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Fight With the Gospel…

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Having talked TGINL, and seen the Gospel enemies of self-righteousness, persistent guilt and self-reliance, I thought I’d wrap up this short series with a call to fight with the Gospel.  Again, I’m leaning on Jerry Bridges.  After urging us to begin our day by preaching the Gospel to ourselves, he urges us to add a Daily Declaration of Dependence:

  • I recognize my absolute lack of power and ability.
  • I redirect my dependence to the supremely reliable power of the Holy Spirit.
  • I reject my tendency to self-reliance: “You are God, and I am not.”

And Bridges continues:

With our dependence on the righteousness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit renewed we proclaim to God, “We are your servants.” We work hard in the strength He provides, not to earn merit but to glorify and enjoy Him.

That really is what life is all about. Today, will you declare your dependence on God through His Gospel and in so doing set your feet on a path to glorify and enjoy Him, forever?

Some Links for Friday, 9/2/11

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A couple of helpful things from the web this week:

I know many of you are aware of the Gospel-centered buzz in certain parts of evangelicalism. I would summarize this “movement” as seeing the Gospel not merely for lost people but also for believers. One writer I love to read on this is Jared Wilson. Interacting with him this week on Twitter I asked how he came to be so Gospel-centered and while part of his story is found in his forthcoming book, Gospel Wakefulness, at the end of a recent sermon he gave is a short testimony of his life. Parts of it sound like my story and many other friends I have spoken with. I commend it to you not only for the testimony, but also for the exegetical gold mine he uncovers in Hebrews 1:2-3. Here’s the video:

Another helpful thing this week was at the Biblical Counseling Coaltion, which recently opened up a portion of their website with many helpful resources. If there is a particular issue you are seeking out godly wisdom on, this might be a good place to dig in to…

Blessings to you and enjoy the weekend.

Marriage is About Time, Love and Tenderness…

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Yes, Michael Bolton sang a song, “Time, Love and Tenderness”, No, that’s not necessarily what I’m talking about…

However, what I am talking about as I try to say something encouraging to married peeps is this…

Your marriage takes time. If you’re a newlywed, you need time to deepen in your relationship with this person you now live with. If you’re blessed with children, your marriage will start to be a time of juggling all the demands of the children and still prioritizing the primary relationship you have with your spouse. And, in my case, with a child in school now, I’m finding I need to do much better in strategizing to have time with my wife. Marriage takes time. I know you who have been married for a longer time would testify that time spent together is time well spent.

Marriage is also about love. Remember what the Bible presses upon us, especially in the LOVE chapter (said in Barry White’s voice), is that love is not so much what we say as much as how we live. Many people claim to love their spouse but then, through their actions say exactly the opposite. Jesus said that great love was laying down your life for your friends. Love means dying to selfish desire. And it is in this thinking of the other person above yourself that love thrives and grows.

Marriage is also about tenderness, meaning that we act towards our spouse in ways that are appropriate for the moment. I picture tenderness as carefully engaging my spouse in ways that are appropriate for the moment. I don’t neglect what kind of day she’s had. I don’t ignore what she needs. I try not to be blind to what she needs. Tenderness means that my heart of compassion is for her.

So, today, think of ways that you can take time, express love and be tender towards your spouse. It just might change your married life.

Weekend Preview – Jesus Is A Better Priest

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Maybe you’ve heard of the game 5 steps to Kevin Bacon, which traces a journey of movies starring Bacon back to any actor in Hollywood. Well, this Sunday, Lord-willing, we are going to be looking at some steps that get back to Jesus and how He is a better priest that what is found in the Levitical law. The passage we intend to look at is Hebrews 7:11-19. The progression of steps are highlighted by William Lane in his book on Hebrews:

(11-12) – prophecy about a new priesthood demonstrated the old was insufficient (13-14) – prophecy of Psalm 110:4 was Jesus coming to be our High Priest (15-17) – the new priest is superior in quality to Levitical priests (18-19) – Levitical priesthood and old Law was set aside by a new and better hope based on superior quality of high priest

Now, with all of these parts of the book of Hebrews, we need to expend some mental energy to understand the argument, but, as we do, we will find that the picture it gives us of our Lord and Savior is a resplendently brilliant one. Therefore, come expecting God to move through His Word to glorify the Son, our Better High Priest.

Weekend Recap – Pointer and Small Groups…

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Happy Monday everyone. Hope you all are doing well as we get off and running on another week. I thought we had a tremendous Lord’s Day yesterday. God was so gracious to move and act in many ways and I continue to stand in awe of what we are learning about Him (and Jesus) through the book of Hebrews. Yesterday’s sermon, Pointer, from Hebrews 7:1-10 tried to hop on a trajectory or course that pointed us to Jesus as the main theme of the Bible. As I mentioned in the introduction, I wanted to dazzle everyone with Jesus’ character and superiority. I hope you found yourself delighting in Him. In the evening, we had great time in small groups, continuing to work our way through Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins. My group looked, specifically, at the chapter on Anxiety, Worry and Frustration, which proved to be very fruitful for good Gospel application. Hope you have a blessed week!

