Bow-ties, Beatles Fans, and Definitive Sanctification (I like all three)

Spoiler alert: I’m about to ask some questions because: 1) questions are cool, 2) questions are a postmodern virtue.  However, they may not be as cool as Beatles fans not liking Yoko or hipsters with bow-ties.

Is sanctification a progressive work or a definitive event? If it is a progressive work, can this work be completed before the Lord’s return?  Further, how are we to reconcile the fact that we have remaining sin in our lives with passages like:

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.  Little children, let no one deceive you.  Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.  Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (1 Jn 3:6-9)

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (1 Jn 5:18)

How we answer these questions can influence things like our view of the purpose of “devotionals” and whether there’s such a thing as biblical assurance (to name a few).  The perennial question, however, is how does the NT describe sanctification? John Murray wrote, “But it is a fact too frequently overlooked that in the New Testament the most characteristic terms used with reference to sanctification are used not of a process but of a once-for-all definitive act.”  I think he’s right.  Inquiring minds can find the article here.

Thoughts on the incarnation…

Gleanings from Dr. McWilliam’s Christology class:

In the incarnation, God becomes who he had not been, without ceasing to be who He always had been.  God the Son becomes man yet while always being of the same substance (ὁμοούσιος) of the Father and the Spirit.

All of history stands in the shadow of this glorious reality:  God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, into the world in which we live.  He died, He stands risen, and He ascended into heaven.  This is the hope of the world.

Longing for this day:

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” Revelation 5:13

Τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τῷ ἀρνίῳ ἡ εὐλογία καὶ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ δόξακαὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων

And how can you guard your heart, the citadel of your soul?

I found this article extremely edifying this morning.  I hope it does the same for you.  Here it is, in its entirety:

Pursuing a Personal Inquisition of the Heart

By Al Baker

Watch over your own heart with diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

I have known men who began well, who began their careers and families with a steadfast commitment to honour God, to be faithful to their wives and children, and to keep a lid on their fleshly desires. Sadly, many of those men, as their careers wind down and they move into their retirement years are divorced, estranged from their children, and giving little evidence of the commitment to Christ they so long ago professed. I have often wondered, if asked to preach their funerals, what I would say. Would I tell their loved ones and friends, ‘Yes, I know he was a Christian and I can give you biblical assurance that he is now with Jesus.’ Would I be able to say that?

 

What went wrong? How did this happen? And what can I say to instruct you so that the same does not happen to you, so that you finish your race well without bringing shame to Christ, your family, or yourself? Solomon is instructing his son on how to live in the midst of a plethora of temptations, not the least of which are lurid women and bad friends. Within this context he tells his son what he must do, how he must do it, and what results from it. Note first of all his instruction. ‘My son, watch over your own heart.’ By heart he means the very citadel of his soul, the gateway to the rest of his body. A citadel is a military fortress which serves to protect an army and the people they serve. We know the heart is key to biblical holiness from what follows in the succeeding verses where Solomon speaks of the eyes, the mouth, and the feet, calling us to discipline these members of our bodies, something Paul also told the Romans to do (Rom. 6:12-13). Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matt. 22:37). Joel says, ‘Rend your hearts, and not your garments’ (Joel 2:13). David says, ‘Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee’ (Psa. 119:11).

 

To watch over one’s heart is to pursue a personal inquisition of the heart. David asked God to search him, to know his heart, to try him and know his anxious thoughts, to see if there is any hurtful way in him, and to lead him in the everlasting way (Psa. 139:23-24). And in order to pursue this personal inquisition of the heart you must know yourself well, your sinful proclivities, your patterns of recurring sin, those things that seem constantly to bring you down. A recovering alcoholic knows he cannot be around alcohol or anyone who drinks. He must stay away from them. A man who is tempted to sexual sin while on business trips must ask his friends to pray for him, even to check in with him each night in his hotel room, or if possible and practical to take his wife with him. A man tempted to spend money frivolously learns that he cannot carry a credit card with him, except perhaps his business credit card, that he must pay cash for only what he needs.

 

And how can you guard your heart, the citadel of your soul? Solomon says we do it with all diligence. I suggest three things, the first of which I have just mentioned. First, you must nightly pursue a personal inquisition of the soul. By this I mean, at the end of the day, as you prepare for bed that night, ask yourself a series of questions like these — ‘how have I sinned in my speech today, how have I sinned in my thoughts, what have I done contrary to God’s law, what are the deep seated idols that manifest themselves in sinful values, words, and deeds? And when the Holy Spirit shows you your sin, be quick to humble yourself, to confess it as sin, to ask Jesus for his grace and holiness, and once again to claim Christ’s mercy and renewal.

