Hope in the Struggle with Sin and Self — A.W. Pink

“He who is really honest with himself and has had his eyes opened in some degree to see the awful sinfulness of self, and who is becoming more and more acquainted with that sink of iniquity, that mass of corruption which still indwells him, often feels that sin more completely rules him now than ever it did before. When he longs to trust God with all his heart, unbelief seems to paralyze him. When he wishes to be completely surrendered to God’s blessed will, murmurings and rebellion surge within him. When he would spend an hour in meditating on the things of God, evil imaginations harass him. When he desires to be more humble, pride seeks to fill him. When he would pray, his mind wanders. The more he fights against these sins, the further off victory seems to be. To him it appears that sin is very much the master of him, and Satan tells him that his profession is vain. What shall we say to such a dear soul who is deeply exercised over this problem?…   Continue at Eric T. Young

Blessed Self-Forgetfulness

The way many of us think about sanctification is, well, not very sanctified. In fact, it's downright narcissistic. We thinking about how we're doing, if we're growing, whether we're doing it right or not. We spend too much time brooding over our failures and reflecting on our successes. We seem to believe that the focus of the Christian faith is the life of the Christian.

Reflecting this common assumption, someone who was frustrated with something I had written said to me not long ago, "Don't you know that the focus of the New Testament is the personal holiness of the Christian?"

What? Seriously? To keep calm, I replayed Mr. Miyagi in my head, "Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out …"

The truth is, we spend way too much time thinking about ourselves, and we justify this spiritualized navel-gazing by reasoning that this is what God wants us to be doing.

There is nothing in the gospel that encourages us to focus on ourselves. Nothing! It's never honoring to God when we take our eyes off of Christ. Never! In fact, the whole point of the gospel is to get us out of ourselves and to "fix our eyes on Christ" (Heb. 12:2). The truest measure of Christian growth, therefore, is when we stop spiritually rationalizing the reasons why we're taking our eyes off of Jesus to focus on ourselves.

It's sin that turns us inward. The gospel turns us outward. Martin Luther argued that sin actually bends or curves us in on ourselves. Any version of "the gospel," therefore, that places you at the center is detrimental to your faith—whether it's your failures or your successes, your good works or bad works, your strengths or weaknesses, your obedience or disobedience.  Continue at Tullian Tchividjian

Narcissism Radically Pervades Contemporary Culture

The March edition of Tabletalk is out. This month’s issue explores the narcissism that radically pervades contemporary culture. Scripture speaks of improper self-love often, constantly combating this destructive tendency, which is stimulated by sin and affects everyone in society, from the least to the greatest. This issue aims to encourage believers to think properly about themselves and the gifts God has bestowed upon them for the good of the church.

Contributors include R.C. Sproul along with Elyse Fitzpatrick, Kelly Kapic, Eric Landry, Jonathan Leeman, John MacArthur, Stephen Meyer, Richard Phillips, Harry Reeder, R.C. Sproul Jr. and Carl Trueman. Tabletalk features articles about topics central to the Christian faith and daily, in-depth Bible studies with featured columns by contributors such as Michael Haykin and David Murray. 

We do not post all of the feature articles or the daily devotionals from the issue, so you’ll have to subscribe to get those. But for now, here are links to a few select columns and articles from this month:

• Theological Narcissism by Burk Parsons
• The Coming of the Kingdom by R.C. Sproul
• It’s Not About You by Eric Landry
• Enlightened Self-Interest by R.C. Sproul Jr.
• Christian Parenting by Elyse Fitzpatrick
• Your Church and Your Life Planning by Jonathan Leeman
• Scripture and Science in Conflict?: An Interview With Stephen C. Meyer
• Fallacious History by Carl Trueman

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If you have not yet subscribed to Tabletalk, now is the perfect time. It’s only $23 for a year, and $20 to renew. You save even more if you get a 2- or 3-year subscription (as little as $1.36 per issue). We offer special discounts for churches or businesses who want multiple copies of each issue.

Get your subscription to Tabletalk today by calling one of Ligonier Ministries’ resource consultants at 800-435-4343 (8am-8pm ET, Mon-Fri) or by subscribing online. You can also get free shipping on individual 2012 issues of Tabletalk. 

