In Christ I'm Not a Sinner

I'm learning that the more I see of the gospel, the more I see how little I see it. For every inch gained in gospel understanding, I gain a foot in seeing how little I grasp it. I peer over the ledge of grace and see a new hundred-foot drop, which enables me to see also that the cliff extends another mile beyond that.

There is an entire psychological substructure that, due to the Fall, is a near-constant emission of relational leveraging, fear-stuffing, nervousness, score-keeping, neurotic controlling, anxiety-festering silliness that is not something I say or even think so much as something I breathe. You can smell this on people, though some of us are good at hiding it. And I'm seeing more and more, bit by bit, that if you trace this fountain of scurrying haste, in all its various manifestations, down to the root, you don't find childhood difficulties or a Myers-Briggs diagnosis or Freudian impulses. You find gospel deficit. All the worry and dysfunction and resentment is the natural fruit of living in a mental universe of Law. The gospel really is what brings rest, wholeness, flourishing, shalom---that existential calm that for brief, gospel-sane moments settles over you and lets you see for a moment that in Christ you truly are invincible. The verdict really is in; nothing can touch you.

From another angle: Living by law, which we all believe we're not really doing (those silly Galatians!) is deep and subtle and pervasive. More pervasive than the occasional moments of self-conscious works-righteousness would indicate. Those moments of self-knowledge are indeed gifts of grace and not to be ignored. But they are only the visible tip of an invisible iceberg. They are surface symptoms. Law-ish-ness (in Gal 3:10 Paul uses the phrase, literally, "those who are of works of law") is by its very nature undetectable because it's natural, not unnatural, to us. Feels normal.   Continue at Dane Ortlund

Sheep, Goats, and the Mission of the Church

Can't give you a sermon manuscript---I'm working on my own!---but here's how I think through the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.

1.  I think your first impression is correct.  I think that when Jesus refers to "the least of these" in 45, that's the same group referenced in 40 when he says "the least of these my brothers."  There are two crucial things to consider here--the meaning of "the least" and the meaning of "brothers."  On "the least," elachistos, it's not quite true that it's not used of disciples anywhere else.  Jesus uses it in Matthew 5:19 to refer to those who will be called "least in the kingdom of heaven."  Paul uses it to refer to himself in 1 Corinthians 15:9 as "the least" of the apostles and in Ephesians 3:8 as "the least of all the saints."  Maybe even more to the point, other than those instances, I don't see any other places where the word is used of humans at all.  Maybe I'm missing something, but there certainly don't seem to be lots of places where elaxistos is used of non-disciples!

Besides that, elaxistos, "least," is just the superlative of mikros, "little."  And Jesus uses that quite a lot to refer to his followers.  Matthew 10:42, for example, says, "Whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will be no means lose his reward."  You could look also at Matthew 18:6, 10, and 14.

Which brings up Matthew 18:5.  That's not talking about the needy, I don't think.  It may be talking about the child who's sitting on Jesus' lap; I think it's even more likely that it's talking about disciples who are like that child.  After all, Jesus has already made that metaphorical pivot in verse 4 from the child himself to those who must be like that child, and then in verse 6 he actually brings it home by talking about "one of these little ones who believe in me."  Keep Reading >>>

Contemplative Prayer - Sinister Perversion

“Lectio Divina”

The next major topic covered by the source document brought into question in this series[i] is “Lectio Divina.”[ii] Our anonymous author merely refers to lectio divina as “Bible Reading” in his heading of the subject and provides this as his opening statement:

“For many Christian leaders Bible reading and study has become the means to preparing a teaching or preaching assignment.”

This is probably truer than most would care to admit; and I am willing to say that it may possibly be true of some, even many, who would profess to embrace reformed theology and the doctrines of grace; many more than we, who are quite orthodox and reformed, would care to admit.

Although the author of this piece quotes Emergent leader, Tony Jones, and states that the origin of lectio divina occurred approximately 500 years after Christ, instituted by a monastic priest, Benedict, aka Saint Benedict,[iii] he does n0t give much of a definition for lectio divina. Then again, he did not have to because he cites the four phases of lectio divina in his paper (which we will look at one by one). Prior to explaining each one of the components, however, the author does provide an especially revealing paragraph: Read it all HERE

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Christmas and the Gift of Humanity

If there's one more lesson to be derived from Christmas then it must be the truth of God's magnanimous declaration that His physical creation is good and that Christ's putting on of human flesh is the guarantee that the physical bodies of His saints, along with the whole of the created order, shall finally be saved and delivered from the tyranny of sin through the bearing in His physical body of the pains, terrors and penalty of sin, both in His perfectly righteous life and in His atoning death. Continue Reading>>>

The Perseverance of the Saints

John 6:34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” In this passage of scripture, Jesus presents the big picture perspective regarding salvation. His words are altogether clear and unmistakable, as He portrays the complete sovereignty of God in salvation. Continue Reading>>>

Were Old Testament Saints ‘Born Again’?

Tears of the Saints

HT: Battle4Truth

What does the term “perseverance of the saints” mean, and does the bible teach it?

The Doctrine of the Saints Final Perseverance

The Remedy for Paralyzed Sinners & Fallen Saints