 

Second, you must daily pursue a personal visitation of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us to not quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19), to not grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30), and to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Just as a man who offends his wife with unkind speech finds a wall of separation between them, so our sin breaks fellowship with God Isa. 59:1-2, Psa. 66:18). You are still married and you still love your wife when there is tension, but you nonetheless know things ‘just aren’t right.’ And so it is with God and our sin. Your sin brings a degree of separation from him which can lead to a lack of power over sin, a decrease in passion for Christ and his kingdom, and a downgrade of purity in thought, word, and deed. So each day, when you detect that God is far away from you, when you sense dryness or coldness to the things of God, then be very quick to repent, to ask for the Spirit’s filling.

 

And third, you must regularly pursue personal holiness for without this you will not see God (Heb. 12:14). It is wonderfully and gloriously true that no one can snatch the believer from God’s hand (John 10:28-29), that nothing will separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38-39), and that we are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that we will receive an inheritance that will not fade away (1 Pet. 1:3-4). But it is also true that one who goes on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth will find that there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain, terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire that will consume God’s adversaries; that while one who sets aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses, so one will incur a stricter judgment who tramples under foot the Son of God, who ignores the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who insults the Spirit of grace, for it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:26-31).

 

This means, my dear friend, that you should ask God to keep you from presumptuous sins (Psa. 19:13). Do not presume upon God’s grace. Your decision for Christ, your emotional experience, your knowledge of God and salvation may not mean anything. ‘You believe that God is one. You do well, but the demons also believe and tremble’ (James 2:19). Well, then, how can you know that you are a true Christian? How can you be sure that you will finish the race well? A seldom discussed, but vital principle is that your assurance of salvation goes up or down with your obedience. In 1 John 3:17-22 the Apostle says, ‘If any among you has the world’s goods and sees a brother in need and closes his heart to him, then how can the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us love, not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. By this (by our love in deed and truth, by our obedience to God’s law) we will know that we are of the truth, and will assure our hearts before God in whatever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and he knows all things.’ On the one hand, the Christian knows he belongs to God because his sin condemns him. He knows he is guilty. Those about whom I worry are the professing Christians who never admit wrong doing, who never apologize, who are always in the right, who walk aimlessly and blindly through this life, giving no evidence of humility or meekness. John goes on to say, ‘Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.’ So, on the other hand our obedience causes our confidence, our assurance that we truly belong to God, to increase. Note also that the true believer can be displeasing to God, that he may frown upon our actions, values, and attitudes, something I hear some pastors today say is impossible.

 

So my dear friend, will you nightly pursue a personal inquisition of the soul, will you daily pursue a personal visitation of the Spirit, and will you regularly pursue personal holiness? Run back to Jesus in sincere repentance, claiming his blood for your forgiveness and the Spirit’s presence and sanctifying power. You will need to do this daily, many times each day, and in so doing you will finish your race well, hearing those blessed words, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Matt. 25:34).

Christ’s Atonement Applied

One of Spurgeon’s more unpopular quotes:

“We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do not. The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men? They say, ‘No certainly not.’ We ask them the next question–Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer, ‘No.’ They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They say, ‘No, Christ had died that any man may be saved if’–and then follow certain conditions of salvation. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as infallibly to secure salvation for anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ’s death; we say, ‘No my dear sir, it is you that do it.’ We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved and cannot by an possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of it.” – C.H. Spurgeon

Used by Jim Packer in his introductory essay for the following book:

Owen, John. The Death of Death in the Death of Christ: A Treatise in Which the Whole Controversy about Universal Redemption is Fully Discussed. Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1959.

The Myth of Neutrality

One the topics that a friend and I are likely to discuss over a cigar is the absence of reasonable, civil discussion on matters of life in the public sphere.  What matters of life you ask?  How about goodness, truth, and beauty for starters.

The American media is replete with syllogisms clothed in rhetoric like “The No Spin Zone.”  I’m provoked  when I hear these things and it’s not because I prefer a different news station, though I do.  Here’s the reason.  Why should I believe that such naked, unbiased objectivity exists in human thought?  If it does then show me where I am to purchase those rose-colored glasses.  Perhaps a better question is “are your biases (or worldviews) worth believing in?”  I find this question to be more constructive.  I long for the day we can check the rose-colored glasses at the door, sit at the table with our beverage of choice, and enjoy each others company, biases and all.  More to come on that note.  Chesterton puts it well:

“Every one of the popular modern phrases and ideals is a dodge in order to shirk the problem of what is good.  We are fond of talking ‘liberty’; that, as we talk of it, is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about ‘progress’; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about ‘education’; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good.  The modern man says, ‘Let us leave all these arbitrary standards and embrace liberty.’ This is, logically rendered, ‘Let us not decide what is good, but let it be considered good not to decide it.’

Chesterton, G. K. 1970. Heretics. Freeport, N.Y: Books for Libraries Press, 20-21.

Fleet Foxes

The pursuit of good folk music has hijacked my priorities for the morning. Thank you Fleet Foxes.

