother, sacrificially, we come to know God in Jesus Christ. When I was a boy growing up in Burbank, I often wondered what I could see from the top of the mountains which mark on edge of the city. Only when I climbed up those mountains did I get the sight from those mountains. I could see things from the mountain top which I could not see elsewhere.

The same is true of obedience. Only when we love of our brother can we gain the sight of Christ which comes from that perspective.

How then does it one increase in brother love? Here are some practical steps adapted from William Gouge: Read the Scripture, a lot. Know the Scripture thoroughly. Attend to the teaching and preaching of the Scripture. Speak about the Bible, frequently. You need the Scripture read and exposited as dearly as a newborn baby needs milk.

Such knowledge of the Scripture will enflame your heart with love toward God – for it will teach you and convey to you God’s love for us. The more that we are certain of God’s love toward us, the more we will love others. Therefore, increasing our knowledge of God’s love toward us will generate our love toward brothers.

Prefer others before yourself. Always assume the best; don’t be suspicious about one-another. Such suspicion and rivalry will poison love and provoke the wrath of God.

Communion, friendship, familiarity: You cannot know brotherly love with those whom you do not know. If you are not in friendly relations with other believers, then you cannot say that you love them. When you keep separate from one-another, you bottle up the gifts of the Spirit. How can one show love or liberality or help or instruction or exhortation alone. The gifts are given to be spent for the glory of God. The servant who kept his master’s money hidden in the ground brought on his master’s anger and punishment. If we hide away our gifts and do not give our brother the space to show his gifts, then we steal from the Lord and harm those we are called to love.

Do good and receive good. Doing good shows love. Receiving good encourages love. There are some who take and never give – such persons provoke wrath and do not rightly understand love. There are others who do good to others and refuse good in return. Such persons are as proud as the first sort. No one of us is beyond the need of others. Be fervent in doing good and humble and thankful in receiving good.

Do this work and be courageous. Do not fear that you will fail. We cannot fail if God is with us. Even if we lose everything we own, if we have the Lord we are wealthy beyond believe.

Do you see how such work is counter to the world. The world says that we must protect ourselves that we must provide for ourselves. The Lord says that we must spend not merely our money but our very lives for Jesus. Brotherly love is madness – except that the world has been turned upside down because Jesus has conquered death. Go to him, outside the camp. Lay aside the wisdom of this world. Offer to the Lord acceptable worship.

We can confidently say

The Lord is my helper

I will not fear

What can man do to me?

Hebrews 13:6

Brotherly Love as Something New (Comment on Hebrews 13:1)

07 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Church History, Hebrews, New Testament Background

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brotherly love, Church History, Hebrews, Hebrews 13:1, Love, Lucian, New Testament Background, NT Background, William Lane

Hebrews 13:1 provides, “Let brotherly love continue.” Now, the culture may broadly state that brotherly love is a good thing. Yet, we must recognize that such an idea (to the extent that it actually exists), derives from Christianity. This point can be seen in the comment by William Lane, from his commentary on Hebrews:

It is important to appreciate that this was something new. In the second half of the second century the satirist Lucian of Samosata explained to a correspondent, Cronius, that the relationship among Christians is unusual; they are to regard one another as “brothers.” He illustrates his point by calling attention to the Christian attitude toward material possessions and grounds in the teaching of Jesus their willingness to share what they own with one another:

Moreover, their original lawgiver persuaded them that they should be like brothers to one another.. … Therefore, they despise all things equally, and view them as common property, accepting such teachings by tradition and without any precise belief (Peregrinus 13).

Lucian’s remarks indicate that an educated person in the second century was quite unprepared for the Christian notion of φιλαδελφία expressed in the admonition, “Keep on loving each other as brothers.” The expansion of the term to include men and women beyond the immediate family was considered ludicrous. Ironically, Lucian’s choice of the Christian attitude toward personal property to illustrate Jesus’ teaching is insightful. It is precisely a willingness to share possessions unselfishly that is characteristic of the relationship among members of the same family. New perspectives concerning familial relationships will inevitably have implications for attitudes toward personal wealth (cf. 13:5) (see Lane, PRS 9 [1982] 270).

Hebrews, 510.

A Sermon on Discipleship, Matthew 28:16-20

26 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Apologetics, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Exhortation, Fellowship, Hebrews, Matthew, Preaching

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(The following sermon was given on November 25, 2012 at Calvary Bible Church in Burbank calvarybiblechurch.org. While the basic doctrine remains the same between the sermon as given and the text, there are points of emphasize which differ from the two formats. The text is posted with the audio at https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.calvarybiblechurch.org/audio/sermon/2012/20121125.mp3

When I was in law school, I was broke. Of necessity, I would cut out luxuries, which at times included food. Thus, free food was of great interest. On a Friday evening, a fellow student led me down to the Hare Krishna Temple for a free vegetarian dinner. At the end of the meal, my friend, who had some expertise in the religion began to explain the meaning of various pictures hung around the room. A recent convert sat with us and tried to help explain the religion. My friend had to correct the young acolyte on his theology.

