Faith like a cappuccino maker?

What have the milk for a cappuccino and Arminian faith got in common? They both needed to be whipped up. Many people imagine faith is something which needs a constant supply of energy to keep it frothy, or else it will cool and die down. I have viewed quiet times, bible reading, study and even singing worship songs as ways in which I could increase my faith, spending time in the energy of the Holy Spirit. This practice never really led to peace, as I could never generate enough faith.

I believe the cappuccino maker view of faith is what underlies much of the charismatic movement’s emphasis on the extended corporate worship experience. Half an hour or more of singing choruses is thought to be enough to whip up lots of faith, but it always had the effect of making my legs ache as I reached for the back of the nearest seat, or gave up altogether and sat down.

In “God’s way of Holiness”, Horatius Bonar quotes from a letter from Brentius to Luther which shows where I’d misunderstood faith:

“[Brentius]…Just as I was finishing my letter, I remembered an argument of yours about works, to the effect that if we are justified by love, we can never have assurance because we can never love as we ought. In like manner I argue regarding faith as a work; if justification come to us through faith as a work, or merit, or excellence, we can never be assured about it, because we can never believe as we ought.”

[Bonar]…the darkening of many minds and the confusion of all Reformation theology [stems from a confusion over faith and works]. For how often did Luther reiterate that statement: “Faith justifies us, no, not even as a gift of the Holy Ghost, but solely on account of its reference to Christ…faith does not justify for its own sake, or because of any inherent virtue belonging to it.” So long as this confusion exists, so long as men do not distinguish between Christ’s work and the Spirit’s work, so long as they lay any stress upon the quality or quantity of their act of faith, there can be not only no peace of conscience, but no progress in holiness, no bringing forth of good works. Of this confusion Arminianism, in its subtlest form, is the necessary offspring. For so long as men think to be justified by faith as a work, or as an act of their mind, or as a gift of the Spirit, they are seeking justification by something inherent, not by something imputed. To deny that it is inherent, because infused into them by the Spirit, is simply to cheat themselves with a play upon words, and to cheat themselves all the more effectually, because professing to honour the Spirit by ascribing to Him the infused quality or act, out of which they seek to extract their justification. In seeking justification or peace of conscience from something wrought in them by the Spirit, they are seeking these from that which is confessedly imperfect, and which God never gave for such a purpose; nay, they are rejecting the perfect righteousness of the Substitute, and so preventing the possibility of their doing any acceptable works at all. For if “the righteousness of the Law can only be fulfilled in us,” as the fruit of our acceptance of the imputed righteousness of the Son of God, then there can be no righteous thing done by us till we have realized the position of men to whom the great truth of “Christ for us,” “Jehovah our righteousness,” has become the basis of all reconciliation with God.

You can read God’s Way of Holiness on-line.

Although faith is imputed, affection needs stirring up, as I posted on the benefits of biblical meditation.

How liberalism destroyed real love

I’ve recently found an understated, but real and present yearning for a greater freedom for Christian people to express their love for each other. Our growth group uncovered this week how liberalism has destroyed real love as we considered Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”

Living in the wake of the the sixties love generation, we’re finding that the shadow cast by free love is longer and darker than we realise. We haven’t seen daylight for so long that we think the way we act today is normal.

But, when the sixties generation rebelled against the stiff and starchy moralism of their parents’ post-war generation, love became inseparable from sex. This has resulted in a society where expressions of brotherly love are confused with sexual advance. In many Christian circles it is no longer seen as appropriate for grown ups to hug each other unless they are married. Men can’t hug men, grown ups can’t hug the under sixteens, despite the suggestion of some politicians that we should hug a hoodie. People are restricted by religious legalism, which seeks to appear above reproach, to cold, formal, arms-length relationships, where the only legitimate place for physical expressions of love is within the nuclear family. Outside the church, when people want to show love it is nearly always confused with sexual advance and so casual sexual encounters are normal and, taken to the extreme, include orgies.

