Gutsy Faith

As promised, here is a copy of a blog post from Kevin DeYoung that I read in my sermon last Sunday.  I hope it will inspire you as it did me.

 

FAITH (Kevin DeYoung)  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/05/29/faith-enough-to-ask/

Faith is a humble confidence that Christ can do whatever he wills and will do whatever he

promises. Which means that if we are people of faith we will ask Christ to do more than we

dare to think possible.

Real faith is not self-righteous, arrogant, or presumptuous. But neither is it feeble and mealy-

mouthed. We are never instructed to pray saying, “Dear Jesus, I’m sorry to bother you. You’re

busy. You may not even be able to help. I’m not sure I have the right guy. You probably have

more important people to attend to. But if you can, and if you don’t mind, and if you have a

few moments, could you consider my problems?” Jesus loves gutsy faith much more than he

loves safe faith. In fact, there is nothing Jesus likes more in the gospels than desperate

people expressing their humble confidence that he can take care of anything. Just look at the

woman with twelve year’s of bleeding, the Centurion with an ill servant, or the Canaanite lady

with the sick girl. They all asked for much and Jesus praised them for it.

Obviously, there is a danger that we take these examples, isolate them from the rest of

Scripture, and come away with a theology that says God will give us whatever we want, no

matter what and no matter when. Such a theology flies in the face of Jesus’ experience in the

garden, Paul’s experience with the thorn, and real life for everyone else.  We should not think

that faith guarantees all our dreams coming true here on earth.

But if presumptive faith is a danger, so is puny faith. Some of us, when it comes to prayer, are

all humility and no confidence. We’ve stopped asking Jesus for anything, because we’ve

stopped believing that he really can and really cares. We get cautious. And unrelenting

caution often masks over cynicism, and cynicism is a close cousin to unbelief. The hows and

why of prayer can be a mystery at times, but if there is one thing we know about prayer for

sure it’s that Christ wants us to pray. There is nothing he teaches more repetitively about

prayer than simply “ask.” Jesus wants us to pray and not give up. He wants us to ask and

keep asking. Christ loves to see bold, gutsy faith, what Ben Patterson calls “holy chutzpah.”

Have we lost all confidence in Christ? Do we only ask him for sure bets and safe things? Has

our faith gotten so meek that it’s hardly even faith anymore? The men and women in the

gospels most pleasing to Jesus are those who completely distrust their own piety and

worthiness, but at the same time trust him to the uttermost.

Too often we ask for only small things. We except an even smaller response. True, God

wants us to be a plodding people who do not neglect the days and years of small things. But

God does not want us to be a people of small faith. We worship a Christ who can do miracles

upon miracles. He healed the sick, cast out demons, walked on water, raised the dead. He

can do whatever he pleases. And it pleases him when we demonstrate our confidence in that

ability by asking him to work on our behalf. For his glory, of course. In keeping with his will,

always. Understanding that his ways are not our ways, absolutely. But asking often and with

confidence. We do not have true faith unless we have true prayer. And we do not truly pray

unless we ask for that which only God can do.

O Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.

Take Hold and Let God

Well, here we are at the end of a sermon series on holiness, and I just want to make something very clear.  The bible does not teach us to “Let Go & Let God”.  It sounds so nice.  It sounds so spiritual.  But it is so unbiblical. Now I have a lot of work to do today (yes, pastors don’t just work on Sundays), so I’m not going to write extensively on this – no book chapter here.  My comments will be brief but hopefully helpful.

A wonderful place to start in understanding how God does His work in our lives is Philippians 2:12-13, which I have referenced over and over again in our current series.

[12] Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV)

2 Ways of Thinking about Growth in Faith That Are NOT Accurate (and downright destructive)

1 – White Knuckles: I work really hard because it’s all up to me.  If I can make progress, I will become more acceptable to God and God becomes so proud of me.

2 – Let Go: I just give it over to God. I become gloriously passive and wait for God to transform me as I drift along.

The Way That God Has Ordained to Work In Our Live

1 – God Is the Primary Worker: “…it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” It is only by the grace of God that I can make real progress in my faith in Jesus. If God doesn’t work, my situation is absolutely helpless.

2 – God Has Provided Means for Me to Lay Hold of His Grace: When Philippians 2:12 says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” it doesn’t mean that we are swing wildly for the fences.  There are God-given provisions for this work. Even the ability to “work out” is from the grace of our God. Let me just list a few, knowing that I could develop a case for each of these (but I do have that sermon to get to).

·         Read your bible. (John 17:17)

·         Worship together regularly with God’s people.