At that point, I felt sorry for the young man: he had shaved his head, put on a saffron robe and didn’t really understand what he had joined.

Yet, something similar takes place with Christians all the time: Christians regularly fail to understand the prime directive of our religion: let me prove that to you. Turn to Matthew 28, and I will show you the command — and the problem.

We will start in verse 16 for some context:

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Look down to the middle of verse 18, Jesus first states his credentials:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

When we call Jesus Lord, this is what we mean. We mean the man Jesus the Christ, resurrected from the dead, is the Lord of heaven and earth. Revelation 1:5 says of the exalted Lord:

Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Hebrews 1:4 tells us that Jesus, “sat down at the right hand of majesty on high”.

People sometimes identify conspiracies or speculate on whether this group or that group secretly rules the world. Yet, here Jesus claims to rule everything, heaven – earth, living – dead. There is no secret ruler of the world who stands behind Jesus: he rules it all.

When someone refers to their authority, it is best to give closer attention. Imagine some random guy drives up next to your car and Hey you! Pull over!. If he produces a badge which reads, FBI the authority of his office would require more response from you.

Jesus does something similar here: Matthew 28:17 says that some people doubted, that is, they hesitated before Jesus and did not know what to do: Should we worship or no? What was the status of Jesus: was he like Lazarus, merely alive again? What should we do with this man? Jesus answers their shifting hearts:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Have you ever seen the movie scene where a character shoots off a gun to get everyone’s attention? Jesus does something even more striking. What then does he say?

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

This bit contains a command and an encouragement. The command is quite simple, Make disciples. The encouragement is that the God-man who commands heaven and earth will be with you always. That command is the prime directive, it is the prime purpose of the Christian church. While we may do many particular things, everything we do must in the end support our duty to make disciples.

Unfortunately, Christians routinely fail to understand the command to make disciples. We fail to understand the means of discipleship. We think it is some discrete action, special and separated from our “real” life — usually entailing reading a book together, it also appears requires meeting in a coffee shop.

In truth, we constantly make and made as disciples. We may do that poorly or well. You may be making disciples of the flesh or disciples of Christ, but you are constantly making disciples. Therefore, you must become more aware of how disciples are made so that you can be both a more godly disciple and disciple maker.

As you will see, discipleship involves both formal instruction of deliberate teaching and the informal instruction of living together. Ignorance of the nature of discipleship hurts us all, because we all need one-another’s spiritual gifts put into service in order to grow in godliness.

Second, we fail to understand the purpose of discipleship. Discipleship means to bring human beings to the end that they give glory to God in Jesus Christ as Lord:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

Whether it entails caring for one’s children, prayer, working hard at one’s vocation, or bible study — the is always God’s glory. As the Catechism puts it, The chief end of man is to glory God and to enjoy him forever. See this, discipleship requires far than even your personal godliness. Disciples proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ as Lord of Heaven and Earth. Therefore, the honor of King flows from our diligence in discipleship.

For the rest of the time this morning, we will examine the command. First, observe the structure of the command. It consists of two parts, which will be our two points:

1) Baptize

2) Teach

I am going to cover a great deal of ground.Yet, in case you miss something, I will have my notes posted on the website.

Here is the first point: Make disciples by baptizing.

On its face, we might think that the first element of disciple making, baptizing only happens in the brief of moment of actual baptism. However, when we look at the practice of baptism as mentioned in the book of Acts, we will see that baptism is a shorthand which refers to the introduction of one into visible membership within the Christian church. It takes place along the boundary between the world outside and the life inside the Church.

To fulfill the command Go, make disciples by baptizing entails three elements. First – believers – must proclaim Jesus as Lord. That proclamation is the good news: God became a man, incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, who fulfilled the law, suffered and died for the sins of mankind, then rose again on the third day. This same Jesus now possesses all authority in heaven and earth.

Second element, the one who hears the good news commits to this Jesus as Lord.

Third, the one who hears and believes is then baptized – marked off as a member of the Church.

This is the first aspect of discipleship: Believers proclaim. Those who hear, believe. Those who believe, are baptized.

When we look at the descriptions of Acts we see a larger pattern. First, Jesus is proclaimed. Second, someone believes. Third, the believer is baptized.

Let me show this in the book of Acts. If we wish to understand what the command to baptize means, we would do well to see how the Apostles understood and lived out this command.

The first reference to water baptism takes places in Acts 2:38, where Peter calls for baptism by those who believed the message preached. Verse 41 reads:

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

The next reference to baptism comes Acts 8. Philip tells the Ethiopian eunuch of the work of Jesus. Acts 8:35 reads:

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. Acts 8:35 (ESV)

The man hears, believes, is baptized.

The same pattern is repeated throughout the book: Jesus is proclaimed, people believe, they are baptized. Peter proclaims Jesus to the household of Cornelius, people believed, they are baptized (Acts 10:47-48).

Lydia is baptized upon hearing of Jesus (Acts 16:15);

Paul proclaims Jesus to the Philippian jailer and his household, they believe and are baptized (Acts 16:33);

the Corinthian believers hear Paul preach that “Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:5), those who believed were baptized (Acts 18:8).

