Archive for the 'Sanctification' Category

Instant? Not always. “After a while. . . we feel refreshed and renewed”

Published on September 26, 2011 in Matthew and Sanctification. 1 Comment

Refreshment and renewal isn’t always instant.

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.”

So the invitation is to come and abide with Jesus and to learn from Him. But the way of the righteousness isn’t instant brightness. Indeed, at first it may not seem that things are any better. But for those who walk by faith they will see the way will shiner ever brighter until the full light of day (Proverbs 4:18-19).

Frederick Bruner (The Christbook, 540) comments:

After a while, as we listen to Jesus and see to obey his teachings in life, we find that his lessons are a better way to live, his gentleness is relaxing, and his focus is refreshing. We find that deep down in our souls–in our psyches (the actual word used here) – - we feel refreshed and renewed. There are finally no techniques for the renewal of Christians or congregations; there is simply taking Jesus seriously in his Word, especially his forgiveness of sins (Calvin).

No shortcuts in the Christian Life

Published on August 10, 2011 in Sanctification. 2 Comments

Do you want to grow as a Christian? Read this quote carefully. Then consider if your desire to growth reflects these realities.

The New Testament does not suggest any short-cuts by which we can grow in sanctification, but simply encourages us repeatedly to give ourselves to the old-fashioned, time-honored means for Bible reading and meditation (Ps. 1:3; Matt. 4:4, 17:17), prayer (Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6), worship (Eph. 5:18-20), witnessing (Matt 28:19-20), Christian fellowship (Heb. 10:24-25), and self-discipline or self-control (Gal. 5:23; Titus 1:8). Wayne Grudem.

Are you smarter than Anthony Weiner?

Published on June 8, 2011 in Sanctification. 2 Comments

Russell Moore:

John Edwards cheats on his wife, impregnates his mistress, and thinks he can keep the child, and the affair, a secret…while he’s running for President of the United States.

Arnold Schwarzenegger also has an affair and an illegitimate child, and thinks he can keep it all a secret from his wife…while keeping the woman employed in their home for over a decade.

Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail admits that he cheated on his wife with another woman…while he was castigating the then-President of the United States for similar behavior and voting for his impeachment.

And now U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) is in trouble for allegedly sending inappropriate pictures of himself to a woman…via a publicly accessible social media tool…and only a few months after another congressman lost his career for similar pictures.

Crazy. Irrational. . .

Read the rest here.

We are rescued, then we obey (not vice versa)

Published on June 3, 2011 in Quotes, Romans, Sanctification and Soteriology. 1 Comment

Cornelius Plantinga:

Moses emerges with God’s Ten Commandments, a set of requirements that people have to fulfill not in order to get rescued by God from slavery, but because they have been rescued.

Stated succinctly, the imperative of the Christian life (be godly) follows the indicative (we have been freed from sin).

Be Who You Are: Indicative and Imperative

Published on May 22, 2011 in Sanctification. 1 Comment

Feeling like the Christian life is too much? Elyse Fitzpatrick shares a key insight that may help.

Elyse Fitzpatrick:

So many of us cavalierly gloss over what he has done and zero in on what we’re to do, and that shift, though it might seem slight, makes all the difference in the world. Our obedience has its origin in God’s prior action, and forgetting that truth results in self-righteousness, pride, and despair.

Read the whole thing here.

Arousing ourselves to death

Published on May 4, 2011 in Church, Marriage, Pornography and Sanctification. 1 Comment

Kill this or it will kill you. Beat to death with a shovel if you have to as described here. Kill it in any case.

Russell Moore writes about how churches should deal with the pornography epidemic:

The couple will typically tell me first about how stressful their lives are. Maybe he’s lost his job. Perhaps she’s working two. Maybe their children are rowdy or the house is chaotic. But usually, if we talk long enough about their fracturing marriage, there is a sense that something else is afoot. The couple will tell me about how their sex life is near extinction. The man, she’ll tell me, is an emotional wraith, dead to intimacy with his wife. The woman will be frustrated, with what seems to him to be a wild mixture of rage and humiliation. They just don’t know what’s wrong, but they know a Christian marriage isn’t supposed to feel like this.

It’s at this point that I interrupt the discussion, look at the man, and ask, “So how long has the porn been going on?” The couple will look at each other, and then look at me, with a kind of fearful incredulity that communicates the question, “How do you know?” For a few minutes, they seek to reorient themselves to this exposure, wondering, I suppose, if I’m an Old Testament prophet or a New Age psychic. But I’m not either. One doesn’t have to be to sense the spirit of this age. In our time, pornography is the destroying angel of (especially male) Eros, and it’s time the Church faced the horror of this truth.

A Perversion of the Good

In one sense, the issue of pornography is not new at all. . .

Read the whole thing here.

“Not grudging obedience”

Published on April 28, 2011 in Quotes and Sanctification. 2 Comments

One immediately notices the influence of Philippians 4:4-9 in the below verses and perhaps echos of Acts 2:42 and Hebrews 11.

John Frame:

Grudging obedience is not what he desires of us. It may be better than no obedience at all, but it is seriously defective. We should seek, not only to obey him, but also to delight in obedience. That delight comes from prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, through immersion in the words of Scripture and the hearts of the great saints of redemptive history, and through the fellowship of the church in Word and sacrament. The Doctrine of the Christian Life, 306.

Tempted and Tried

Published on April 11, 2011 in Sanctification and Self Control. 0 Comments

A fascinating and helpful discussion between pastor/author/seminary dean Russell Moore and Justin Taylor. I have not yet watched the entire video, dinner calls!, but after the first minute I was hooked.