·         Commit yourself to a specific church body.

·         Use your spiritual gifts and talents.

·         Make repentance a regular part of your life.

·         Develop “genuine, biblical friendships” (this week’s sermon).

I hope this is helpful.  I find that too many people are frustrated in the area of real change and growth in their walk of faith because they “let go” when they should “take hold”.  Work out your salvation as God has ordained and I think you will find God doing His work in you. 

Let Freedom Ring (a re-post of a blog by Kevin DeYoung)

As promised, here is the blog post from Kevin DeYoung that I read as part of my sermon last Sunday (6-2-13).  Man I like the way this guys thinks and writes.

 

Let Freedom Ring

Posted By Kevin DeYoung On January 15, 2013 @ 5:27 am In Uncategorized | 38 Comments

On Thursday we learned that an evangelical pastor cannot say a benediction at the Presidential Inauguration because 15 years ago he affirmed the Bible’s prohibition of homosexual behavior. It was a sad day for evangelical Christians. A hard day. A frustrating day.
But let it also be our Independence Day.
Let us be free from the false hope that heroic deeds and quiet agreeableness can atone for the sin of orthodox conviction.
Let us be free from the wishful thinking that good works and good manners can appease the Great God Tolerance.
Let us be free from the misplaced assumption that faithfulness to God can go hand in hand with worldly congratulation.
If it is “anti-gay” to believe that the normativity of male-female sexual union is taught by nature and nature’s God then let us wear a Scarlet Letter around our necks. Christ bore much worse.
If the culture of free love is going to hate those who believe marriage was made with God-given limits then let the opprobrium fall on us. We will despise the shame.
If henceforth we shall be considered the scum of the earth for believing what the Church has taught for 2000 years then let us be the scent of death to some. We shall be the aroma of life to others.
And lest anyone think this is a call to arms or a manifesto of malediction, it is not. If we are reviled, we shall not revile in return. If we are hated we shall pray to God for more love. If we are excluded from polite society, we will still include all Christ-exalting, Bible-believing, broken hearted sinners in the fellowship of the redeemed. And if we are esteemed by some as better off dead, we will not cease to offer the words of life.
We will not stop serving where we can. We will not stop repenting when we sin. We will not stop speaking the truth about our Lord and about his law.
There are likely far bigger disappointments to come than the one that dropped last Thursday. We did not choose this culture war and it is not about to leave us alone. The media, the academy, the government, the libertine elite–they may sully our reputation and shame our convictions, but they cannot steal our joy. We can pray more, sing more, and smile more than any of the party-goers making mud pies in the slums. We do not have to fit in down here so long as we fit in up there. We do not need a president’s approval if we have the affection of our King. Our hearts and our Bibles are wide open. Our salvation is firm. Let freedom ring.

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Article printed from Kevin DeYoung: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung
URL to article: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2013/01/15/let-freedom-ring/

Below you will find a copy of the blog post that I read from in the sermon on June 2. I recommend that you take the time to read it slowly so you can chew on what I believe to be some very good principles for us to live by as Christ-followers in this culture.

How to Survive a Cultural Crisis

Posted By Mark Dever On May 28, 2013 @ 12:01 AM In Articles of Interest,Commentary,Featured,Opinion | 57 Comments

Public opinion appears to be changing ^[1] about same-sex marriage, as are the nation's laws. Of course this change is just one in a larger constellation. America's views on family, love, sexuality generally, tolerance, God, and so much more seems to be pushing in directions that put Bible-believing Christians on the defensive.
It's easy to feel like we've become the new "moral outlaws," to use Al Mohler's phrase. Standing up for historic Christian principles will increasingly get you in trouble socially and maybe economically, perhaps one day also criminally. It's ironic that Christians are told not to impose their views on others, even as the threat of job loss or other penalties loom over Christians for not toeing the new party line.

^[2]

In all this, Christians are tempted to become panicked or to speak as alarmists. But to the extent we do, to that same extent we show we've embraced an unbiblical and nominal Christianity.
Here, then, are seven principles for surviving the very real cultural shifts we're presently enduring.

1. Remember that churches exist to work for supernatural change.

The whole Christian faith is based on the idea that God takes people who are spiritually dead and gives them new life. Whenever we evangelize, we are evangelizing the cemetery.
There's never been a time or a culture when it was natural to repent of your sins. That culture doesn't exist, it hasn't existed, it never will exist. Christians, churches, and pastors especially must know deep in their bones that we've always been about a work that's supernatural.
From that standpoint, recent cultural changes have made our job zero percent harder.

