Tag Archives: grace

Putting the “Christian” in Christian Friendship

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Is there anything distinctive about Christian friendship? What’s different about how two fellow followers of Jesus relate to each other, compared with two friends who don’t identify with Christ? Romans 15:2 helps us consider one essential component of what puts the Christian into Christian relationships.

“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.”

Who Is Our “Neighbor”?

“Neighbor” can be used very broadly (as Jesus does in Luke 10:29), but in this case, Paul is plainly talking about fellow believers (as he does in Ephesians 4:25). This is confirmed in the verb “to build up” — a word which Paul reserves exclusively for the church. We’re talking about Christians here in Romans 15:2 — Christian neighbors, fellow followers of Jesus with whom we share some proximity. So we could say this text carries significance for Christian friendship.

And the imperative is to “please” them, to accommodate them, to make their welfare of higher interest than our own. To please our Christian neighbor is to serve them. Undoubtedly, this will be for our own joy — no one is really served when it’s done in stiff reluctance. But it being for our joy doesn’t mean it’s always (or often!) comfortable. Pleasing our neighbor will take sacrifice. It’s not typically easy — it’s “not to please ourselves.” We’re giving something up for something better and that better is the building up of our brother or sister.

Sacrificially Build Up One Another

The sacrificial building up of one another — this is what makes Christian friendship, well, Christian. It’s Christian both in the adjective (sacrificial) and in the verb (building up).

Sacrificial building up (“not to please ourselves”) means it’s Christian in its manner. The foundation to our serving, our sacrificial edifying of others, is rooted in the example of Jesus. We’re to have the Philippians 6:6–8 mind among ourselves. He didn’t give prominence to his own comfort when he “left glory.” Nor when he prayed in the Garden. It wasn’t easy when he bore our sins and suffered the wrath we deserved. Yet even in the midst of the pain, there was a joy set before him. It wasn’t easy, but it was glorious. And when we walk in that example, it works the same way (1 Peter 2:21). It shocks the world — for the glory of God.

But this sacrificial building up is not only Christian in its manner. It’s also Christian in its goal. The friendship goes beyond discussing the latest scores (though it may involve that), or the newest app (though that may be a part, too), or the best book we’ve read (another good one). The purpose is to build them up. This is what the pleasing is about, for their good. It’s about their conformity to Jesus. Our little place in their life is to serve the goal to which God has elected them, Jesus has died, and the Spirit is working. We want to build them up.

For Your Friends

Now then, let each of us, by grace, please our neighbor for their good — count them more significant than ourselves, and their needs more pertinent than our own; to build them up — play the God-ordained role of a means of grace in their lives, investing in their transformation into the likeness of Jesus. Let’s stir this Christian intentionality in our relationships — that we not seek to please ourselves, but that we pursue the pleasing of our neighbor for their good in Jesus.

Read the original post at DG.

Tips from Ryle on Reading the Bible

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J. C. Ryle was a man of the Word.

The first bishop of Liverpool, and subject of John Piper’s biographical message at next week’s Conference for Pastors, wanted his people to read the Scriptures. And we want the same thing, for ourselves and for you.

To help us out, Erik Kowalker recently compiled a list of tips straight from Ryle’s book Practical Religion. Here are eight profitable ways to read the Bible:

  1. Begin reading your Bible this very day.
  2. Read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it.
  3. Read the Bible with child-like faith and humility.
  4. Read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self-application.
  5. Read the Bible daily.
  6. Read all of the Bible — and read it in an orderly way.
  7. Read the Bible fairly and honestly.
  8. Read the Bible with Christ continually in view.

For more on these eight ways read the full post.

Read this one at DG.

How to Approach the Bible

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The Bible comes from God; God doesn’t come from the Bible.

Our knowledge of God is a different story. What we know about God, definitively and redemptively, comes from the Bible. And that is, the Bible that comes from God, who himself comes from nothing.

These are the foundational pieces to understanding the doctrine of revelation, and therefore, the doctrine of Scripture. God, utterly independent and essentially revelatory, has made himself known. This is stunning. And it helps to read the Bible with it in view.

D. A. Carson writes,

To approach the Bible correctly it is important to know something of the God who stands behind it. God is both transcendent (i.e., he is “above” space and time) and personal. He is the sovereign and all-powerful Creator to whom the entire universe owes its existence, yet he is the God who graciously condescends to interact with human beings whom he has himself formed in his own image.

