The Biblical Heart Part 8

The Biblical Heart Part 8

By Wendy Wood

If you haven’t read The Biblical Heart Part 7, please go back and do that now. This blog is a continuation of the repentance process started in the previous blog.

In the process of repentance and change, only genuine heart change at the level of desires has eternal value. We aren’t after just behavior change. If the change of behavior isn’t coming from a change in what is loved most, the change is temporary and has no eternal value. Only a greater love and fear of God brings genuine, God-glorifying change.

The first step of repentance is contemplation:

How has a holy, holy, holy God thought about their sin? 

What attributes of God have been dismissed or disregarded as your counselee has pursued sin?

What lies have they believed about God in pursuing their sin?

Contemplate:

How has my idol forsaken God?

How has my idol been a broken cistern in my life?

For example, someone who seeks pleasure in pornography or excessive eating, is saying “God’s comfort is not enough, I have to get comfort somewhere else”. This person may be doubting God’s goodness in the circumstances of their life or doubting God’s wisdom as he withholds something that they want.

Someone who sinfully desires control is telling God his sovereignty and plan for the universe isn’t as good as their own plan is! They are doubting God’s power, goodness, faithfulness, wisdom, and love at the very least. 

As our counselees think about what their sin really is revealing about their beliefs about God and how much they distrust Him. This leads to a more complete repentance and a hating of sin.

Then Jeremiah 2 tells us that next our counselees made idols for themselves.  They were leaky, insufficient, unsatisfying and unlasting idols, but that is what they did.  They looked to earthly comforts of social media, food, alcohol, shopping, or even church activities to make them feel good.  They turned to yelling and being harsh in an attempt to gain a false sense of control rather than trust in the God who is sovereign.  We want our counselees to ponder and consider how their idols have been sin against God Himself.

Hopefully after spending time renewing their minds about God, they are seeing more clearly the foolishness of treasuring, desiring, and worshiping anything other than God.  They need to spend time with God confessing their idolatry and asking God for forgiveness and cleansing.

Repentance also needs to include contemplating the thoughts, words, and actions that were sinfully used to try to get their idol.  

Contemplate your sin against others:

What thoughts, words and actions have been sinful as I have sought my idol?

Maybe your counselee has yelled at their family when interrupted from a comfortable evening.  Your counselee needs to see the connection between desiring comfort and being willing to sin against family members to obtain that idol.  

The counselee needs to contemplate how that sin has impacted each family member.  

So maybe on their Ephesians 4:22-24 worksheet that first section looks like this:

What is my idol?

I have loved comfort more than God.

How has this manifested in my life?

I have yelled at my children when they interrupt me.

I have selfishly sat and done my hobbies rather than engage my family. 

I have wasted time that I could have served my friends and family

I have wasted money on food, clothing, games to increase my comfort.

As they have thought through their sin, now they look at their wrong thinking.  In order to “renew their minds”, they need to identify what thoughts they have that don’t line up with Biblical thinking. What are the lies they tell themselves that lead to sinful desires.

Wrong thinking/believing:

I deserve a break when I get home from work. I should have time to relax and enjoy myself.

I should not have to repeat myself. My children should just obey!

God has withheld what I need. This isn’t fair.

Once they have their wrong thinking identified, they can begin to renew their mind in truth. You will want to choose scriptures that encourage a high view of God and verses that deal directly with the idol and sin involved.

It may be helpful at this point to have your counselee renew their mind about specific commands and promises of God also. 

If their idol has been approval, it may be helpful to study Proverbs 29:25 and Galatians 1:10 or read about biblical characters who struggled with fear of man and the consequences suffered for their idol. 

It may be helpful to study how God calls us to speak truth in love to others even if the other person becomes upset with us. 

If the idol has been control, it may be helpful for your counselee to study scriptures about trusting God and the practical implications of faith.  

You want them to have “renewed thinking” about God and how He calls them to live out practically the truth He is God and there is None like Him.

Scriptures to Renew Mind:

Assign scriptures that address the idol and specific areas of sin your counselee struggles with.

Psalm 139:16 1 Corinthians 10:31

Job 42:2 Matthew 22:37-39

Proverbs 6:6-11 Philippians 2:3-4

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Philippians 4:19

John 3:30

Counselees should have a list of 6-10 verses to meditate on. Meditation is its own full teaching so please check out our website for homework assignments and articles on “Thoughts”. 

Our counselees should consider what the verses say about God, themselves and their sin.

We want to guide counselees to grow in their love and fear of God.

We want them to consider how they have failed to live up to God’s standard,

And what specifically they need to change in their lives.

Then they are ready to work on New Thoughts.

I want them to quote what new thoughts they will rehearse in their minds based on the scriptures studied. 

They should also commit a few verses to memory.

New thinking (Quote new thoughts)

God does not promise me an easy, comfortable life. I am called to shepherd my family, even when it’s not convenient.

Conflict in my home is a window into my heart. I will examine my desires when I am tempted to yell at my children.

God’s plan for my life is perfect in his wisdom and timing.

I am called to serve others as Christ humbled himself to serve sinners.

At this point, we want our counselees to plan to act on their growing love for God and the new, biblical thinking they have.

Change won’t happen if it’s not specific. The idea to “be kinder to my family” will not produce much change. The more specific the action can be, the better. This is preparing our counselees for the moment of temptation that will come. It is in that moment that they need to stop and pray, and ask God for help to obey Him and honor Him in their response.

After sin has been contemplated. The sin must be confessed, first to God and then to people who have been sinned against. The offender should be clear about what their sin was, how is was offensive to God and how it affected other person. It is helpful to include how the offender is committing to acting in the future. Confession should end with “will you please forgive me?” Forgiveness is transactional. One person asks for forgiveness, and the other must extend forgiveness.

Let’s use the prodigal son as an example of this change process. He is off in a foreign land working on a pig farm.

The Prodigal son contemplates first. He realizes he has blown all his money. He thinks about how he is feeding pigs and would be better off if he could eat the food himself. Scripture says, “when he came to himself”. He has thought through his sin and is ready to go make a confession of his sin.

The prodigal goes home to confess. He starts with admitting he has sinned against God, then he sinned against his father.

In the prodigal son example, the Prodigal says “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” 

Confession will lead to restitution. 

Restitution is making things right in ways you have been wrong before.

The prodigal makes restitution by saying,  “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” “Treat me as one of your hired servants”

He is saying, “I accept the consequences for my sin. I am willing to pay a price for how I have sinned against you, taken your money, and dishonored you. I will accept the consequences for my sin”

Repentance must include contemplation, confession and change.  

