How Do You Start Your Day?

Here's a bit of biblical teaching that absolutely astounds me with its clarity and depth. It is from a wonderful but weighty book entitled Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard Lovelace. Lovelace addresses what I believe to be the principle problem for both guilt-ridden Christians and nominal religious people.

Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God's holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin that conciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface of their lives they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure. Many others have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification... drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance, or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience.

Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand on Luther's platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude.

Sadly I think Lovelace is exactly right. Justification is God's legal pronouncement that we as Christians are pardoned because of the substitute death of Jesus. That is the ground of all our hope. And yet, I meet people within the church all the time that cannot articulate this hope, and it's clear that being justified by Christ's sacrifice and being bathed in Christ's righteousness (his sinless right standing before God) is not where they draw their strength and joy. The guilty hand-wringers feel like they haven't done enough to earn God's favor and the cultural religious types see no need for a deep, passionate embrace of the Gospel that results is a transformed life. It would not be an overstatement to say nearly every counseling situation I have had falls into one of these two errors.

Thankfully, Lovelace and Luther's answer to this problem is also entirely accurate. In fact, it is the core of the Gospel message: you are accepted. You cannot earn acceptance by cleaning up your life, but you can lean on the acceptance of God in Christ and let that truth turn your life into passionate, sanctified worship. In Jesus, you are accepted. If this truth is the fuel of your life, it will drive you into the relaxed "quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude."

Christ Endured So That I...

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy, cast off that I might be brought in, trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend, surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best, stripped that I might be clothed, wounded that I might be healed, athirst that I might drink, tormented that I might be comforted, made a shame that I might inherit glory, entered darkness that I might have eternal life.My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes, groaned that I might have endless song, endured all pain that I might have unfading health, bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem, bowed his head that I might uplift mine, experienced reproach that I might receive welcome, closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness, expired that I might for ever live.

The Valley of Vision, “Love Lustres at Calvary”


HT: Kevin DeYoung, read more here.

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

The following song was written by Stuart Townend in 2004. It is a deeply reflective song that causes me to experience both great joy and humility at the thought of what the Father and the Son were willing to do for me. The first video is Townend describing the song, and the second is the song itself. I suggest watching them in that order.

The Darkness at the Cross

We begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday and march with Christ steadily to the cross. Please use this week to dwell on the terror and the beauty of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. Reflecting on the darkness that covered the sky at the moment Jesus died, the writers of Pierced for Our Transgressions note this:

The meaning of the darkness at the cross seems unambiguous. God was angry. But angry with whom? One possibility is that his wrath was directed against those crucifying his Son. There may be some truth in this, but the juxtaposition of the darkness with Jesus' cry of abandonment suggests that another meaning is primary: God's judgment was falling on his Son as he died as a substitute, bearing the sins of his people. p.72 [emphasis mine]

Father, you poured your wrath and fierce anger on your own willing Son, displaying your justice on my sin and your mercy toward me. Thank you.

Focusing on the Cross this Easter

Over the last 6-7 years or so, Rachel and I have tried to increase our focus at Easter on Good Friday, something that neither of us observed in great detail growing up. Easter Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and rightly so, but it is Christ's substitutionary atonement on Friday that makes any sort of celebration on Sunday possible.

We've done this in various ways, and if you're interested I'll tell you about them. But one of the ways I have been trying to increase the depth of my understanding of the cross is by using this time before Easter to read one of the many excellent books that are being written lately that focus on the cross. I don't always get to do this, but I'm trying to make it a personal tradition. Just glancing over my shoulder at my bookcase I see several:

The Cross of Christ, John Stott (This one is particularly good.)

In My Place Condemned He Stood, J.I. Packer and Mark Dever (Read this last year.)

The Great Exchange, Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

The Future of Justification, John Piper

The Passion of Jesus Christ, John Piper (Contains 50 reasons why Christ suffered and died!)

The Cross and Christian Ministry, D.A. Carson (I took Dr. Carson's course in which much of this material was taught.)

The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, John Owen (This is one is daunting, but at some point I'll take on the challenge.)

And there are others. Many, excellent others. But this year I am reading Pierced for Our Transgressions, by Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach. It focuses on the glory of penal substitutionary atonement. Over the next few weeks leading to Easter, I will share interesting bits with you.

It is absolutley essential for growth in Christ to ponder and plumb the depths of the cross. I encourage you to use this time before Easter to do just that. Live the cross.