Because we are locked in time and space, God meets us here; he is the personal God who interacts with other persons, persons he has made to glorify him and to enjoy him forever. . . .

The point to emphasize is that a genuinely Christian understanding of the Bible presupposes the God of the Bible, a God who makes himself known in a wide diversity of ways so that human beings may know the purpose for which they were made — to know and love and worship God, and so delight in that relationship that God is glorified while they receive the matchless benefit of becoming all that God wants them to be.

“Approaching the Bible,” Collected Writings on Scripture, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 19–21.

Read at DG.

Life: The Path Promised

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Psalm 16:11,

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” David begins Psalm 16.

Immediately, we see the language of faith (cf. Psalm 2:11). David trusts in the Lord. He doesn’t merely acknowledge that God exists, but he understands his entire existence in relation to God’s supremacy.

“I have no good apart from you” (verse 2). “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot” (verse 5). “I have set the Lord always before me” (verse 8).

It’s this life of faith that leads up to verse 11. David shows us what it means to trust in the Lord. And the life of trusting the Lord makes David’s heart glad, indeed his whole being rejoices and his flesh also dwells secure (verse 9). Why does his flesh dwell secure? It’s because the Lord will not abandon his soul to Sheol. The Lord won’t let his holy one see corruption. In short, here is resurrection.

Jesus Was Raised

This is the theme of Psalm 16 that continues into Psalm 17 (cf. Psalm 17:15). And it has Messianic overtones. In fact, the apostles tell us that this is about Jesus (Acts 2:19–36). David is speaking here, but as Peter proclaimed, “he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:31).

It’s better for us that this is about Jesus. If it’s about Jesus then it’s about us, too. For just as Christ was raised, we’ll be raised (1 Corinthians 15:17–20). More than a promise, we have an actual demonstration. There’s an empty tomb out there to remind us.

The Path of Life

So it’s about resurrection. And when David starts in verse 11, “You make known to me the path of life,” that’s what he’s talking about. The path of life is not mainly about the here and now. Calvin writes, “It is to form a very low estimate, indeed, of the grace of God to speak of him as a guide to his people in the path of life only for a very few years in this world” (Commentaries, 233). There are tons of things in Holy Scripture about life in this world, but this isn’t one. The path of life isn’t about balancing your checkbook (though that’s a good thing), neither about the way of wisdom (not in this psalm, anyway), nor about the how-tos of faith (even when we need them).

The path of life is being united to God such that we’ll never be without him.

The path of life is what God makes known to us — not as a trail to follow, but as a promise to embrace.

That’s the glorious shift in Psalm 16. It begins with our faith in God and ends with God’s faithfulness to us. He will not abandon us. No he won’t! He won’t. He makes known to us the path of life. Life beyond the grave. Life that ushers us into his presence where there is fullness of joy, at this right hand where there are pleasures forevermore.

So We Rejoice

So we dwell secure here. Our being rejoices. We are glad. We can go forth today and tomorrow and next knowing that not even death can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus. We know how this thing will turn out.

We will be with him.

Read the original post at Fighterverses.com.

Four Things I Don’t Do, But Should

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Melissa and I sat down a couple nights ago to assess the coming months. There’s a lot on the table. A lot. I’m desperate for grace. Grace for a thousands things, and especially grace for energy. Having the time to get everything done is half the equation. Time isn’t worth anything if you’re too drained to produce. I need energy. The grace of energy.

And here’s where Michael Hyatt comes in. He names ten things to do for an energy boost. Below are four of those ten that I don’t do. But, that, by grace, would like to start. . .

Excerpted from Michael Hyatt’s 10 Practical Ways to Boost Your Energy Level:

Take a good multi-vitamin. Personally, I don’t think you need a handful of vitamins and supplements every day. But a good multi-vitamin is essential. If you eat a lot of processed food, this is especially important. Most of us just don’t get the nutrition we need from the food we eat. I take Vitamin Code Men’s Multivitamin. It covers the basics. It is a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral. I take two capsules twice a day.

Drink a gallon of water a day. This is another great energy replenisher. You will especially notice the difference if you switch from soda drinks to water. It may take you a few days to notice the difference, but getting sugar out of your system and water into your system will definitely even-out your energy.I find that this also has a way of reducing my appetite. Sometime we think we’re hungry when we are really just thirsty. Drink 8 ounces of water an hour before a meal and notice how it curbs your hunger. More water will also increase your metabolism and keep flushing your body’s waste.