So we see that the command to make disciples begins with the proclamation of Jesus which, when believed, results in baptism. Thus, to obey the command of Jesus to make disciples, we must first proclaim Jesus.

A. Two points about the proclamation

I will take a small detour and make two comments about the proclamation: First, we proclaim Jesus. Second, we proclaim Jesus at all times.

1. We proclaim Jesus

There are two basic mistakes which I have seen when it comes to understanding evangelism. Neither one of these mistakes are bad in the sense they are heretical or foolish. They are mistakes in that they take a secondary aspect and make it the primary point.

The first mistake is to think the proclamation is a reasoned defense of the faith: it is answering questions and countering objections. Those things are important in their place, but they are not the main thing. When Peter stands up in Acts 2, people have questions about the disciples speaking other languages. He answers by telling the people this is not about us, it is about Jesus. He quotes a prophesy about the Messiah and then turns to the story of Jesus:

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Acts 2:22–24 (ESV)

In Acts 13 we get a sample of Paul’s evangelistic message. Paul tells the story of Israel to a group of fellow Jews. After giving some introduction, he gets to his point:

God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus. (Acts 13:23).

He then tells the story of Jesus: his life, crucifixion, burial and resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives the summary statement of the message which was of first importance:

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 (ESV)

It is not complicated, difficult, hard to remember. We have rebelled against God. God, to remedy that breach, promised and then sent Jesus who fulfilled the law, who died for our sins. Yet, death could not hold Jesus. So Jesus rose from the dead and is now King of King and Lord of Lords.

There are no questions. Someone may refuse to believe history, we cannot overcome that with arguments – although the arguments may take away an excuse. But in the end, the fault does not lie with the story but with the refusal to believe that

All power in heaven and earth

Belongs to Jesus. The problem is not information, it is a refusal to receive Jesus as King. Thomas Nagel, an atheist philosopher put it like this:

I am talking about something much deeper—namely , the fear of religion itself. I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers…. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.

Sure we can answer questions, but in the end realize that the you have been commanded by the Lord of heaven and earth to proclaim that he is the Lord. It is that simple.

The second error is to make this proclamation overly personal. Often we give our testimony, wherein we tell what Jesus has done for us. We tell a story of what I was and what I have become and how Jesus has made by life better. Those things are all true and they have their place. But in the end, the proclamation is not my life is better because of Jesus. Rather it is, Jesus is the Lord, the ruler of heaven and earth. Repent and believe!

Should they believe, then they may be baptized and enter into the Church.

2. We proclaim Jesus at all times

It is good and right to proclaim Jesus in public. It is good and right to proclaim him on the streets. But we must also proclaim him in private, in our lives and with our dearest relations. Not everyone is supposed to preach on a corner, but everyone must proclaim Jesus.

Do you have friends or family, children or parents, co-workers and cousins? Proclaim to them. But someone will say, I do not have a door to proclaim. It is the holiday season, surely you can find some reason to raise the fact of Jesus at Christmas!

But you do so by means of your life. Your life must look different, there must be a graciousness, a love, a hopefulness in trials which opens the door. Look at 1 Peter 3:13-15:

13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:13–15 (ESV)

Do you see that? Your life is supposed to be such that your mere existence will lead others to question you about your hope – your living hope – and you are to do this by the way you live. Your life is to be a testimony to Jesus, a demonstration of hope. When others see that life, they will ask and you respond by proclaiming Jesus.

B. The Problem

From what I can tell, the reason most Christians hesitate to share their faith is that they believe themselves hypocrites, their own life is so lacking that they do not feel it right to proclaim Jesus. And so, feeling themselves to be disobedient, they disobey to lessen the pain of the disobedience – which only makes it worse.

The solution is two-fold. First, we are not called to proclaim ourselves, but Jesus.

Second, our failure to follow the first element of the command to make disciples relates to our failure to the second half of Jesus’ command

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you

It is to that command that we will turn.

Here is the second point: Make disciples by teaching.

Let us look at the contents of the command, you will find it in Matthew 28:20. You are to make disciples by

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you

This element of the command has three parts: First an action: You – all of you – teach. Second: teach them to obey – keep the command, observe the commands. Third, the content of the instruction, all that Jesus has commanded the disciples.

We are going to focus our time on the first element, the action, teaching.

A. A Disciple Learns and Follows

A disciple is someone who learns and follows. All of us are disciples – indeed, everyone in the world is a disciple of something or some idea. People who change their clothing and style and entertainment choices in response to the directions of our overlords in the Burbank entertainment business are being discipled. Schools are disciple making machines. Families are disciple making machines. Governments make disciples. Businesses and cultures make disciples.

Disciple takes place in formal, prescribed education and in informal moment by moment encouragement, discouragement or imitation. You are all busy all the times making disciples and being disciples. Jesus is not introducing a completely new thing into the world. Rather, he is saying that discipleship must be built around him. We are called to make disciples who proclaim Jesus as Lord.