Contemplation should bring remorse and godly sorrow over sin. Confession should lead to restitution and making things right with the people who have been sinned against. The goal is reconciliation as change becomes evident in the life of our counselees. Repentance should be not only the fruit of words and behavior, but of the very heart idol that led to the sinful behavior.

The final step of transformational change is putting on Christlikeness.

New Actions:

I will recite 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 each day and pray that I will trust God’s comfort and I will recite Job 42:2 when tempted to get comfort my own way.

I will not pick up my phone when I walk through the door until my kids go to bed.

I will spend time each day asking my wife and children questions about their day and how they are doing.

I will not buy comfort items impulsively. I will stop and pray about my heart and motive.

I will speak words of encouragement to my children and wife each day.

I will pray with my wife and kids before bed each night.

We want our counselees to be prepared with practical ways to apply God’s word and the truths about God they have learned in counseling.  We want them to spend several weeks in counseling putting these action plans into place.  We are helping them form new habits of responding in ways that honor God and their love for God grows.

The goal of repentance is reconciliation. Just as our contemplation of sin and confession to God results in His forgiveness and a reconciled relationship with Him, we want human relationships to be reconciled as well.

The prodigal son goes home and reconciles with his father. The relationship is restored and reconciled as they celebrate a feast together. 

Repenting of idols and sinful behavior will lead to reconciliation with God, both initially and on-going fellowship with God. And, it should lead to on-going Godly relationships with others. We cannot guarantee that human reconciliation will be complete. The older brother in the story of the prodigal son does not welcome his brother home or offer forgiveness. The story ends with the older brother refusing to go into the party and celebrate. Our counselees may ask for forgiveness from those they have sinned against and they may not receive the human forgiveness they are seeking. But our counselees can take comfort in honoring God in their own hearts by repenting and obeying God’s commands.

Some counselees will need to work through several action plans for different idols or patterns of sin in their lives.  They will be ready to graduate when they are consistently making choices to honor God, are quick to repent and seek forgiveness when they stumble back into old ways, and are continuing to pursue a greater love for God on their own and in community with fellow believers.

Our counselees have worshiped their way into their idol and need to worship their way out of their idol. 

Only a greater love for God will replace the love of an idol.

The Biblical Heart Part 7

The Biblical Heart Part 7

By Wendy Wood

In part seven of understanding the biblical heart, we will examine how to help a counselee repent of their heart idols. It is important that the counselee (and the counselor!) repent not only of the actions and words that come as a result of sinning to get the idol, but the actual idol itself. 

Jonah 2:8 says, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs”

We are blind to those idols. We must pray, and we must have our counselees pray, 

Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts; and see if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”

The struggle journal questions are extremely helpful in determining idols in both your heart and in your counselee’s heart. (See part 6 for these questions).

As you gather data over several weeks, you will see themes under the heading “what were you wanting?” The repetition of “I just wanted a relaxing evening” or “I just wanted things to go as planned” or “I want my ideas to matter” are revealing the heart.  

“I just want a relaxing evening” reveals an idol of comfort.

“I just want things to go my way” reveals an idol of control.

“I just want my ideas to matter” reveals an idol of respect or fear of man.

In order to address the root issues of the heart, we need to see the idols that consistently drive our behavior.

This is the core of biblical counseling. For genuine heart change and life transformation to happen, we must help our counselees identify and repent of their idols.  

The love of comfort, control, power, or approval must be replaced with a greater love for God and His purposes in life.

There are secondary idols that we think of more commonly but they are often rooted in the primary idols.

For example,

For some, the idolatrous desire to be married or be in a relationship may be rooted in the desire of fear of man. The desire to be loved and cherished falls into this category. But for another person, the idolatrous desire to be married or in a relationship could be a status symbol of feeling important because they have a significant other. Yet another person may have an idolatrous desire to be married or in a relationship because it is a comfort to not have to go places alone. These different desire of love, respect, status, and comfort may all manifested by desiring marriage.

For some people, a material thing like a car, a house, or clothes might be rooted in success or achievement. They may feel in control of their life when they have enough money to buy what they desire. For another person, it might be fear of man and wanting to be respected or admired for having the right thing.

For some people, recreation like video games, phone usage, fishing, or reading is probably rooted in comfort. They may like the escape from dealing with work or family and they turn to a hobby for a time of distraction and ease. For another person, recreation may be a way to control something when the rest of life seems out of control. When playing a video game, the person who desires control can restart their game and see immediate results in winning or improving.

We worship our way into sin, by loving our sin. And we worship our way out of sin by loving God and desiring to bring him glory in the way we live.

After using the Struggle Journal and weeks of data gathering, you should have a good idea of what your counslee’s idols are.

Ephesians 4:22-24 shows us how God has ordained transformational change to happen in the lives of His children. Throughout the rest of counseling, you are prayerfully helping them see the futility of continuing to live for their idol, helping them repent and turn from their idol to loving God and wanting to glorify Him more than they want to get their idol. This involves renewing the mind and thinking differently. The transformation is complete when they are consistently living out denying their sinful desire to please God.

“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”

Here are some steps to work through with your counselee as you address all three stages of change.

Step 1 is putting off old self.

Step 2 is being renewed in the spirit of your mind

Step 3 is putting on Christlike attitude and actions

We worship our way into sin and we worship our way out of sin. Transformation is a change of what you worship from loving worldly, selfish pleasures to loving God with your whole heart.

To begin this transformational change, as early as week one of counseling, begin the mind renewal process. The mind renewal process is thinking rightly about who God is and what He has done. You are working to build a high, accurate view of God Himself.

1. Have your counselee study the attributes of God.  Use a book or study that guides your counselee to learn about the very nature of God.  Have your counselee meditate on scriptures that describe God’s attributes and ponder and consider what implications these truths have on daily life.  

For example, as your counselee studies God’s wisdom and maybe meditates on Romans 11:33, have your counselee journal what God’s unsearchable ways and judgments have on how your counselee views the circumstances of their own life. How does God being infinitely and holy wise change the way we should think about our circumstances? Work through 15 or so different attributes of God where your counselee is seeing how awesome and worthy of worship and love God is.

1. Have your counselee study passages of scripture that paint a clear picture of God and His nature and work.  Passages like:

   1. Romans 8

   2. Ephesians 1, 2, and 3

   3. Isaiah 40

   4. Psalm 139

Have your counselee read one of these chapters every day for a week.  Have them meditate on one verse each day. As they meditate on the truth about God revealed in that verse, have them examine what that means to how they think about God and their circumstances.