Get plenty of rest. Most people I know don’t get enough rest. Everyone is different, but most adults need seven to eight hours a night. Most people I know are trying to get by on five or six hours.When you don’t get enough rest, all kinds of bad things happen. You get grumpy. You reduce your ability to handle stress. And, according to some research, you may gain weight.

Perhaps most significantly, you negatively impact your body’s auto-immune system. When you get run-down, you increase the likelihood of getting sick—and that’s definitely a drain on your energy.

Eat high-energy foods. The main thing to avoid here is the bad or fast-burning (high glycemic) carbohydrates. These are the ones that your body quickly turns to sugar. You get an initial boost from them as the sugar hits your blood, but you then hit a “trough” that is lower that your energy was before you ate them.Carbs in this category include white potatoes, white rice, and white flour (or white bread). Worst of all, the energy that isn’t burned gets stored as fat.

Instead, eat slow-burning carbs like sweet potatoes, brown rice, wheat bread, etc. I also to eat more frequent, smaller meals. (I eat five or six small meals a day.) This keeps your metabolism up and your energy on an even keel.

Really Glad About This Article

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I’m pretty excited about this new resource just added to DG’s Resource Library. It’s excellent content that has been inaccessible on the web. The process to get this up included transcribing the original document into electronic format (contracted out), translating it into HTML (including the 72 hyperlinked footnotes), inserting the images for the content that’s irreproducible otherwise.

Here’s the post. Below’s the body copy…

________

If you want to understand the message of 1 Peter,
or how hope in God’s grace affects our command to love,
or if you just want to see a lucid example of careful exegetical method. . .

let me commend to you John Piper’s 1980 article for Cambridge’s New Testament Studies: “Hope as the Motivation of Love: 1 Peter 3:9–12.”

A new web version has just been added to our Resource Library, full of the original British –ours, German lines, Greek inserts, and 72 footnotes (now hyperlinked).

Read the full article.

Here’s a snapshot of the work:

Method

In the long run it is the mutually correcting interaction between detailed analyses of particular texts (at the risk of conceptual myopia) and more general syntheses of an author’s total thought (at the risk of superficiality) which will yield the most balanced and true picture of how he may conceive of ethical motivation (or anything else).

Outline

  1. Introduction: the problem at hand
  2. The motif of hope as it’s grounded in the work of Christ and functions to motivate Christian behavior.
  3. 1 Peter 3:9–12 considered in detail.
  4. The conclusion as a result of points 2 and 3: general synthesis of the author’s thought and detailed analysis of a paritcular text.

Conclusion

Rather, when we hold the two parts together [points 2 and 3 above] a more balanced and true picture emerges of how 1 Peter aims to motivate enemy–love. . . .

Instead (taking the whole message of 1 Peter into account) we will recognize in our own ill will a failure to “hope fully” in the grace of Christ (1:13) who by bearing our own sins in his body (2:24) has brought us home to God (3:18) — our faithful creator (4:19). We will admit that not legalistic moral effort but a change of heart is demanded. To that end we will “be sober unto prayer” (4:7), and girding up our minds (1:13) will direct our attention to the reality of the Lord’s kindness in the living word (2:2, 3; 1:23). Thus by the grace of God we may experience a renewal of hope so that in all sincerity and earnestness (1:22) we can speak and act toward our enemy from a hopeful, humble and loving heart that truly desires his blessedness.

Like My Story, If You Do

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I entered a story I wrote about Elizabeth into a contest at The Write Practice.

The story is called, “A Bruised Cheek.”

The story is exactly 500 words. It would take about two minutes to read.

If you like the story, you can Like it in the comments section where it’s nestled on the page. The number of Likes for the piece will factor in a little on how the team at TWP pick their winner. Here’s a snapshot of how it looks. Check out “Like” in the bottom right corner…

To get there, for real, go here.

Why did you enter a contest?

The thoughts were fresh in my mind. I came upon The Write Practice via Copyblogger.com and saw the contest. I felt I had something to say, both a message and a manner of saying it. I enjoy writing. I don’t do this type of writing as much as I want. I was especially intrigued about what it would be like to put something out there in a different venue from what I’m accustomed. Will I be swallowed up? Laughed at? Might it be written decent enough to help people pause for a moment and consider something for the first time?

Are you trying to win?