Tabletalk Magazine

We Do Not Preach Ourselves

Two weeks ago, we looked at 2 Corinthians 4:3 and considered what it had to teach us concerning the nature of Gospel ministry. The conclusion to that post was that the purpose of Gospel ministry was not to amuse the goats, but to call the sheep. Last week, we moved onto verse 4 and discovered the world’s problem: they are blind to the glory of Christ. Therefore, the Church’s mission is to solve that problem. If we’re doing something that won’t solve that problem, we need to stop.

The question is, then, what solves that problem? How can the Church be instrumental in the opening of blind eyes? Well, Paul gets to that in verse 5. Just as we must know the purpose and the problem of Gospel ministry, we must also know the proclamation.

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

– 2 Corinthians 4:5 –

What does it mean to “not preach ourselves?” It means that we don’t put ourselves—the messengers—forward as the appeal to unbelievers in our ministry. We don’t make our methodology or our style the draw. We don’t appeal to that which is fleshly or worldly in the unbeliever in order to attract and compel their participation. Instead, we do everything we can to get ourselves out of the way so as to be merely incidental—merely the finger that points to the substance, to the content of the message: that Jesus Christ is Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 really sheds light on what it means for Paul that he not be preaching himself. He says... Keep Reading >>>

On Death To Self

Ever since the Enlightenment, we’ve been told in a thousand different ways that accomplishment precedes acceptance; that achievement precedes approval. And since we all long for affirmation and validation, we set out to prove our worth by doing. Unwittingly, Christians in this cultural context have absorbed this mentality and taken it into their relationship with God and their understanding of the Christian life.

This was apparently a problem in Jesus’ day too. For instance, when Jesus was asked in John 6:28, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” he answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he sent.” What? That’s it? How terribly anti-climactic!

As it was with Martha in Luke 10:38-42, so it is with us: we just have to be doing something. We can’t sit still. Achieving, not receiving, has become the mark of modernity’s version of spiritual maturity. Martin Luther once wrote:

To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.

The hardest thing to do even as believers in Christ is to simply receive something. In fact, there’s nothing we fear more than having all control taken out of our hands.   Keep Reading...

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Pastoral Ministry Is War

Why do so many pastors report being over-burdened and over-stressed? Why do so many pastors report tension between family life and ministry life? Why does pastoral ministry often seem like more of a trial than a joy? Why is there often disharmony between the private life of the pastor and his public ministry persona? Why are there often dysfunctional relationships between the pastor and his ministry leaders or staff? Why is the ministry life of many pastors shockingly short?

Perhaps we have forgotten that pastoral ministry is war and that you will never live successfully in the pastorate if you live with a peacetime mentality. Permit me to explain. The fundamental battle of pastoral ministry is not the battle with the shifting values of the surrounding culture. It is not the struggle with resistant people who don’t seem to esteem the gospel. It is not the fight for the success of the ministries of the church. And it is not the constant struggle of resources and personnel to accomplish the mission. No, the war of the pastorate is a deeply personal war. It is fought on the ground of the pastor’s heart. It is a war of values, allegiances, and motivations. It is about subtle desires and foundational dreams. This war is the greatest threat to every pastor. Yet it is a war that we often naively ignore or quickly forget in the busyness of local church ministry.    Keep Reading...

The Marks of Immaturity, and How to Keep Growing

Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from Reckless Faith (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994, pp. 63-66). As you read, think about the fact that these words were written 17 years ago. For many of you YRR folks, John was writing to your parents! The immaturity and lack of discernment that marked your parents’ generation explains much of what we’re living with today. On this, I think we are agreed: The YRR generation simply cannot follow the same course. So, listen to what your parents ignored, and together, let’s get this ship heading in the right direction.

Selfishness is one telltale sign of immaturity. Babies are completely self-centered.

They scream if they don't get what they want when they want it. All they are aware of are their own needs and desires. They never say thanks for anything. They can't help others; they can't give anything. They can only receive.

And certainly there's nothing wrong with that when it occurs in the natural stage of infancy. But to see a child whose development is arrested so that he never gets beyond that stage of helpless selfishness—that is a tragedy.