For example, your counselee reads Isaiah 40 six times during the week. On one of those days, your counselee chooses verse 12 to study.

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (Isaiah 40:12)

Have your counselee journal what attributes they see about God.  He is immense!  He measures all the waters with ease and is so gigantic compared to the universe the heavens are measured between a figurative thumb and pinky span. He is all-powerful and could pick up the mountains to “weigh” them. As your counselee considers God in this way, how does this change their thinking about God, or remind them how awesome God is. Maybe your counselee has been so consumed with their own problems, God has shrunk down in their thinking to be smaller than the problem! Use scripture to reveal God to your counselees and to correct the wrong, small thinking they have fallen into.

1. Have your counselees look at what God has accomplished for them in Christ.  Preach the gospel to your counselee.  Remind your counselee of what it means to be justified with God. Use scripture to reaffirm that your counselee was 

   1. Chosen by God before the foundation of the world

   2. Reconciled to God 

   3. Adopted as a child of God

   4. Set from being a slave to sin

   5. God’s wrath has been removed from them

Allow your counselee to be amazed at all God has done for them in Christ by His free gift of grace! Daily have them study what it means to a recipient of God’s grace and mercy and the on-going work of God’s grace in their lives to train them to say no to ungodliness and to say yes to holiness and purity.

1. You may assign sermons or additional reading to grow your counselee’s love for God by using material that teaches God’s attributes and works.

We should never stop studying God. We can always grow in being awed and amazed by who God is. This is not a concept that will be completed in counseling in a few weeks and then move on. This is a life-long journey of learning to love God more and you study and learn more about him.

Transformational change involves putting off the old self. This putting off is part of the repentance process.  We want our counselees to see their sin first and foremost against God.  Jeremiah 2:11-13 

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?

But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils:

(#1) they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and

(#2) hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We want our counselees to see that before they clung to their idol of comfort, control or approval, they first had to forsake God. The first step was essentially telling God, “you are not enough”. We want them to understand how offensive that is to God.  As they have studied the Most High God, to forsake God and turn away from His Lordship is grievous sin. Give your counselee time to contemplate their sin before God.

Here is an overview of the process that will help your counselee repent of their sin. I’ll briefly give the steps of  this process and then discuss the steps in more detail in the next blog.

1. What is the sin?

2. Bible references:

3. What do you learn from the scriptures?

4. How have I failed to live as God commands? Or how has this sin showed up in my life?

5. What needs to change in my thinking and believing about God and myself?

6. What specific changes do I need to make? (Being specific is key to really being able to implement change.)

The next blog will continue the process of repentance and change.

To Grow, You Must Practice

Casey McCall

My son hit his first over-the-fence home run the other weekend. It was a big moment against a tough pitcher who was shutting his team out. His home run tied the game and ignited his team as they went on to win, not only the game, but the whole tournament.

My son is thirteen. A lot of baseball has been played before getting to that point. In fact, every spring, summer, and fall since he was five has been devoted to the game. In those eight years, he has literally taken tens of thousands of baseball swings.

A lot of things have to converge to be able to hit a baseball as far as he did when he hit his home run. Against a good pitcher, your timing has to be perfect enough for the barrel of your bat to meet the center of the baseball before it crosses the plate. You have to hit the baseball with the right part of the bat—the “sweet spot” as baseball enthusiasts call it. You also have to generate enough bat speed and swing the bat at the right launch angle to send the ball far and high enough to clear the fence.

.

My point is simply this: No one picks up a baseball bat against a good pitcher for the very first time and lucks into hitting a home run. The ability to hit a baseball with skill and power is cultivated over time through practice. The good hitter has swung the bat properly so many times that he doesn’t even have to think about it anymore. He has developed muscle memory. His timing has been tuned as he has faced thousands of pitches thrown at various speeds and locations.

In 2 Peter 1:10-11, the apostle Peter describes a similar process. He tells the church that if they “practice these qualities” they “will never fall.” Likewise, by practicing these qualities, they will be ensured entrance into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Peter is challenging the church to practice their faith. Faith, in other words, does not lie dormant in the believer’s life waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself. Our faith in Christ—the faith that leads us to salvation—is meant to be lived. It is supposed to be practiced. Namely, Peter wants the church to cultivate the life habits of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (1:5-7). These eight qualities accompany the life that has been “cleansed from former sins” (1:9).

Let me be clear about one thing: Peter is not saying that we earn entrance into the kingdom of Christ by performing these qualities. He knows that salvation only comes “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (1:1). No one can earn their way into God’s grace. Grace, by definition, is a gift, which eliminates the ability to earn it. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Jesus did it all for us.

While no one is saved by works, no one is saved without them. That’s Peter’s point. The person who has been forgiven and cleansed by God’s saving grace will confirm reception of that grace by practicing godliness. We aren’t saved by practicing these qualities, but we aren’t saved without them. Knowing Jesus results in becoming like Jesus. Faith must be practiced.

I recently asked a group of people to name something they were each good at. As they took turns naming things, I asked, “How did you get good at that?” In every instance, the answer was the same, “I did it over and over,” or, “I practiced.” Human beings are designed by God to grow through repetition and habits. We make progress when we do something so much that muscle memory results. Over time, the truly skilled person no longer has to even think about what they are doing. They have so repeated the skill that it comes almost automatically.

If that’s how we develop important skills in other areas of our lives, what prevents us from applying that same methodology to cultivating virtue and godliness? It seems to me, following Peter, that the pathway to godliness consists in practicing habits of godliness in the strength provided by God’s grace. In other words, if I want to grow in self-control, I need to find small ways in my day-to-day life to exercise self-control. If I want to grow in loving others, I need to find small daily ways to put others before myself.

A few years ago, out of alarm by my selfishness, I started parking as far away as possible when I would go to the grocery store. I was trying to replace my normal tendency of racing other drivers to the best spots with a new habit of putting others first. I was hoping it would help me to be a more loving person.

While my example is silly, I’m more convinced than ever that the way forward in godliness and virtue must come through grace-infused practice. Will you practice your faith?

About the Author: 

Casey McCall is Lead Pastor of Ashland Oldham County, located in Buckner, KY.

Posted at: https://www.davidprince.com/2020/08/12/to-grow-you-must-practice/

Don't Forget the Goal

KIMBERLY CORNELIUS

Distractions. Idols. Plans. Upheavals. Worries. Illness.