A. Formal Teaching

By formal teaching, I mean the exposition of the Scriptures. It is the pattern we see in Nehemiah 8:8:

⁸ They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. Nehemiah 8:8 (ESV)

Read the Scriptures, explain the Scriptures, apply the Scriptures. This is the primary element of disciple making for those within the church. Discipleship begins at the pulpit. Thus, when you come to church on Sunday morning, you come to be discipled.

The formal exposition of the Scriptures within the congregation is at the top of the list of our responsibility as a congregation: to teach, to be taught and to support those who teach. Let me show from the Scriptures. Turn to 1 Timothy.

The first command which Paul gives to Timothy is found in 1:3: Protect the teaching of the doctrine to the church:

remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.

Paul ends the letter with the command to protect the teaching of the church:

20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” 21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you. 6:20-21:

Here’s the summary:

Command: Protect the doctrine delivered to you.

Enemy: those who teach a different doctrine.

Purpose: Right doctrine leads to faith.

And the end sought is found in 1 Timothy 1:4:

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Doctrine leads to life: Throughout the letter, Paul ties proper doctrine to proper conduct. Thus, Paul throughout 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus stresses the importance of teaching, training teachers, selecting teaching, do not get sidetracked from teaching. Elders are those who are (1) able to teach, and (2) those others should imitate. When Paul writes to Titus, he puts the emphasis on teaching.

In 2 Timothy, Paul waits in a miserable prison knowing he will be killed. How then does he end his instruction and encouragement for his dear friend and ministry help?

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV)

That sounds like Jesus proclaiming, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

I charge you in the presence of God of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom

This is solemn, terrifying: a dread command follows:

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching

Do you see the pattern? Jesus says, I am the Lord, therefore, proclaim me, teach everyone everywhere to follow me. Paul says, God himself requires something of you, teach, preach, everyone to follow Jesus as Lord.

1. Question: Must Everyone Become a Preacher?

At this point, someone will decide that they must become a preacher and that they are sinning if they keep their job as an electrician or a salesperson or a policeman. Does this mean that all of you must become vocational teachers and preachers? No, the NT nowhere gives such an instruction. In fact James writes in the third chapter:

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. James 3:1 (ESV)

In 1 Timothy 3:6, Paul warns against permitting new convert to become overseers and instructors. In 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul prohibits women from the work of teaching the entire congregation. And in 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul warns of the excesses and dangers of young men teaching. Paul gives rather exactly limitations on which may be able to hold such positions, 1 Timothy 3:1-7 & Titus 1:5-11.

2. You do have an obligation, support, listen, obey.

In short, most people won’t be the primary expositors for a congregation. However, that does not mean that you have no responsibility in that regard, your regard is to support and uphold the men who have the responsibility for the congregation. That is a very different sermon, but I will commend you all as being so kind and generous that I am often humble by your goodness.

But there is something more: you have an obligation to come near and listen:

¹ Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. ² Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 (ESV)

Your job is to both support those who do teach and come to learn, with hearts and ears prepared to receive and apply the word of God.

I want you to see how coming near to learn and to apply is part of your discipleship: Discipleship requires a willingness to submit, to learn, to change. One who will not hear and obey cannot change. All the instruction in the world means nothing if you will not take it to heart.

I say this to you as a solemn warning: If you hear the words of Scripture exposited and you refuse to listen and to obey to the commands of the Lord, you will be broken by that same Lord. In Luke 12:47, Jesus warns:

And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. Luke 12:47 (ESV)

No, train yourselves for godliness, as Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7.

3. There are many places for teaching

Without question, a congregation must have common exposition from the Scripture. But not all exposition will take place in this room.

We also have classes on Sunday morning where you can ask and discuss the Scripture. In Acts 19:8, we read of Paul reasoning and persuading with men form the Scriptures. In verse 9 we read that Paul took disciples and reasoned with them daily from the Scriptures. This seems to be a bit different from the public expositions. We see a similar pattern with Jesus: he preached to everyone, but he had a smaller group whom he taught in more detail.

There are also small groups, and home Bible studies.

We at times will do personal exposition of the Scripture help brothers and sisters when the understanding and application of the Scripture becomes particularly difficult. This is called biblical counselling.

What I want you to see is that in each of these instances, from preaching on Sunday morning to personal exposition to help a marriage, there is particular gifting – that means someone has the abilities to do the work – and there is training. One of our primary jobs as overseers of the congregation is not to do all the teaching ourselves.

Rather, a great part of our responsibility is to train the people in the congregation to rightly handle the word of God. That is why we have Sunday evening classes and interns and other classes to help you become fit to administer the word of God. I do not want to make this sound elitest – it is not. Rather, it is the model of Scripture: Paul trains Timothy. Jesus trained the 12. Paul instructs Timothy to train other men.

It is also common sense: I have no training in electrical work – I don’t even have much gifting with such things. Which of you would ask me to rewire your house? Who wants me to program their computer to handle their bills?

Before I became a lawyer, I had to go to school for seven years. Then, when I graduated, I effectively became an apprentice for another few years. Having dealt with the law and dealt with theology and scripture, I can tell you that handling the Bible as it requires is far more difficult and certainly more frightening than picking up a statute.