2. Understand that persecution is normal.  

In the last few months I've been preaching through John's Gospel, and a number of people have thanked me for bringing out the theme of persecution. But I'm not convinced my preaching has changed; I think people's ears have changed. Recent events in the public square have caused people to become concerned about what's ahead for Christians. But if you were to go back and listen to my old sermons—say, a series preached in the 1990s on 1 Peter— you'd discover that ordinary biblical exposition means raising the topic of persecution again and again.
Persecution is what Christians face in this fallen world. It's what Jesus promised us (e.g., John 16).
Now, it may be that in God's providence some Christians find themselves in settings where, even if they devote their lives to obeying Jesus, they won't encounter insult and persecution. But don't be fooled by the nice buildings in which so many churches meet. This Jesus we follow was executed as a state criminal.
One of my fellow pastors recently observed that, in the history of Christian persecution, it's often secondary issues—not the gospel—that elicit persecution. Persecutors don't say, "You believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ; I'm going to persecute you now." Rather, some belief or practice we maintain as Christians contradicts what people want or threatens their way of seeing the world. And so they oppose us.
Again, to the extent we respond to changes in our culture either with panic or alarmism, to that same extent we contradict the Bible's teaching about ordinary Christian discipleship. It shows we've traded on the normalcy of nominalism.
Pastors especially should set the example in teaching their congregations not to play the victim. We should salt into our regular preaching and praying the normalcy of persecution. It's the leader's work to prepare churches for how we can follow Jesus, even if it means social criticism, or loss of privilege, or financial penalties, or criminal prosecution.

3. Eschew utopianism.

Christians should be a people of love and justice, and that means we should always strive to make our little corner of the globe a bit nicer than how we found it, whether that's a kindergarten classroom or a kingdom. But even as we work for the sake of love and justice, we must remember we're not going to transform this world into the kingdom of our Christ.
God hasn't commissioned us to make this world perfect; he's commissioned us chiefly to point to the One who will one day make it perfect, even as we spend our lives loving and doing good. If you're tempted to utopianism, please observe that Scripture doesn't allow it, and that the history of utopianism has a track record of distracting and deceiving even some of Christ's most zealous followers.
It's good to feel sadness over the growing approval given to sin in our day. But one of the reasons many Christians in America feel disillusionment over current cultural changes is that we've been somewhat utopian in our hopes. Again, to the extent you think and speak as an alarmist, to that same extent you demonstrate that utopian assumptions may have been motivating you all along.

4. Make use of our democratic stewardship.

I would be sad if anyone concluded from my comments that it doesn't matter what Christians do publicly or with the state. Paul tells us to submit to the state. But in our democratic context, part of submitting to the state means sharing in its authority. And if we have a share in its authority, we just might have, to some extent, a share in its tyranny. To neglect the democratic process, so long as it's in our hands, is to neglect a stewardship.
We cannot create Utopia, but that doesn't mean we cannot be good stewards of what we have, or that we cannot use the democratic processes to bless others. For the sake of love and justice, we should make use of our democratic stewardship.

5. Trust the Lord, not human circumstances.

There's never been a set of circumstances Christians cannot trust God through. Jesus beautifully trusted the Father through the cross "for the joy set before him" (Heb. 12:2). Nothing you and I will face will amount to what our King had to suffer.
We can trust him. He will prove trustworthy through everything we might have to endure. And as we trust him, we will bear a beautiful testimony of God's goodness and power, and we will bring him glory.

6. Remember that everything we have is God's grace.

We must remember anything we receive less than hell is dancing time for Christians. Right? Everything a Christian has is all of grace. We need to keep that perspective so that we aren't tempted to become too sour toward our employers, our friends, our family members, and our government when they oppose us.
How was Paul able to sing in prison? He knew that of which he'd been forgiven. He knew the glory that awaited him. He perceived and prized these greater realities.

7. Rest in the certainty of Christ's victory.

The gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. We need not fear and tremble as if Satan has finally, after all these millennia, gained the upper hand in his opposition to God through the same-sex marriage lobby.
"Oh, we might finally lose it here!" No, not a chance.
People around the world now and throughout history have suffered far more than Christians in America presently do. And we don't assume Satan had the upper hand there, do we?
Each nation and age has a unique way to express its depravity, to attack God. But none will succeed any more than the crucifixion succeeded in defeating Jesus. Yes, he died. But three days later he got up from the dead.
Christ's kingdom is in no danger of failing. Again, Christians, churches, and especially pastors must know this deeply in our bones. D-Day has happened. Now it's cleanup time. Not one person God has elected to save will fail to be saved because the secular agenda is "winning" in our time and place. There shouldn't be anxiety or desperation in us.
We may not be able to out-argue others. They may not be persuaded by our books and articles. But we can love them with the supernatural love God has shown to us in Christ. And we can make his Word known today—with humility, with confidence, and with joy.