I have a problem. Well, a lot of problems, but one problem in particular. In the midst of a busy semester, in the midst of pursuing entertainment, in the midst of pride and temptations to sin, in the midst of drastic changes to my schedule due to concerns about the coronavirus—in the midst of all these things, I have forgotten the main thing: Christlikeness.

Busyness has always been an obstacle to my spending time with God, but I’m finding out that having extra time can also be an obstacle. Having extra time means that I have more opportunities to live for myself, more opportunities to feed my own desires and cater to my own comfort. Having extra time means that I am more likely to avoid scheduling in time with God than ever before.

But God has so much more in store for me than what I can see right now. Right now, all I can see is an overthrown schedule and a loss of some freedom. Right now, all I can see are greater opportunities to serve and please myself. But that’s not what God sees.

When God looks at my personal choices— the poor time management decisions I’ve been making, the wasted opportunities—He sees worthless distractions that are hindering me from pursuing Him with my whole heart.

When God looks at my heart—my fears and frustrations about the future, my strong grip on pride—He sees a child who desperately needs to let go of her idols and find her shelter in Him.

When God looks at my life—my altered schedule, my canceled plans—He sees His own hand moving the pieces of my world with the ultimate goal of conforming me into the image of Jesus Christ.

God hasn’t lost sight of the goal, even though I’ve closed my eyes to it. He hasn’t stopped working, even though I’m not aware of all He’s doing. And He hasn’t stopped pursuing me, even though I’m not pursuing Him.

My plans seem so important, but in the last week I’ve seen how flexible, transient, and ultimately how inconsequential they really are. My plans are changing, but God’s plans for me to be like Jesus have not changed. He is using all these circumstances to keep changing me into the image of His Son, even though I have been completely missing out on that because I’ve been so focused on everything else going on.

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

God’s plans are good—every single one of them—and His ultimate plan is that I would be growing to be more and more like Jesus every day. Even though many of my plans are slipping through my fingers, being like Jesus is one plan that I must hold onto, one plan that I can’t bear to give up. Christlikeness is one plan that I need fight for. No matter the cost to my personal plans and not matter the cost to my comfort, pursuing Jesus must come first.

I just want to encourage all of you reading this to join me in refocusing on the goal. I don’t know how the last couple weeks have changed your plans; some of you may be busier than ever before while others of you have more free time. Some of you are finding in the midst of altered schedules and added worries that temptations to sin are even stronger than normal. Some of you may feel lost or overwhelmed.

No matter what’s going on in your life or what you’re especially struggling with, keep the main thing the main thing. Keep running this race with endurance. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t forget the goal.

Hebrews 12:1-2 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 . . .

Posted at: http://journeysofgrace.com/2020/03/20/dont-forget-the-goal/

Big Brains and Diseased Heart

Paul Tripp

Has your personal study of the Word of God informed and enlarged your brain without convicting and transforming your heart?

When I was a younger pastor, I was exegeting my way through Romans, engulfed in an intoxicating world of language syntax and theological argument. I labored over tenses, contexts, objects, and connectors. I studied etymologies and the Pauline vocabulary.

Countless hours of disciplined private study were represented by page upon page of notes. It was all very gratifying. I felt so proud that I had filled my notebook with copious notes on Romans.

Then one evening, it hit me. It was a sweet moment of divine rescue by the Holy Spirit. I had spent hours each day for months studying perhaps the most extensive and gorgeous exposition of the gospel that has ever been written, yet I had been fundamentally untouched by its message.

My study of the Word of God had been a massive intellectual exercise but almost utterly devoid of spiritual, heart-transforming power.

You may never exegete an entire book of the Bible, but God does call you to be a diligent student of his Word. But here’s the danger: because of remaining sin and self-righteousness, our study of Scripture could leave us with big theological brains and untouched and diseased hearts.

Could I be describing you? Here are three signs of an untouched and diseased heart that I have experienced, even after studying passages that speak directly to these symptoms!

Anxiety

In Matthew 6, Christ asks his followers, “Why are you anxious?” He explains that it makes sense for the Gentiles (unbelievers) to be anxious because they don’t have a heavenly Father, then reminds us that we have a Father who knows what we need and is committed to delivering it.

As you study the Word of God and see evidence of his past, present, and future provision splashed across every page (Phil. 4:19, 2 Pet. 1:3, etc.), does it give your heart rest? If this theology informs your brain but does not capture your heart, the anxieties of life will likely influence how you live.

Control

I am convinced that rest in this chaotic world, submission to authority, and a willingness to give and share control all arise from a sure knowledge that every single detail of our lives is under the careful administration of One of awesome glory.

As you memorize verses like Daniel 4:35, Psalm 135:6, and Isaiah 46:10, does it create peace in your heart? When the theology of God’s sovereignty moves beyond your brain and transforms your heart, you won’t have to be in control of everything and everyone in your life.

Addiction

Whenever you ask creation to do what only the Creator can do, you are on your way to addiction. I’m not talking about life-destroying addictions that require a rehabilitation center, but anything (however small) that provides a temporary retreat or pleasure or buzz that you return to again and again. When the joy of Christ isn’t ruling your heart, you are rendered more susceptible to some form of everyday addiction.

As you study the Word of God, are you searching for heart and life-transforming pleasure? (The pleasure of knowing, serving, and pleasing Christ: see 2 Cor. 5:9, 1 Thes. 4:1, Eph. 5:10) Some Christians get way too much pleasure from being theogeeks!

I am not suggesting at all that your Bible study cannot include any scholarly components. But whenever you search the Scriptures, it should be a time of worship and not just education.

Each time you open the Word of God, you should be looking for your beautiful Savior, whose beauty alone has the power to overwhelm any other beauty that could capture your heart.

God bless,

Posted on Paul’s Tripps Wednesday’s Word email.

Bearing Fruit in Christ

 Paul Tautges

When God saves a sinner He begins a new work of transforming grace, which results in the production of good works for His glory. Ephesians 2:8-10 gives this full picture:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The good works that follow salvation are too numerous to list, but they can all be summarized by one word: Christlikeness. This is God’s goal: to conform us into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10).

To be “in Christ” is to be saved. To be “in Christ” is to be a new creature in Him. To be “in Christ” is to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. This connection to Christ, as a branch is connected to the vine, results in the production of fruit. All other fruit bearing is simply the temporary result of having enough willpower to change. William MacDonald writes, “Works are produced by human energy. Fruit is grown as a branch abides in the vine (John 15:5). They differ as a factory and a garden differ.”

