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

Why Church?

A friend of mine posted a question on his blog asking "Why do you go to church?" This is a great question. I would love to hear your thoughts on this too. Here is my response:

I go to church for several reasons. First, Christ died for the church. Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV).

If the main point of Christ’s death was to redeem the church and set her apart for himself, I want to be a part of the church, devoting myself to Christ by devoting myself to His body and His bride.

Second, the church is the primary means through which God is accomplishing His divine mission in the world. Luke writes, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV). I want to participate in that mission.

Third, through the church God supports and chastens the believer to become more like Christ. I want to be like Christ; so I seek to actively give and willingly receive admonition and encouragement. Paul writes, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2 ESV). And in Hebrews we read, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:12-14 ESV).

Fourth, I go to church because I am imperfect--a work in progress. I imperfectly remember and strive after God in all arenas of life. Indeed we are all still imperfect and in need of God’s continued sanctification in our lives. I go to church, not because I’m perfect, but because I’m not. I need God’s grace and help. Thankfully he offers this help to us in the hands and feet of His body and bride, the church.

Finally, God is glorious and holy. He is the rightful end of all things and worthy of all praise. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36 ESV). God is deserving of worship for no other reason than His character alone. However, He has graciously accomplished salvation through His Son and by His Spirit in the lives of everyone who places their faith and trust in Christ. I choose to go to church, because it is a congregation that has been called and is devoted to the praise, honor, and glory of God through worship. In the congregation of the church I am able to fulfill my calling to worship my Creator and Redeemer alongside others who share the same calling.

Recognizing Christ’s great love for His bride, God’s purpose and mission for the church, my own need of encouragement to be and become who He has called me to be, as well as the calling of every believer to lovingly encourage others toward the same goal and worship our God, I choose to participate in the Christian church.