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Article printed from The Gospel Coalition Blog: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc
URL to article: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/05/28/how-to-survive-a-cultural-crisis/
URLs in this post:

[1] appears to be changing: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/support-for-same-sex-marriage-has-doubled-since-1996/275837/

[2] Image: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/05/28/how-to-survive-a-cultural-crisis/920600-gavel/

Good and Healthy Despair

“Despair” – is it good or bad?  Man on the street says….? Bad! But not so fast.  I believe that there is a good and healthy place for despair in the life of a Christ-follower.  Despair can shake us and motivate us.  It alerts us to a potential outcome that is terrifying. It wakes us up. The problem is not that we despair; it is that our objects of despair are not significant enough.  We despair of getting that spouse, of having those kids, of landing that job, of sculpting that body, of making that purchase, and on and on and on.  And if that despair does positive work, it doesn’t leave us in despair but raises our determination to push, to get, to have, to possess, and on and on and on. And frankly, my greatest fear is to live my life in response to second tier despairs.  I want my despair to be deeper and so much more significant.

In Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God's Spirit Invades the Heart of His People, by Jim Cymbala says, “I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God move mightily on our behalf." Now that is a healthy despair! I have had moments of despair like that, and I hope they never stop. I hope I continue to have moments when I look around me and am terrified by the possibility of having all of the great work of God in my review mirror, only to be revisited in Christian “glory days” conversations.  I have despaired that that could become me / would become me. I have despaired that I would coast into the end of my life, and I know that I will coast unless my hunger to see God work mightily on my behalf stirs me to live out a faith in God that is empowered by the Spirit of God.

Oh, may we at Journey despair of just doing church and not seeing God work mightily on our behalf.  May we be motivated to live out our faith by the power of the Spirit.

I hope you wake up some night soon with a momentary despair of not seeing God work mightily in your life and in our church.  I hope that that despair shakes you out of any complacency and beyond any fear. I hope you are stirred to do whatever it takes to see God move mightily.

The Dangers of Safety (a good word from David Platt)

As I have said in the past, one of my intentions for this blog is to introduce you to various authors and speakers that I highly recommend.  (Note that this implies that there are a good number Christian authors and speakers that I would not highly recommend to you.)  My desire is to nudge you in the direction of the best - those that will serve to anchor your minds and hearts to Jesus.
Today I have attached a short video of David Platt.  I urge you to take the 2 minutes to watch this video. And I recommend to you any of David's sermons or books.

 

2:40

“AND ANOTHER THING” (unfriending the devil)

From time to time I plan to post a blog that fills in a point that I have skipped in a recent sermon.  Yes, even with a 40-45-minute sermon there are often items that I skip.  When I blog in this way, I will post it under the name - “And Another Thing”.

Last Sunday I preached on Spiritual Warfare. I did a 4-week series on Spiritual Warfare back in 2009 (“In the Crosshairs”) and this series is available on the Journey website. The single sermon that I did on this topic last Sunday was designed to help us in our current series on “Pursuing Holiness”.  It was a brief overview to raise awareness of the element of Spiritual Warfare in our pursuit of holiness.  I mentioned several specific issues but skipped one that I would like to mention here.

In Ephesians 4:26-27 it says “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, [27] and give no opportunity to the devil.”  “Opportunity” has the sense of “room” or “place”.  When we fail to deal with anger in a timely fashion, the devil seizes the opportunity to move in and wreak havoc in our lives.  He finds a base of operations from which to extend his work.  The anger intensifies.  Bitterness sets in.  Plans for revenge are considered.  Relationships are destroyed.  Peace is lost.  And on and on the damage goes.

Of course there is a principle here that goes beyond the specific issue of anger.  This passage has application for any area of sin. There are always consequences for not dealing with any sin in a quick fashion.  And by “dealing with” I mean “repenting of”.  Repentance is the maintaining or restoring of a place for the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives. Instead of the devil doing his work, the Spirit does his work of maturing.  And repentance is the ultimate unfriending of the devil.  It removes the devil from a place to do his work in our lives.  It sweeps the ground right out from underneath him.

So, I urge you to consider where you’re inhibiting the work of the Spirit in your life and inviting the work of the devil into your life. It may just be time to do a little unfriending.