I want you all to become better equipped to handle the word of God. I want more of you to be trained to be Sunday School teachers and biblical counsellors. That is the desire of our the elders here. If I were to die in this pulpit, it is good to know that there are men here who could step up and finish out the sermon – would to God that there were more.

B. Informal Teaching

This is one of the elements of discipleship which many Christians miss: You are all called to be constantly discipling one-another. While it not be as formal as holding a Bible and expositing the Scripture from a pulpit, it is just as important. However, the content of all such informal instruction is always and only Scripture. It is small, applied portions of Scripture – pre-digested if you will – but always and only Scripture. Your own experience of itself is nothing.

Some of this informal teaching involves actually instruction. For example, fathers are to instruct their children:

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6–7 (ESV)

Parents, you have a constant duty of discipleship for your children. You are to constantly train them in the words of God. Yes, you cannot make them believe, but you can take away any excuse for ignorance.

Husbands, you have a duty to your wives. In Ephesians 5, Paul writes:

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, Ephesians 5:25–26 (ESV)

Therefore, you husbands who have suffered in difficult marriages: have you instructed you wife as to the Lord. Have you washed her in the word? Have you exhibited the grace of Lord in giving himself up for us all? Before you come to a pastor and ask about your marriage, ask first about yourself: have you cared for the discipleship of your wife?

Because in the end of the day, she has been given to you so that you may lead her to Christ. She does not exist for your ease, but for your responsibility. If she sins, it is either because she does not know the Lord or she has not been taught to observe all that Christ has commanded.

Wives, you are not off the hook here. Now, I know that some of you have husbands who do not follow your Lord. What then are you to do? As John Street says, Do not write Repent! at the bottom of his beer can. No, you are to instruct your husbands in the ways of the Lord, but exhibiting the hope and grace of the Gospel:

¹ Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 1 Peter 3:1 (ESV)

Now you wives you have difficult husbands, let me ask you this: If I were to follow you about for a week, a month, and were to see how you actually speak to your husband and you actually treat him, would we – you and I – conclude that your conduct was chaste and respect, gentle and quiet – as Peter prescribes for you?

And so, if your husband is a misery to you could it possibly be because you disobey the Lord you claim to follow?

⁴ but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 1 Peter 3:4 (ESV)

Do you see, husband and wives, parents, that much of your grief comes at your own hands? First, you have failed to be obedient disciples of Jesus because you are not obeying him. Second, you have not sought to be disicplemakers, you have not sought to bring you child, your wife, your husband to become a follower of Jesus – but rather, you have sought to turn your children and your husband and your wife into followers of you?

Are you even surprised that having rebelled against the Lord, that the Lord will not bless your home?

But there is more to disciple to be done:

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Titus 2:3–5 (ESV)

This is not formal classroom stuff – it can include class room instruction, but it is deeper and more informal than that. This is a young mother who is friends with an older woman who has raised her children and they are friends. This cannot happen if we segregate every adult on the basis of age. It takes time and effort to be friends. We cannot simply assign this mother to this woman.

You women who have raised your kids and have been married for 1700 years have a duty to these new moms. You have to find them, invite them over – or invite yourself over to her house and drink tea and help with her children and encourage her. When the young wife complains of her husband, you set her straight. When feels overwhelmed because her son can’t read at 2 years of age, laugh and encourage her.

I remember my wife, after having been married for several years, crying because there was so much she didn’t know and had learned the hard way and no older woman had taught her what to do.

The same applies for you men. It is not the elders’ job to train every man here in the day to day responsibilities of being a man. And you older men know this, these younger men have not been told much of anything which is true about marriage.

I don’t want to hear any more about our senior congregants not knowing where to serve. The church needs the wisdom acquired from living in this world and working out the Scripture in real life. The entire congregation suffers when you fail to apply this command

This is an instruction: You are grown up and you know the world and you know the unbearable pain of being a husband or wife or parent – you know what it is to cry over an erring son, or to feel at your wits end because you can’t make a mortgage payment. God let you experience those difficulties and gain comfort so that you could share that with others:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (ESV)

You don’t have go through a book or do homework assignments – you just have to comfort and encourage and help them live like a Christian.

But there is even more! All of you are supposed to be doing this with everyone. No Christian has an excuse for not discipling others. In Romans 15:14 Paul writes:

¹⁴ I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. Romans 15:14 (ESV)

And in Colossians

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

And in Hebrews

²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)

Do you see that? You are all obliged to one-another. And also that cannot happen unless you are together, a lot. If your church life is 90 minutes on Sunday morning, then do not be surprised when your life looks like it. This also means you. You personally, whether old or young, God has called you to this work.

C. Live Together

The end of the instruction is love: “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:4). The commandment is to love – God and man.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)

This only happens when we are together. In Acts 2:42-47 we get our first description of the early church. Listen to this and not how often they were together:

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

Do see something amazing? They spent their time living like Christians and the Lord added to his church. The church didn’t grow because some crazy program or scheme or attraction or stadium rally – the Lord made it grow. The job of Christians is to be disciples. The job of the Lord is to change hearts.