Training Wheels

Do you remember the days when training wheels were necessary?  The end we had in mind, at least those of us who were mechanically inept, was to be freed from those embarrassing appendages.  We longed for the day when we could throw them into the closet and shake our fist at gravity with provocation.  Then it happened.  Bloody knees and band-aids were incorporated into our show-and-tells at elementary school.   The days of training wheels became a distant memory.  Hold that thought.

Progress is a quaint word for us Westerners.  The progress our culture celebrates is largely the progress that Locke’s empiricism anticipated. “The answer is us; human reason has no bounds!”  Thankfully, most of us have stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.  In the 1960s many saw that progress wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be so we’ve been making fun of it ever since.  We’re still trying to figure out what to do with the failed promises of the Enlightenment.  We figure that being cynical and celebrating the meaninglessness of life will do for now.   The new Kool-Aid has us singing, “All of life is absurd. Hooray!”  Thankfully the kingdom of God differs.  God is working all things to an end by means of Christ’s gospel.  We find no dusty ideologies or failed promises in His kingdom: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Christ]” (2 Cor. 1:20).  His promises meet us where we live.

Paul was concerned with the progress of the Corinthian Christians. “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh.”  (1 Cor. 3:1-3).  The fruits of their lives (divisiveness, jealousy, strife, and so on) were revealed by their attitudes and actions.  The glorious gospel of Christ seemed to have little effect on how they related to God and people.  Paul wasn’t a legalist; he just believed the gospel actually changed folk.  You see him reminding them frequently (especially 1 Cor. 15) of “the gospel” that he preached to them.  Come on Paul, we’ve heard this over and over again.  Give us a break.

If we’re honest we change slower than we’d like to admit.  We’ve bought anointed handkerchiefs from televangelists that don’t seem to work.  In all seriousness—this must not keep us from asking the question: what effect does the gospel have on my life?  Are the fruits of the Spirit evident in my life?  Does the gospel change the way I see my neighbor?  Does it change the way I respond to people when they sin against me?  Do I pretentiously act as though I’ve graduated from the school of the gospel?  If you are discouraged don’t despair.  Our hope is in our resurrected Lord not our performance.  His atoning blood has saved us.  But thankfully the gospel never leaves us where we’re at.  It’s actually taking us somewhere.  Praise Christ!  Let us stand firm in this gospel and pray that by God’s Spirit it would have its full effect on us.  The gospel has brought us into intimate communion with God.  We can live in His presence.  We are not under wrath as we once were.  Let us call to memory His mercy causing us to exclaim with Paul: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’” (Rom. 11:33-34)  May we never handle this glorious gospel as we once treated those training wheels.

“If the gospel be so glorious and excellent, then let us all be exhorted to make it the object of constant and close attention and study.”  Jonathan Edwards, Works v.2 p 409.

Soli Deo gloria

Some thoughts on the chaplaincy…

It boggles my mind when I realize that I have already completed five weeks of this internship.  The smell of the hospital is becoming increasingly familiar.  The sounds of urgent footsteps, technical chatter, and beeping monitors are becoming second nature.  I’ve come to appreciate the diversity of this house.  Beneath its roof is a plethora of cultures, races, classes, and ages.  A chorus fills its corridors—laughter and mourning, life and death, et cetera.  Such is the chorus of life.  The Byrds got the record deal (Turn, Turn, Turn), but old man Solomon gets the credit:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Before you jump to the conclusion that Solomon is just some pedantic sadist, perhaps there is a lesson to be learned.  Perhaps this chorus is taking us somewhere.  This chaplaincy has really made me realize what a wonderful blessing it is for God to grant human beings the concern, intelligence, and precision to practice medicine.  I admire the doctors, nurses, and technicians that sacrifice their time and energy to serve society daily.  God, in His providence, has used modern technology and medicine to save and preserve many people.  However, these achievements are unable to surmount the chorus of life.

“When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.  But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.” (Ecc. 8:16-9:6)

What a sobering text this is.  Could it be that Solomon is pointing us to something greater than the chorus of life under the sun?  I say yes.  The Song he is pointing his readers to was described by David as being better than life (Ps. 63:3).  This Song is none other than Jesus Christ.  His love is better than wine (Song of Solomon 1:2) so let our hearts be merry in His love for our time remaining here under the sun.  Soli deo Gloria.

Without the gospel…

A good reminder this morning:

Without the gospel everything is useless and vain; without the gospel we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches is poverty, all wisdom, folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.  But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the  poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinners justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free.  The gospel is the Word of life and truth.  It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe; and the key to the knowledge of God, which opens the door of the Kingdom of Heaven to the faithful by releasing them from sins, and closes it to the unbelievers, binding them in their sins. (Calvin 1958, 66)

Calvin, John. Calvin: Commentaries. Edited by Joseph Haroutunian. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1958.