An Inspiring Aspiration...

“And thus I [Paul] make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, 'Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.'” (Romans 15:20-21 ESV)

I came across these verses last night and have been thinking about them all day. My mind and heart has been directed to friends--brothers and sisters in Christ--who are living in North Africa, Egypt, and Malaysia for the sake of Christ and His Gospel. They are being obedient to God's call to "Go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matt. 28:19-20).

Father, protect these dear saints. Encourage their faith and their families. Strengthen their marriages. May their children grow up in your ways and be protected from bitterness and rebellion. Meet their needs with your provident grace. Use them to bring the light of Your Gospel to the darkness of these lands. Amen.

J

Bringing them together...

Today I've been reflecting on how difficult it is to bring and keep the inner life of faith together with outer life of faith. By the inner life of faith, I mean prayer and yieldedness to Christ. By outer life of faith, I mean obedience. On the one hand, if the inner life is greater than the outer life, the result is spiritual selfishness and or deadness (i.e., failing to return to God proper praise for His good gifts). For me this means reading, meditating, and musing over the great truths of God's Word and failing to act upon them or resisting the Holy Spirit's use of these truths in me. I guess a failure to allow these truths to produce good fruit simply demonstrates that my "inner life" is simply one of contemplation and not of faith.

On the other hand, if the outer life is greater than the inner life, the result is spiritual hypocrisy and emotionalism. For me this looks like manufacturing responses to corporate worship or private conversations that look like they arise from a vibrant relationship with God but in reality do not.

In the end, there is really only one life of faith. It is not possible to have a truly vibrant inner life (i.e., faith and yieldedness) that fails to produce good fruit in the outer life (i.e., properly motivated obedience). Conversely, it is not possible to have a truly vibrant outer life (i.e., properly motivated obedience) that is sourced in anything other than a heart filled with faith. Genuine faith cannot be divided into inner and outer parts--one being good and the other being bad. True faith issues forth in a singular life; one that is not infatuated with truth for truth's sake (mere contemplation) or distracted by what anyone but God sees (emotionalism and hyposcrisy). Bringing the inner and outer facets of our lives together in sigularity is not something we accomplish with the glue of our wills. Singluarity only happens when we fix our gaze upon the One who has redeemed us, the One to whom we belong, the only One worthy of such a worshipful gaze--Jesus (Heb. 12:1-3). Singularity is a fruit produced by God's Spirit when Christ--not singularity, spiritual vibrancy, or sophistication--becomes our ultimate aim and goal.

Father, grant us vibrant communion with You, through your Son, and by Your Spirit. Let our lives be singular; may we serve You and only You. Help our worship to arise from hearts overjoyed at who You are and whose we are in Christ. May we never manufacture false demonstrations of spirituality, but rather fill us with true hearts of faith that worship and obey in Spirit and in truth.

Make War | Make Peace

Well, it's 2009 and it's been a while since I last posted. I always find the breaks between semesters difficult. I get lazy and undisciplined on nearly every level. However, God has used several brothers to encourage me recently and it seems to be having some fruit.

This past weekend I attended a men's seminar at my church: Make War | Make Peace. The theme was taken from Hebrews 12:1-17 and captures two main thoughts of the passage: make war (on self and sin) and make peace (with others). These messages were challenging to me because on the one hand I realize how little I have striven against sin in my own life and on the other hand how weakly I have striven for peace with others.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood" (Heb. 12:1-4).

The conference began with an audio clip from John Piper on making war against sin and self. Key thought: My primary enemy is not someone or something else; my primary enemy in the battle against sin is me (James 1:13-15). How easy it is to pass the blame to anything or anyone other than myself!

Sin is the enemy of all that we are called to be and do as believers. This truth is easy enough to swallow. However, it is also true that sometime valid plans, activities, and desires become weights that slow us from the pursuit of God's purposes and His glory. It is entirely possible that virtues themselves can become vices that distract us from the main thing (i.e., fixing our eyes on Jesus). For example, if I become infatuated with an act of love, compassion, giving, humility, etc. it becomes a vice to me (incidentally, this is an awkward sentence for me to write because I am so slow to do these things or to do them at all). In this sense, humility can be a source of pride (C. S. Lewis depicts this well in his Screwtape Letters).

"Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). In one of the discussion groups in which I participated it became clear that "striving for peace with everyone" ( means more than simply making peace with my enemies (although that is a major part), but it also means seeking and praying for reconciled relationships (vertically and horizontally). Those who have become God's children by faith in Christ are called to consider one another in such a way as to ensure that "no one fails to obtain the grace of God" and "that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy..." (Heb. 12:15-16a). I should be concerned that friends, family, and acquaintances be at peace with God (vertically) and with each other (horizontally). This concern is not a peace-at-any-cost kind of concern, but rather, it is a concern centered in the Gospel. The Gospel is a message of peace at the highest cost...the life of God's only Son at the hands of sinful humanity (John 3:16).

I am grateful for the encouragement I received this past weekend; for Christian brothers who are faithful to speak truth into my life and to live it out in front of me. God has truly used them to "lift my drooping hands and strengthen my weakened knees" (cf. Heb. 12:12). I pray that I will be diligent this year to make both war and peace in the manner spoken above. I pray that I will be vigilant and aware of the spiritual war in which we are situated. I long for the day in which the victory (which is already ours in Christ) is realized fully. Father, grant us the grace to strive faithfully against sin and self and compassionately for peace with everyone to the end.

J