In that living together, they were able to learn, to teach, to obey, to provoke, to encourage, to exhort, to confront – Hebrews 3:13 tells us that this must take place every day. In his sermon the section of Acts 2 quoted above, Martyn Lloyd Jones makes this observation:

Christianity of theirs was central in their lives. It was the controlling factor of their lives. It was everything to them. This is true of every Christian, and it is here that we see the contrast with those popular views of Christianity that I have tried to dismiss. The popular view is that Christianity is something that we add to our lives. The main tenor of our lives is very much the same as that of everybody else in the world, but we have one difference—on Sunday mornings we go to a place of worship for a brief service (Authentic Christianity, Heart, Mind, Will, 70).

Discipleship is a process by which we become something new (2 Cor. 5:17). To become fit to live with The Lord forever becomes the dearest thing of our lives. Imagine you are preparing to move your entire family from one house to another — it becomes all consuming — packing, carrying, planning, traveling. Your life becomes shaped to fit your new home. We would think someone terribly amiss you spent all his effort on accommodating his live to the house he was leaving. But isn’t that what do in how organize and spend our lives. As Thomas Brooks wrote, the world will be burned for being a witch. And yet we live as if this world and our life upon will be forever.

Discipleship fits for us for leaving. Discipleship is the Holy Spirit unfolding the Word of God in our hearts and lives and making us into people who love God and who love one-another:

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:22-25.

You see, discipleship is not an add-on or option — it is what we are. The Ruler of Heaven and Earth has commanded that it be so — and, when he speaks, it causes it to be so. To be a Christian is to become a disciple of Jesus.

D. Imitation

The final leg of discipleship is imitation. This last element is another sermon in itself. I have about 7,000 words of rough notes on the topic – but I have only room for about a tenth of that.

We act and live like those around us. Now, people do not look so much like where they are from but rather what they watch in movies or shows or games and music. But the principle is the same, you will become what you see you and hear. Parents, by painful and shameful experience, you know your children will imitate you.

When Christians are around one-another more often, they will begin to imitate one-another. Our ultimate source for imitation is God. Peter repeats the command from Leviticus, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:16). Paul, in Ephesians 5:1 writes, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Jesus in Luke 6:35-36 tells us to imitate the Father.

We are also told to imitate Jesus. Jesus says to follow him (Mark 10:21) and Peter writes,

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21 (ESV)

Now those who imitate the Lord and are called to be models for others to imitate. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:16,

I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Paul also writes:

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)

This is a pattern which carries down to the church today – we cannot follow Paul or Jesus by natural sight, but we can follow in the faith:

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7 (ESV)

Again, this is a process which entails all y’all. First, you must imitate the faith of other more mature Christians. Second, you – whether you want to be or not – are a model for others; people will see you and imitate you. That should cause you some concern for how you live.

Conclusion: What then is to be done?

The work of discipleship is a work which requires each of you. Knowing that, listen to these words of Peter and take them to heart, hear them and obey them knowing that in so doing, you will be about the Lord’s work and fulfilling the Lord’s command.

This work is difficult, flesh-crossing work. You will be checked at almost every step. The Devil will seek to destroy you. The world will seek to distract you. People will seek to unravel your faith. Your flesh will seek to lead you to sin. Your heart will prove traitor. These enemies, coupled to the curse which lays upon this world, will cause you to suffer and sorrow.

Discipleship causes pain, because discipleship turns on destruction. You born into rebellion, into a foreign kingdom — and now have been rescued, translated into a kingdom of light. But the thoughts and hopes of that old kingdom still stick to your heart. Discipleship entails nothing less than the destruction of every hint of that kingdom to raise Christ as king alone:

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

1 Corinthians 1:18-19

We would not send soldiers into battle without training — and even then, training continues. The soldier in Afghanistan cannot forget for a day he is at war — but he knows that one day he will come home if the enemy does not kill him in the field.

The Christian cannot fall by pain or death — it is only sin which can derail the believer. Therefore,

⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:8–11 (ESV)

“Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken”

by Henry Francis Lyte, 1793-1847

1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.

2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.

3. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.

4. Man may trouble and distress me,
‘Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

5. Take, my soul, thy full salvation;
Rise o’er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
What a Father’s smile is thine,
What a Savior died to win thee;
Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?

6. Haste, then, on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close the earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

How a Holy Resignation to and Love for Christ Prepares One for Suffering (Edward Polhill)

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, 2 Corinthians, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Edward Polhill, Obedience, Puritan

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A fourth aspect of love toward Christ lies in giving up one’s self wholly to the will of Christ, who disposes our ends and determines our place. A great deal of suffering lies not in the things itself but in our relationship to the thing. While all suffering necessarily entails pain and loss — and this is a point which we must not forget when living in love with a sister or brother who suffers: suffering is real, and we are called to enter into the suffering of others (“weep with those who weep”, Romans 12:14), and to comfort those who are afflicted (2 Cor. 1:4) — we often make our suffering worse by refusing to resign ourselves in love to our Savior.