Gospel Enemy: Self-Reliance…

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For the past few weeks, we’ve looked at what TGINL is, and sought to seek out whether or not we are guilty of Gospel Enemy 1, Self-Righteousness, and Gospel Enemy 2, Persistent Guilt.  Today, I want to help you flee a huge Gospel enemy, Self-Reliance.  Again, I’m leaning on Jerry Bridges work:

Self-reliance toward God is a dependence on our own power, not the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s some questions to expose this:

How many times in the past twenty-four hours have we done anything with conscious dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit? How many of our job issues, family matters, leisure pursuits, daily routines, or even our spiritual disciplines have we conducted with an attitude of self-reliance, not God-reliance?

If this is true for you, repent of your self-reliance and choose to lean on God for everything. This will help you see the beauty of the Gospel and rest in all that God has done, freeing you from yourself.

Some Good Questions for You And Your Spouse

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A few years back I found these questions by Merrit Anderson and applied them for fruitful communication in the home:

Here are a few potential grace-directing questions that you can ask yourself and your spouse when the temptation to stay sin-focused wants to linger around for too long:

What does the good news of the gospel have to say about your sin or trial? About the result and effects of Christ’s sacrifice for your sin? (Rom 5:6-8; 8:1)

What does the gospel seek to remind you about God’s plans for you? (Rom 8:28-29; Phil 1:6)

What does the gospel seek to tell us about practical help for right now so that change is possible? (Rom 6:22; Heb 4:15-16)

Questions like these are helpful in at least two ways:

First, these questions are good for encouraging your spouse to see and live in the mercy and grace of the gospel.

Second, these questions can provide clear indicators of where you can care for your spouse, if he or she is struggling to live in the good of the gospel.

The challenge for us is to not stay sin-focused.  The reality is that we will sin against one another.  We won’t be perfect.  We will always be progressing to do better.  By allowing the grace of the Gospel to flavor our lives with the nourishing streams of forgiveness, we will fight bitter spirits and wicked tempers and, in the end, foster community in the home that is centered in Christ: who He is and what He’s done for us.  I hope you are encouraged to live in this way.

Weekend Preview – Melchizedek…

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This coming Lord’s Day, we hope to start unpacking who this Melchizedek guy is and the significance he has for our understanding Jesus as our Great High Priest.  I love what William Lane says about this chapter:

The value of Hebrews is that certain aspects of Jesus’ high priestly ministry are set forth and developed for the first time in a manner which enables us to understand the significance of describing Jesus as priest, or high priest. In fact the heart of the sermon, which extends from Hebrews 7:1-10:18, is devoted to clarifying the high priestly office of Jesus.

Most Christians would affirm the three-fold offices of Jesus: prophet, priest and king. In the person of Melchizedek, we get a picture of the priestly king work of Jesus. For that reason alone, I hope you are encouraged to come and sink in the truth that God has for us in Hebrews 7. And this coming Lord’s day, as we look at Hebrews 7:1-10, I hope your heart wells up in praise for God’s good revelation to you.

Weekend Recap – Hoping in Promises

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My sermon from 8/21/11 entitled Promise from Hebrews 6:13-20 is online.  It was a great morning for us to see the hope that is ours in Christ.  The picture of Christ being our anchor for today and having our security tied to His work for us in the holy place behind the veil was pretty stunning.  I hope the reality of this helps you live this week.

In the evening, we had an encouraging report from our Immanuel Mission Team (they traveled to Arizona from July 31-August 7.  Here’s the video from the Team:

All in all, we had a tremendous and amazing Lord’s Day and I hope you were blessed as well.

Gospel Enemy: Persistent Guilt

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For the past few weeks, on Fridays, I’ve posted something related to the Gospel.  2 weeks ago, I wrote on the TGINL (Thank God I’m Not Like) phenomenon that can easily sweep into our souls.  Last week, we looked at questions to see self-righteousness, since it is a Gospel-enemy.

Today, I again want to direct your attention to some questions, this time looking at what Jerry Bridges calls Persistent Guilt.  Here are the questions that help diagnose this:

1) Are you painfully preoccupied with a particular habitual sin? 2) Are you discouraged or depressed by your failure to measure up? 3) Do you frequently experience anxiety that something’s about to go wrong? 4) Does it appear God can use others but not you? 5) Is there something in your past you just can’t seem to get over? 6) Do you fear that your past will come back to haunt you? 7) Do your difficult circumstances seem like God’s judgment for your sin? 8) Do you steer clear of intimate relationships or small-group discussion? 9) When you sin, do you get a vague sense that somehow there’ll be a price to pay? 10) Do you seldom think of the cross. (from pp.56-57)

And, then, Bridges masterfully turns us to cross:

Only the life and death of Christ offers a legitimate path to freedom from a guilty conscience–legitimate because it was a real, lived-in-the-flesh, finished righteousness, applied to us, forever.

If you sense guilt may be nagging you, look to Jesus. As the song says, “When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, upward and look and see Him there, who made an end of the all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me.” Look to Jesus and know freedom from persistent guilt.