Yes, yes I am. That’s partly why I’ve written this post. I hope you Like the story and thus increase my chances of winning. I want to win for all the reasons I’ve mentioned for entering the contest. Plus the help they’re going to give me and the possibility of being published in a book with paper pages. And like Abraham Lincoln said, “Competition tells us something about our hearts” (Lincoln didn’t really say that).

Do you think you have a chance?

Well, I’m in over my head (which is a good place to be). That’s where grace gets loud. I’ve been told, “you’re not a good writer.” And writers always think they’re better than they are. So let me be clear, it ain’t that good.

But I feel good about my story. I feel good about what the event and my writing it did for my own soul. So apart from this, I can’t say.

[Update: Congratulations to Lisa Burge, winner of the Winter Solstice contest. Good stories and a fun time at The Write Practice over the last week.]

The Word Is Here, for Everyone

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Romans 10:13–15,

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

This is one of the mountain peaks of Holy Scripture. This significance of this text can hardly be overstated on a couple levels. For one, there is just the good these verses bring to us — we’re told how we can be saved. And then, overall, these verses encapusalte so much of the Bible, of Paul’s theology, of how it all comes together with the people of Israel and the Gentiles, the law and faith and righteousness and how Jesus is what it’s all about.

Jesus, the Better Word

Leading up to verse 13, Paul tells us how Israel has misread the Scriptures. He lays out in detail Israel’s failure to understand God’s righteousness, that is, their ignorance of Jesus (Romans 10:3–4). Paul then goes to the Torah in Romans 10:5 to draw a parallel between that word and Jesus.

Jesus has come down from heaven — we don’t go up to him. Jesus has been raised from the dead — we don’t go bring him up. The point here: it’s not human striving. It’s here. The word is here. Jesus has done it all already and this is what we’re proclaiming. Do you believe?

If you believe (Paul must be excited here!), if you believe, if you confess, you will be saved!

Believe, Confess!

These two expressions, believing and confessing, describe the one reality of faith and lead up to the two Old Testament verses quoted in Romans 10:11 and Romans 10:13. Believe in your heart because everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame (Isaiah 28:16). Confess with your mouth because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32).

This is good news. No more white-knuckled laboring to establish our own righteousness. No more vain endeavors to impress God by how good we think we can keep his law. No more more searching up or down for someone to come help us.

The Word Is Here

Jesus Christ has come to this earth, God became man. He walked in our shoes and persevered in every way imaginable. Where we can’t but fail, he was faithful and obedient and righteous and true. And then he went to the die for us. The King went to suffer for his people. He took upon himself all of our guilt and shame, all the wrath we heaped up for ourselves by our rebellion against God.

Jesus died for us, and was buried. Then on the third day, he was raised from the dead, and he appeared to Cephas, the twelve, and later to about 500 folks. He was resurrected to be received by faith. For us to turn from our sin and embrace him. He is now ascended and reigning. His kingdom is coming. His word is being proclaimed.

This very word, the one here. The word that declares God has acted. God has done it. The dead-end roads of our efforts are exposed. Now, here is the word, and everyone who believes will be saved. Here is the word — you have heard it — here is what Jesus has done, will you call on him?

Read the original post at Fighterverses.com.

John Piper on Chesterton and Calvinism

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Piper starts,

Ever since my days at Wheaton College, when I followed Clyde Kilby’s advice to read G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, it has been one of my favorite books. I think it’s the only book I have read more than twice (except for the Bible).

This is strange. Not only was Chesterton a Roman Catholic, he also hated Calvinism. So what’s up with me and Orthodoxy? I still think at least half a dozen Roman Catholic distinctives are harmful to true Christian faith (e.g., papal authority, baptismal regeneration, transubstantiation, justification as impartation, purgatory, the veneration of Mary). And I think “the doctrines of grace” (“Reformed theology,” “Calvinism”) are a precious and healthy expression of biblical doctrine.

Here’s an important article on the glad, biblical flavor of Calvinism.

The Sovereign God of “Elfland” (Why Chesterton’s Anti-Calvinism Doesn’t Put Me Off).

What Do You Have That You Have Not Received?

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Humility and gratitude are not virtues that we have to clinch our fists to create. Just stop a minute and look around. What do you have that you have not received?

I love this question. I love the Apostle Paul for asking it in 1 Corinthians 4:7. And I love how it levels me, puts me down, shuts my mouth. It’s one of those power tweets in the Bible that doesn’t let you walk away the same person.

What do you have that you have not received?

Stop, ask, think.

Be bewildered by the grace of Jesus.