The life of Christ working itself out in our lives as new creatures in Him is what Jesus teaches us about in John 15:1-11. In this passage, there are four key truths that you need to understand about fruit bearing.

God the Father is the master gardener, and Jesus is the true vine who provides the new life that is essential to fruit bearing (v. 1).

Jesus begins by making it clear that He is the true vine. Why is that? In the Old Testament, Israel is often referred to as God’s vine. However, each time this metaphor is used the emphasis is upon Israel’s failure to be fruitful for God. In contrast to that failure is Jesus, the true vine who is abundantly fruitful for God. Through His sin-bearing death and victorious resurrection to new life, Jesus brings about great fruit for God. Jesus accomplishes this work through the sending of the Spirit, which He promises in the previous chapter. Under the New Covenant, the center point of the love of God is fully revealed in Christ who has sent his Spirit to accomplish His fruit bearing work. Again, this is why it is called the fruit of the Spirit.

God will judge all false disciples whose lack of fruit bearing gives evidence to an absence of true faith (v. 2a).

In verse two, the “in me” language is for the sake of the metaphor. From the context, it seems clear that any connection these so-called branches have is superficial. In other words, there are branches that appear to be connected to the vine, but internally do not have the vein of life within them. These will be taken away to final judgment. The context supports this interpretation (see verse 6).

Judas is one example of a false disciple. From all outside appearances Judas was a believer; he had everybody fooled. Everyone except Jesus, of course. Though Judas looked like he was connected to the life of God in Christ, he was actually a dead branch who had attached himself superficially. Mixing metaphors, we could say he appeared to be heading in the same direction as the other eleven disciples, but really he was just along for the ride. And when the rode got bumpy, he jumped off the wagon and sold Jesus to his enemies.

God prunes all true disciples so that their fruit bearing increases (vv. 2b-3).

God is not content for us to remain as we are. He works and works in His garden. Not only does He cut off the dead branches and throw them on a pile to be burned, but He diligently and carefully prunes those branches that truly belong to Him, those that are bearing good fruit. Why? Because He longs to see us become more fruitful. The apostle Paul understood this as the will of God for every believer. So, for example, he prayed for the Colossians this way:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

Col. 1:9-11

God is glorified by the fruit bearing that grows from cultivating a daily relationship with Christ (vv. 4-11).

Spiritual fruitfulness does not occur without our active participation. Biblical sanctification is cooperative sanctification (Phil. 2:12-13). When it comes to bearing fruit for God, the Holy Spirit refuses to do all the work for us. We are fully responsible to nurture a life-giving relationship with Jesus on a daily basis, so that the life of God which was implanted in us at the moment of salvation bears fruit for His glory. Notice the repetition of the word abide. Ten times Jesus tells us that bearing fruit hinges upon our abiding in Him. Jesus tells us that fruitfulness is dependent upon our walking with Him in a growing intimacy of relationship. This requires prayer and time in the Word of God, at a bare minimum.

All of these truths lead to an end: our joy. Staying closely connected to Jesus in dependent relationship and loving communion will lead to fruitfulness. But we cannot do this alone… and Jesus knew that. He sent us his Spirit to perform the inner work of transforming us into his image, but we must abide in Christ. — Watch or listen to the sermon.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/02/17/bearing-fruit-in-christ/

Why is My Theology Not Changing My Life?

John Piper

Audio Transcript

Why is my theology not changing my life? Or at least, not changing me as fast as I thought it would? Anyone who regularly plunges into the riches of Scripture and of the Reformed tradition will eventually face this very sobering and probing question. The topic was taken up by Pastor John and by the late R.C. Sproul at a Ligonier National Conference back in 2011. The conversation was on stage. There the dialogue turned toward how the mind and heart relate to the discovery of biblical truth. We jump into the conversation, beginning with Pastor John.

Behold and Be Changed

John Piper: I totally agree that the primacy of the affections is in terms of the mind serving the affections so that they’re not emotionalism, but real fruit of knowing. God is not honored by emotions based on falsehood. He’s only honored by emotions that are rooted in truth.

Now, here’s the practical issue: Lots of people know things and don’t get changed. Some of you are just discovering the doctrines of grace, and you’re just as crabby this year as you were last year. What’s wrong? Knowing leads to right affections and doing, but not quickly for everybody, or not immediately, or sometimes not at all. The devil knows quite a bit of theology and hates all of it. And he’s maybe more orthodox than most of us, but he can’t abide it. The reason is because he doesn’t know it as glorious. He doesn’t know it as beautiful.

I’m just going to add: to know something aright is not just to get the theological pieces in order and have the right quotes in the Bible, but to go to 2 Corinthians 3:18: “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Now, I would say the implication is that the veil is lifted by the Holy Spirit. This is Reformed, sovereign grace, lifting the blinding veil, so that now we don’t just see five points; we see five stunningly glorious, beautiful things about God. And it’s the beauty of them that changes us: beholding the glory, we are being changed.

‘Open My Eyes’

They asked me the other day in our little roundtable at Bethlehem College & Seminary, “We’re students here and we’re faculty here. What can we do so that we don’t just become academically big-headed and get it all right and not be changed or help anybody?”

The most practical thing I can say is that as you study from morning till night, pray at least every ten minutes that God would not let that happen, and would reveal himself to you as beautiful in the part of Scripture that you’re working on or the theological issue you’re working on. Ask him over and over again: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Open my eyes. I’m staring at it right now. Nothing’s happening. Ask him, “Open my eyes.” Because I need to see not just truth, but beautiful truth, glorious truth, and that’s what changes. So, prayer, I think, would be the key.

You look like you’re ready to say something.

Beauty in the Heart of Worship

R.C. Sproul: No. I’m just sitting here eating that up, John. One place where I have felt so much alone in the ministry that I am involved with is I find so few people who have a passion for beauty. God is the foundation for the good, the true, and the beautiful. And you can distinguish among those three things, but you better never separate them.

And I love it when you sit here and talk about it, because you’re articulating what I’ve been trying to articulate for years. I’ve usually said that it’s not just enough to understand the truth; you’ve got to see the loveliness of it. You’ve got to see the sweetness of it. You talk about the glory of it, but you’ve added to it the beauty of it. And that’s it.