The Christian who suffers is called to both know sorrow and joy at once. The suffering of this life causes real pain and brings real tears (John 11:35; Psalms 56:8). Yet, at the same time, there is a real joy which runs independently of the sorrow, for it is anchored, not in the circumstances, but in the eternal good of God:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:3-9

Thus, we needlessly increase our suffering when we suffer without a sure love anchored in the surety that Christ has done us good. Yet, when we in holy resignation submit our will to the determination of Christ, knowing that that his toward us is sure, we prepare for and perserve in suffering.

In fact, we must realize that such love and resignation is our reasonable service to Christ — and it is a service for which we will rejoice. As Polhill explains:

Love to Christ stands in a holy benevolence towards him; it surrenders up the whole man to him; it endeavours to serve and honour him to the utmost. Thus those many thousands cry out, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing, (Rev. 5:11, 12); they give all to Christ. This is an excellent preparative for suffering. If we would serve him in other things, we must serve him in suffering for him; if we would honour him in obedience to other commands, we must honour him in taking up the cross too. St. Paul desired that Christ might be magnified in his body, whether it were by life or by death, (Phil 1:20). If he lived he would magnify Christ by active obedience; and if he died, he would do it by passive: either way he would have Christ glorified in him. The martyr, Romanus, having a multitude of wounds in his body, thanked the persecutor for opening so many mouths to glorify Christ. In nothing is Christ so much glorified as in his suffering saints; therein they demonstrate the highest love, seal up the evangelical truths with their own blood; practically prefer Christ before all the world, and offer up themselves for him who gave himself a sacrifice for them. O let us labour to make a total resignation of ourselves to him, that if sufferings come, we may be able to bear them for his sake.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 345-346 (Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day).

Love and Holiness

04 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Ben Witherington III

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Here we see the connection between love and holiness: love, if it is to be real and sincere and wholehearted, must be pure and coming form a pure heart. Conversion leads to holiness, which produces love in the believer, though the converse is also true — loving sanctifies the lover. Thus, Wesley stressed that holiness was a loving of God with a whole heart and neighbor as self. The word “unhypocritical” (anypokritos) or as we would say “pure and genuine” is also elsewhere connected to loving in the New Testament (Rom. 12:9; 2 Cor. 6:6).
Ben Witherington III, Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians, 110

Obedience and Love

04 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Uncategorized

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The efficient cause of such love: It will come through “obeying the truth”. This is very marvelous. We should have thought that our love to each other would have been promoted best by meeting for social enjoyment, by knowing each other better, by constant association in Christian work. but this not God’s way. The true lens by which hearts are made to glow is the Truth.

….A thousand times better shall we find it to set ourselves to “obey the truth.” Let no command lie unfulfilled in some dusty corner of the soul. Let no margin intervene between your feet and the limit of your light. Let the life follow the Divine Word majestically through the heavens. Translate all precepts into the vernacular of daily duty; and you will verify, in yet a deeper sense than ever, the Master’s words: “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21).

As we obey the truth, we shall be purified by it. Young men cleanse their way by taking heed thereto according to the Divine Word. The Bridegroom purifies his bride by washing of water through the Word. Oh, all ye who grown under the sense of a defiled heart — here is one secret to cleanliness, Obey the truth!

“Christian Love”, in Tried by Fire, Expositions of The First Epistle of Peter (1867)F.B. Meyer, 67-69

(Incidentally, I found a copy of this book as an electronic copy at http://archive.org/details/triedbyfireexpos00meye)

The Church at Ephesus and Canticles 3

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Corinthians, 1 John, James, Revelation, Song of Solomon

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In Revelation 2, Jesus commends and then rebukes the church at Ephesus. He commends their good works and care for correct doctrine, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.” He also commends their “patient endurance”. Yet, there is a fault, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Now James explains that a faith which has no work is no true faith:

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

John in his first epistle explains that one who claims love and yet does not actually conduct acts of love has no true love from God:

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18

Thus, “faith” and “love” which exist only as words, are not faith or love; yet work — even good work of charity, and endurance and right doctrine — without love means nothing:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

What does all this mean? At times Christians of this time and place speak of a personal relationship with Jesus. Unfortunately, it seems that such words usually mean a self-centered self-defined vague Jesus as the guy who paid for my get out of hell card. Yet there
is a sense in which the phrase is quite correct: Jesus is a persons : he is a man and the Son of God incarnate and is a person. He is a person with whom a relationship may and must be cultivated.

But the relationship may not be a matter of mere words like “faith” or “love”. Were I to tell my wife “I love you” and yet keep a mistress, my wife would rightly question (to say the very least!) the word “love”. I perhaps may feel an emotion of some sort — but I would not demonstrate love. That would be a “dead” love or faith. My wife seeks the words, but she really seeks my life. When words and conduct, when the entire life renders a true love, then the marriage exists.

Conversely, if I were to do things because I thought she wanted me to, but I did not care for her out of love, there would still be no true love.