And that is exactly the spiritual state of multitudes in the church today. They are utterly preoccupied with self. They want their own problems solved and their own comfort elevated. Their spiritual development is arrested, and they remain in a perpetual state of selfish helplessness. It is evidence of a tragic abnormality. Read the rest HERE

The Sin of Insecurity

Barney struggles to raise his oversized purple head, weakened by the gradual loss of viewership in recent years. Once a formidable voice in children’s TV programming, he now grasps weakly at his friends, who stand quietly beside. He manages to seize a fistful of Elmo’s scruff and draws him close. “One thing you must never let a single child forget: ‘You are special.’” The falsetto-voiced monster puts a furry hand on Barney’s and turns to look at the others. All of them knew that a very important message had been entrusted to them. Of all moral lessons in children’s TV programming, this was to be foundational.

And if you notice, whenever kids shows step away from silly fun or situational problem solving and toward moral admonition, it is usually on this very topic: the importance of a positive self-image and the confidence that should result from it. And so, educational TV coaches us to think positively about everything from our hair color to our particular set of interests as the means of instilling confidence for living.

I am not advocating a low self image, of course. I am simply pointing out that insecurity seems to be the only thing appropriate for public correction. In fact, we could say that in the moral universe of children’s programming, insecurity is the chief sin. Why?

Before we attempt to answer that question, let me present another: I believe that God calls insecurity sin, too. But why?   Keep Reading...

For Whom is the Church?

Anthropocentrism – it’s a big word with a simple meaning:  man-centredness.  All of us should know that this is a problem with our natural human condition.  We want the world to revolve around us.  By nature, we find a world with God in the centre difficult to accept.  This way of thinking is common enough in non-Christian circles.  How sad it is, then, to see this way of thinking also accepted by many who claim the Name above every name.  In one of his books, popular author Max Lucado penned the following:

I’ve seen you stalking the malls, walking the aisles, searching for that extra-special gift.  Stashing away a few dollars a month to buy him some lizard-skin boots; staring at a thousand rings to find her the best diamond; staying up all Christmas Eve, assembling the new bicycle.

Why do you do it?  So her eyes will pop, his jaw will drop.  To hear those words of disbelief:  “You did this for me?”

And that is why God did it.  Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way.

Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, “Do you like it?  I did it just for you.”[i]

That sounds nice.  It appeals to our emotions.  God’s acts of creation and providence exist just for us.  Doesn’t that make us feel good?  It might make us feel good, but it is not what Scripture teaches.  In the Psalms (e.g. 8 and 19), for instance, we find that God’s work in this world is not for us, but for him – for his glory! Keep Reading>>>

How Cliques Mute the Gospel and Trumpet Self

We like people that look like us, act like us, like what we like, and are similar to us; however, the Christian life is just not that neat. The point of the gospel is not to unite people according to the flesh, but rather to unite people in Jesus Christ. If I am a cliquey person then I am enjoying exclusive relationships with folks while also excluding others whom Christ has brought together. I have just unwittingly undermined a major aspect of what Christ has bought in and through his gospel! I have promoted my personal preferences to a position of supremacy and put the gospel in position of submission. This should not be. Read it all HERE

Examine Yourself!

How many professors of Christian religion today have lulled themselves to sleep of the state of their own souls? The great majority of professors are content to have grasped a certain degree of spirituality as to not give the slightest care about true and genuine conversion, true saving faith. Whether or not they really have saving, regenerating faith in Christ.

What a frightening reality would it be, come judgment day when many a professor on earth who professed the name of Christ: “Lord, Lord! Have I not prophesied in Your name? Cast out demons in Your name? Done wonderful works in Your name?” Yet the reply they would get is: “I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.” (Matt 7:22-23) Read the rest HERE

Selfolatry

If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself. If there is a challenge that biblical discipleship poses to Americans, it is self-denial.

I’ve benefited greatly from the theological sociology found in David Wells’s five book series beginning with No Place for Truth (1993) and concluding with The Courage To Be Protestant (2008). In 1998 Losing Our Virtue (hereafter LOV), was the third book published in this series and most directly speaks to the issue of Americanism’s self-worship: selfolatry. Self is the Zeus in the American Pantheon. Self is the big daddy god of American pluralism. Read the rest HERE

Finish With Yourself

Truth and Consequences