Our worship is supposed to be for beauty and for holiness. God went to such extremes in the Old Testament to communicate that principle of beauty in the heart of worship. That’s one of the great weaknesses of our tradition is that we seem to think the only thing that’s virtuous is ugliness and we have to get away from beauty. But everything that’s beautiful, even paintings painted by pagans, travesties — sometimes in spite of themselves — they call attention to the character of God, because everything beautiful bears witness to him because he is the source of beauty.

And that beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder. It’s there essentially in the character and the being of God himself. When you talk about it here, it just thrills my heart because we have to see how beautiful the truth is and how beautiful the God of the truth is.

I think that the enticement to sin is that sin promises pleasure. That’s the bad kind of hedonism. But it never delivers; it’s a lie. And that’s where our great deception is. We think that we can’t be happy unless we’re sinning. And sin can be pleasurable for a season, from one perspective. But it can never be joyful — ever. It can’t possibly bring joy because it’s not beautiful. It’s ugly. And we have that attraction to ugliness. Our basic makeup is to prefer the darkness rather than the light.

We live in a world that has been marred, seriously marred. It’s been vandalized. The glory of God is everywhere in the beauty of creation. The whole world is full of his glory. But we have vandalized that glory.

Escape Through the Promises

John Piper: It seems to me that the way Jesus argues is that the kingdom of God is like a man who found a treasure hidden in a field, and in his joy — from his joy — he went and sold everything he had and bought that field (Matthew 13:44). That’s the paradigm for how you get freed from the bondage to the world and sin and the devil. If you see the kingdom and the King as a treasure more valuable than your grandfather’s clock, your car, your computer, your books, your fame, and whatever, then it all becomes rubbish and you’re freed.

Before then, it had tremendous power. It held you. Sin has the power of pleasure. And the Bible breaks that power with the power of a superior pleasure. It severs the root of it.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

How do you escape from the corruptions in the world? Precious and very great promises of the glory and excellence of God. The sequence of thought in 2 Peter 1:3–4 is this: escape from corruption comes through a superior promise.

I think that the beauty of holiness, the more it goes deep and satisfies — really, really satisfies — the freer you become from pornography, and from the pleasures of resentment and bitterness that you want to hold on to, and from fear of man. These sins have their talons in us, and those talons are dislodged, not so much by duty — yanking them out like this — but by pushing them out.

Someone asked once, “What’s the easiest way to get the sin of air out of a glass?” Should you put a vacuum on it and suck the air out? No, just pour water in the glass. If you want to get the air out of the glass, just fill it with water. That would be the way I want to build holiness into my people’s lives.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-is-my-theology-not-changing-my-life?fbclid=IwAR30ITDOXhc-VyZbCr99i6bsApb_D2rsd0PR5bTnXE-_FA57vexpMx5hQYM

Reaping the Harvest of Walking in the Spirit

 Paul Tautges

The Christian life is not a playground; it’s a battlefield. Since we are in a war, and the world, the flesh, and the devil are always working against the Spirit’s agenda, we must get serious about sanctification, overcoming sin, and becoming like Christ. But we cannot do it without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Gal. 5:22-26

“But” indicates that what is to follow is in contrast to the works of the sinful flesh, the Holy Spirit produces a harvest of righteousness in the believer’s life. To reap the harvest of walking in the Spirit, you need to occupy yourself with four ongoing actions…

Recognize the outworking of the Spirit’s sanctifying work (vv. 22-23).

“But the fruit” in contrast to the works of the flesh. Jesus used gardening language when describing our growth in Him (John 15:1-5). The fruit of the Spirit is the outworking of the new life of Christ which is active within you. William MacDonald writes, “It is significant that the apostle distinguishes between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Works are produced by human energy. Fruit is grown as a branch abides in the vine (John 15:5). They differ as a factory and a garden differ.”

Notice that “fruit” is singular. It is not fruits, but fruit. The fruit is Christlike character. The primary evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in a believer’s life is not some form of bizarre behavior, but that of stable, godly character that reflects Christlikeness. So, again, we are reminded that God’s goal for us is to become conformed to the image of his Son: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29). Other Scriptures indicate the same Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:13).

What does it look like to be becoming more and more like Jesus? There will be a harvest of righteousness. You and others will see that you are growing in the following nine virtues. No doubt, as the list of the works of the flesh was not exhaustive, so this list is not either.

• LOVE is the supreme Christlike virtue. “The greatest of these is love,” as Paul says in 1 Corinthians. Love holds all the other character qualities together (Col. 3:14). Love is the demonstration of putting others before yourself. It is the outworking of the life of God within you (Eph. 5:1-2).

• JOY is an inner stability of spirit. It’s being satisfied with God and how his will is being worked out in your life. It opposes the striving of the spirit that too often characterizes us, because we are discontent. Joy is finding one’s contentment in Christ, not in our circumstances, and in knowing him more and more.

• PEACE probably includes both dimensions of peace: Peace with God, as the Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God, and the peace of God, as you walk in prayerful dependence upon the Spirit your anxiety is brought under his control.

• PATIENCE is longsuffering. This kind of patience is not easily annoyed, but describes the patience that awaits God’s will to be done in your trials and suffering, and in God’s timing. Longsuffering waits for God to vindicate you of false accusations, while you continue to love your enemies and pray for them.

• KINDNESS is as the ESV Study Bible says, “Kindness means showing goodness, generosity, and sympathy toward others.” Romans 2:4 says this is the attribute of God that brings us to repentance. Paul asks the religious person who is trusting in his good works to save him: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

• GOODNESS is kindness in action. The Good Samaritan models this kind of character. While the Levite and the priest avoided the wounded man, as if he was a leper, the Samaritan outcast drew near and met his needs.

• FAITHFULNESS refers to trust in God which leads to obedience to God. But it also refers to being a person that people can rely upon. Sadly, this is an often-neglected character quality. Everyone just wants to follow their heart, instead of following God and being faithful to others (1 Cor. 4:2).

• GENTLENESS is the combination of humility and servanthood. In the four Gospels, Jesus only once describes himself in a personal way: “I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29).

• SELF-CONTROL is the ability to govern yourself. You don’t need others to govern you, because you have learned to say No to your own fleshly desires, and yes to the Spirit. This quality describes the person whose life is disciplined. It’s the opposite of laziness.

Against this fruit “there is no law.” If these qualities are becoming more and more evident in your life, there is less and less of a need for outside governance. Instead, you are learning to govern yourself from inside, as you walk in the strength of the Spirit.

Represent Christ and your union with Him (v. 24).