Conduct without love and words without conduct are both nothing more than manipulation. Work without love and faith is rank paganism: I have sacrificed X and so the deity owes me Y. Words without corresponding conduct are fraud. A confidence man promises an interest in an oil well in North Dakota — he may even deliver a piece of paper claiming the same — but he only delivers words without meaning, because he words correspond to nothing in reality.

How then must the church at Ephesus respond? Canticles (Song of Solomon) 3 pictures the bride who seeks her love:

1 On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.
2 I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not.
3 The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

This passage pictures the desire of the bride for the bridegroom — and thus the desire of the Church for Christ. In Revelation 2, Jesus has told the Ephesians, You must come seek me — and seek until you find: just as the bride in Canticles must seek her love. James Durham’s comment on verse 4 helps us to understand the application to the soul:

The second thing here, is her success, which is according to her desire, ‘I found him’ (saith she); when I had pressed but a little further, he sensibly and surprisingly made himself known to me. Observe. 1. Christ is not far off from his people when they are seeking him, whatever they may think when he hides himself. 2. They who love Christ, and conscionably follow all means for obtaining him are not far from finding, nor he far from manifesting himself to them. 3. They who sincerely press forward to the life of ordinances beyond the form, and by faith take themselves to Christ himself for the blessing, not resting on their performances will not long miss Christ, yea, it may be, he will give them a sensible manifestation of himself sooner than they are aware; for, ‘the Spirit is obtained, not by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith,’ Gal. 3:2. 4. A soul that sincerely loves Christ, should not, and when in a right frame will not give over seeking Christ till it find him, whatever disappointment it meets with; and sure such will find him at last. 5. Christ found after much search, will be very welcome, and his presence then will be most discernible. 6. Believers should no less observe, and acknowledge their good success in the means, than their disappointments; there are many who often make regrets of their bonds, that are deficient in acknowledging God’s goodness when they get liberty.

Mutual Self-Sacrifice in Marriage

27 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Mortification, Philippians

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Whose Kingdom?

“Marriage is a beautiful thing that only reaches what it was designed to be through the methodology of a painful process” (What Did You Expect, 52).

Love is the end which God produces through the power of the Spirit: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22). “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

However, by nature, we are self-centered. The sin we possess in our flesh and the sin we produce in our lives merely build upon and increase the intensity and depth of our sinful selfishness. This selfish runs directly counter to the demands of marriage:
“What all this means is that sin is essentially antisocial. We don’t really have time to love our spouse, in the purest sense of what that means, because we are too busy loving ourselves. We actually want our spouse to love us as much as we love ourselves, and if our spouse is willing to do that, we will have a wonderful relationship” (What Did You Expect? 47).

[I remember reading of a poet who fell in love with one woman while he was already married to another. When he informed the first wife, he could not understand why she was not happy. After all, if she wanted him to be “happy” wouldn’t she be pleased with his new passion?]

Yet, our new life in Christ requires us to live outside ourselves, for love entails seeking a good which does not necessarily mean my person and private privilege:

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4

In marriage, this demand is heightened: the wife and the husband are required to sacrifice their own personal concern and give up their immediate desires in favor of the good of another. The submission of the wife, the self-sacrifice of the husband are demands of love of the most extraordinary sort. I think we do a disservice to Christian marriage when we pretend the goal of marriage can be obtained by some sort of effort and education. The demands of marriage are supernatural.

You see, the demand of marriage is a demand that requires extraordinary holiness, extraordinary mortification of sin. It is not merely a matter of communication skill, it is a matter of death to self, death to sin and life to God in Jesus Christ. Paul makes plain that the law cannot kill sin — this is a work of the Spirit:

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:12-13.

Marriage is a blessing to us in its very difficulty. The success of marriage — true success — requires holiness, it requires walking in the Spirit (consider it thus: what would marriage be like if you were to walk in the Spirit and if your spouse were to walk in the Spirit? What would be the marriage where the fruit of the Spirit did abound? Galatians 5:22-24).

The difficulty of marriage gives rise to the incessant need to seek holiness. “[T]he trouble you that you face in marriage is not an evidence of the failure of grace. No, those troubles are grace. They are the tools God uses to pry us out of the stultifying confines of the kingdom of self so that we can be free to luxuriate in the big-sky glories of the kingdom of God” (What Did You Expect? 52).

Thus, marriage is merely a particular instance of the common work of God to use trials as a means to produce conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:29). Twice in the NT, we are told trials are a basis for joy because they are means of transformation (Rom. 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).

Marriage inherently presents the raw materials for trial: the close relationship, the conflicted expectations, the differences between the sexes, the curse of Genesis 3:16, our own sin, the bad examples from which to “learn” — such things makes trial in marriage almost unavoidable.

God, then, in his goodness presents only one means of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13): we must learn to love our neighbor — and more so, our brother or sister (for my wife will be my sister in Christ long after death ends our marriage). I must learn to sacrifice my self, my pride and live for the good of another (and must do likewise). In so doing, obedience of faith creates a perfect correspondence between what I must do in obedience to God and what will produce the greatest happiness within my marriage.

The unhappiness of marriage comes from seeking to force another to become what I want. The joy of marriage comes from the mutual self-sacrifice of love.