“Those who belong to Christ” are true believers.  The harvest of fruit, or the lack of a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit, says something about your true spiritual condition. Believers “have crucified the flesh,” which refers to a completed action in the past. It’s referring to what happened at the moment of your conversion. Armand Tiffe has published a helpful personal Bible study of Romans 6. It’s entitled The Liberating Truth of Romans 6. Working through that study will give you a firmer grasp on your position in Christ, and how Christ sets us free from our sinful habits and lazy tendencies. God says that your sinful passions and desires were crucified when you first came to Christ. So why return to them? Why would you want to return to that which once enslaved you?

Relinquish control to the Spirit’s leadership (v.25).

“If” means since. Since you are a new creature in Christ. Since the life of God now dwells within you, in the person of the Holy Spirit, do not be controlled by your sinful flesh. Instead, walk in submission to the Spirit. The word walk here, in verse 25, is a different word than the one used previously. Here it means to keep in step, or march in line, with the Spirit (see also Eph. 5:15-21).

Repent of prideful attitudes and actions (v. 26).

Pride is an enemy. It is the enemy of the development of Christlike character. When you say in your heart, “I’m not going to change that part of my life” then you are demonstrating a stubborn determination to remain in control. Instead, the Holy Spirit wants to help you change—to be humble, flexible, and moldable like a lump of soft clay. Paul mentions three prideful attitudes to repent of.

• Conceited = holding false, empty opinions of yourself. This is the person who enjoys always being the center of attention. Christians should not be puffed up, larger-than-life characters.

• Provoking one another = challenging one another, describes the person who is argumentative simply because they enjoy a verbal fight. It flows from and feeds pride.

• Envying one another = craving what others have, due to your own discontent. MacDonald says, “Envy begrudges another person’s superior success, talents, possessions, or good looks.”

He goes on to say, “All such attributes are foreign to grace.” Wherever you see these attitudes in your life, you need to repent of them. You need to humble yourself and esteem others are more important than yourself.

God’s call is clear. In Christ, we are called to walk in a manner that is worthy of our calling. But we cannot do this successfully without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. As we yield the control of our mind and heart to the Spirit’s will, as revealed in the Word of God, we will see His fruit become increasingly evident in our lives. Seeing progress in your Christian life is the chief means by which God builds assurance of your salvation (2 Pet. 1:3-11).  This is the work of God’s grace in our lives, not only saving us, but transforming us into the image and likeness of Jesus.

Watch or listen to the sermon here.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/01/20/reaping-the-harvest-of-walking-in-the-spirit/

Don't Mistake Experience for Growth

Kris Sinclair 

It’s a sad truth that many churches are full of people who have professed saving faith in Christ, attended and served faithfully for twenty to thirty-plus years, taught Sunday school, and read their Bibles, but have not been transformed at all. They’ve gained experience in doing Christian things but haven’t actually grown as a Christian. They've mistaken experience for growth.

Peter instructs Christians to “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:5–8, emphasis added).

“In God’s economy, it is the Christian who is constantly growing, not constantly doing who is the most effective.

In God’s economy, it is the Christian who is constantly growing, not constantly doing who is the most effective. It reminds me of a quote from James Clear in his book Atomic Habits: “Too often, we assume we are getting better simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our current habits—not improving them.” 

We have the capacity to do the same thing spiritually. We think we are growing in the Lord by going to church, attending Bible studies, and reading the Bible. But how many of us have been doing these things for years without any meaningful growth or discernible improvement in our virtues or walk with the Lord? 

A NEED FOR APPLICATION

It’s not enough to ask yourself, Do I believe in the Gospel? You must also ask yourself, Am I living in step with the Gospel? Christianity requires not only an assent to the truth of the Gospel but also an application of it to our lives. Our hearts, minds, and lives must be changed. And this changing isn’t a one-time event.

Yes, the Gospel is something “which you received and in which you stand.” It’s the foundation our Christian life rests upon, but it’s also the means “by which you are being saved" (1 Cor. 15:1). In other words, the Gospel is continually at work in our lives, building upon the foundation that is laid. 

I’m afraid too many believers have fallen into the same trap as the Pharisees: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).

Christ affirms to us that you won’t find life by merely reading, studying, or memorizing the Bible any more than you’ll find treasure by merely reading, studying, or memorizing a map. You must actually travel the route the map reveals to you before you end up at its destination. Likewise, we must study the Scriptures with the intention of finding what (or more accurately who) they are pointing to—Jesus. 

“If your knowledge of the Bible doesn’t act as a stepping stone to help you land on the worship, adoration, and reverence of Christ, then you’ve only become more self-righteous, not more holy.

This should make us wary of determining our maturity by how much knowledge of Scripture we have. There is no life found in Bible memory, knowledge, or trivia. If your knowledge of the Bible doesn’t act as a stepping stone to help you land on the worship, adoration, and reverence of Christ, then you’ve only become more self-righteous, not more holy.

David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock make this same observation in their book Faith for Exiles:

“Sometimes we mistake being on the path—say, attending church—for making active progress as a disciple. But many young people (and older adults, for that matter) are dutiful churchgoers while remaining spiritually inert.”

They continue, saying “church involvement is a necessary but insufficient condition for resilient discipleship... It is difficult, if not downright impossible, to shape hearts and minds with only a few hours a week to work with.”

In other words, merely reading your bible and going to church isn’t going to cut it. For true growth to take place, something more has to happen.

A NEED FOR SUFFERING

In short, you have to suffer.

Pain and suffering are part and parcel with spiritual growth and maturity. You can’t grow without it. Paul tells us as much in Romans 5:2–4: “And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” 

Look closely enough at this and you see that what Paul describes is quite an amazing process. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (v. 2b). This is the beginning of the Christian’s walk with the Lord. Upon recognizing our depravity, repenting of our sin, and placing our faith in Jesus Christ for the atonement of our sins, what are we left to do but to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God?

This rejoicing is the first posture of worship the new Christian takes and then strives to maintain throughout the rest of her life. This is where we must begin in our walk with the Lord. But notice the rest of the process Paul lays out. Rejoicing in our newfound hope is not all we rejoice in, “We also rejoice in our sufferings.” Why? “Because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Notice that the product of suffering is endurance, and the product of endurance is character, and the product of character is hope. Work that backward and you’ll begin to see the importance of what Paul is describing.

Do you want hope? Build character. Do you want character? Strive for endurance. Do you want endurance? Experience suffering.

What Paul describes for us in Romans 5:2-4 is a process of growth. We begin our Christian walk by rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, then as we follow Christ, we experience suffering (2 Tim. 3:12). If we successfully endure that suffering, then character is produced. We become more like Christ; we actually grow. All of this results in a greater hope, which brings us back to the first step, to repeat this process over again.

A RESISTANCE TO PAIN

“The reason we see so many in our churches who have maintained a stagnant spirituality for years is because we’ve tried to exchange the suffering that is required for our growth with experience.

It’s a failure to adopt this method of growth that has caused the problem we see. The reason we see so many in our churches who have maintained a stagnant spirituality for years is because we’ve tried to exchange the suffering that is required for our growth with experience.

By doing so, we’ve effectively cut ourselves off from the endurance that produces character, the character that produces hope, and so on and so on. We’ve stunted our own growth.

Our twenty-first-century Western culture has become good at discovering silver-bullet solutions to our pain. We’ve created a pill for everything that ails us, we’ve developed countless distracting hobbies to take our minds off the hurt, we’ve become professionals at avoiding pain.

This has infected the church’s spirituality in a way that has robbed us of the painful disciplines needed for growth.

• Solitude is hard. Retreating from social media and the serotonin rush that comes with each notification is too much for us to give up.

• Fasting is painful. Depriving our bodies of what it physically needs in order to gain what it spiritually needs seems unappealing and uncomfortable.

• Praying before each meal is laborious and monotonous enough, let alone praying without ceasing through the night with no sleep. How awful!

• Selling our possessions to simplify our lives and give to the poor? That’s someone else’s cross to bear, not mine.

• Fighting against lust and pornography seems impossible in our over-sexualized society. Why try?

• Confessing our sins to one another is way too vulnerable. Temptation? Maybe we’ll let someone in on that, but the fact that we’ve actually sinned? Nope, too damaging to our reputations.  

A NEED FOR COMMUNION

The point is that the kind of growth Peter and Paul speak of stresses the importance of determined discipleship: an intentional and sometimes painful pursuit of Christ and the grace that living in his Kingdom affords us. And what’s ironic is that this kind of pursuit of Christ and the development of the virtues Peter listed may actually call for some of us to start doing less. It’s the pain of cutting away our idols and our distractions that clears the path for us to find more of Jesus, it’s what enables us to identify with the suffering servant in a unique way that we wouldn’t be able to apart from our suffering.

We're so busy doing things for him, that we don't have the time to actually commune with him. Yet without this communion, we cannot change (2 Cor. 3:18). We cannot learn the way of Jesus without spending time with him, and once we find him, we won’t make it very far if we aren’t willing to sacrifice.

What could you become, or better yet, who could you become, if you were intentional about trading in your participation in hollow rituals and instead creating the margin in your life for deep, perhaps painful, but joyful communion with Christ?

Posted at: https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/2019/12/4/dont-mistake-experience-for-growth

Unsure of Your Future? Rest on God’s Immutability

Davis Wetherell

God’s immutability is a wonderful attribute. What is immutability? In a 2014 Banner of Truth article, Geoff Thomas explains,

God is perpetually the same. He never changes. His being, and nature, and perfections can’t be altered. Nothing can be added to the infinite God and nothing can be taken from him. What God is today he always was. What God is today he shall always be.

In sum, God is always God. And He is the only being that is this way. You and I are always changing, growing, moving, and developing, but God is what He is. Herman Bavinck wisely wrote, “God alone is absolute being, the ‘I will be who I will be,’ but all creatures… are subject to the law of becoming” (82).

Implied in this “law of becoming” is unknowing and uncertainty. What will our lives hold?

As we approach the new year, perhaps we face this question more directly. If this is a daunting question for you like it is for me, then join me in meditating on these three Bible verses on the immutability of God.

1.) Psalm 106:25–27

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you [God] will remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
   but you are the same, and your years have no end.

I find a lot of comfort in this verse because it reminds me that nothing is as permanent as God. Although the world I live in may be hectic, painful, and confusing, it will pass away. God alone will remain.

It’s not enough to know that the earth will pass away, for if everything were to just end then life would be pointless. The struggle would be fruitless. But God remains the same in the end as He was in the beginning.

The application here, partially, is that faith in and worship of Jesus Christ brings stability to our lives. He is the only thing that will never change. So if you are looking for stability this season, look to Jesus!

2.) Isaiah 46:9–10

I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My counsel shall stand,
   and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

This is one of my favorite verses for several reasons. One reason is that God promises His counsel shall stand, and that He will accomplish His purpose. God is good not only because He does not change but also because He never fails. That’s part of God’s immutability; He always accomplishes His purpose.

Another reason is that God highlights something He can do that no one else can do: God declared the end of time from the beginning of time.

When we experience failures or uncertainties in our life, we can be comforted by Christ, because we are in Christ, and He never fails and He is always certain.

Prediction and Declaration

I’m a baseball fan, and I enjoy guessing who will win the championship. In fact, I like guessing who will win each division, who will win each playoff series, and who will win the World Series. I shared my picks with my wife back in February, and guess how I did? Terrible! I predicted the Chicago Cubs would beat the New York Yankees—but Chicago didn’t even make the playoffs!

Had I been right, I could have said, “I declared the end of the season from the beginning of the season.” That would have been a nice guess, and it would have certainly increased my credibility as a baseball thinker.

God, however, isn’t predicting something eight months away, He is declaring the end of all things from the beginning of all things. And my baseball prediction was just a guess—it had no bearing on reality. What God is doing is not prediction, it’s declaration. He isn’t saying, “Look at how perceptive I am into the way the world works.” He is saying, “I will do this.”

God does not predict the end from the beginning; God is “the beginning and the end” (Revelation 21:6; 22:13).

3.) James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

It is good to remember that everything good comes from God. The source of good gifts never changes. So, when you are stuck in a period of uncertainty and unknowing, if you receive a good gift—a new friend, an encouragement—you know it’s from God and He is with you.

The other thing to mention is that giving good gifts is a part of God’s nature, and therefore a part of His immutability. He does not waver in His nature, and His nature is that of a “Father” who “give[s] good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11).

When you are facing an unknown future, ask God for His help! It is His promise to His children that He will give good gifts. You can have peace knowing that God will do this and that what He will do will be a good thing.

Other Verses to Read?

This article just had enough space to talk about three verses from the Bible on God’s unchanging nature. But there are plenty more! What verses do you often revisit when you need to be reminded of God’s immutability?

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, full of rich biblical meditation on who God is and what He has done for you.

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/12/unsure-future-rest-god-immutability/