Liberalism has removed God’s law and has written a new set of laws:
1. You must not say “I love you” unless you mean it sexually
2. You must not show physical expressions of love because this will automatically be taken as a sexual advance
3. You must not be alone with someone else at any time; a man, a woman or a child, because it probably means you’re having sex
4. You must keep an invisible barrier between you and everyone else except those you are allowed to have sex with

This is the mad situation which Paul addresses in his letter to the Romans. Liberal Roman society claimed to be wise, but were acting, as modern western liberal society acts, as fools in relation to God and with each other:

Romans 1:22-24 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man (pornography) and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Christians need to be wise, not foolish. It is foolish to let the patterns of the world straight-jacket brotherly love. Keeping the law of God frees Christians to express love for each other in physical ways because there should be no hint of sexual desire as we do. Romans 13:13-14 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

At the end of his letter, Paul encourages Christians to express their brotherly love for each other in the physical intimacy of a kiss but without any hint of sexual desire. Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

A kiss might be too much for the reserved Brits, though a hug ought to do.

If the world sees relationships in the church as cold, formal and distant they will never be attracted to Christ, who fulfilled the law and died for us so that we can be free from the penalty of the law and freed to keep the law, without fear of adultery or sexual immorality in our congregations. The law of God frees us to truly love one another.

Romans 13:8-10 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

No peace without holiness, no holiness without peace

I’ve talked elsewhere about the nagging sense of guilt I experienced when in my mind I mixed grace with works. Here’s the preface to Horatius Bonar’s “God’s Way of Holiness“, which gets to the heart of the matter; that there can be no peace without holiness and no holiness without peace. I’ll be blogging extracts from this over the next few weeks, as I’ve found Bonar is crystal clear on the subject of faith and works:

Preface
The way of peace and the way of holiness lie side by side, or rather, they are one. That which bestows the one imparts the other; and he who takes the one takes the other also. The Spirit of peace is the Spirit of holiness. The God of peace is the God of holiness.

If at any time these paths seem to go asunder, there must be something wrong—wrong in the teaching that makes them seem to part company, or wrong in the state of the man in whose life they have done so.

They start together, or at least so nearly together that no eye, save the divine, can mark a difference. Yet, properly speaking, the peace goes before the holiness, and is its parent. This is what divines call “priority in nature, though not in time,” which means substantially this, that the difference in such almost identical beginnings is too small in point of time to be perceived by us, yet it is not on that account the less distinct and real.

The two are not independent. There is fellowship between them, vital fellowship, each being the helpmeet of the other. The fellowship is not of mere coincidence, as in the case of strangers who happen to meet on the same path, nor of arbitrary appointment, as in the case of two parallel roads, but of mutual help and sympathy—like the fellowship of head and heart, or of two ratmbers of one body, the peace being indispensable to the production or causation of the holiness, and the holiness indispensable to the maintaining and deepening of the peace.

He who affirms that he has peace, while living in sin, is “a liar, and the truth is not in him.” He who thinks that he has holiness, though he has no peace, ought to question whether he understands aright what the Bible means by either the one or the other; for, as the essence of holiness is the soul’s right state toward God, it does not seem possible that a man can be holy so long as there is no conscious reconciliation between God and him. A spurious holiness there may be, founded upon a spurious peace, or upon no peace at all; but true holiness must start from a true and authentic peace.

HORATIUS BONAR
KELSO, July 1864

(Kelso is a Scottish Border Town, 14 miles from where I grew up in Melrose)

For Men Only: overcoming porn use

I have decided to change the opening line of this post from “This post is for men only” to “read this if you use porn, it will help you build the desire you need to kick the habit.” Why have I changed the opening line? I’ve realised that many women use porn as much as men. If you are a woman struggling with porn use, this post might help, though it is written for men by a man. It might be better if you visit Dirty Girls, the new porn addicts which is written by women for women.

A Care newsletter this week states that an estimated 40% of UK internet traffic is pornographic and that the issue cripples Christian witness, because many Christian men and women are caught up in porn. These Christians feel their guilt and so can’t talk to others about leaving the ways of sin and following Christ their Saviour. Care is running a campaign to tighten laws on pornography, because if access to porn is restricted then men can’t use it. But the problem, as with all sin, is the human heart. God’s solution to this problem is the death of Christ for our sins and the affect it has on the hearts of those who believe. If men and women really get Christ in their heart, they won’t need to go looking for pictures of naked people.

What do you worship? A brief theology of pornography

Where does porn use start? The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1 that God has made us to worship; humans are worshipping beings, and so everyone worships something or someone. The question is not whether we worship or not, but who or what do we worship? The surprising thing is this: according to the bible, the use of pornography is an act of worship. The emotions, feelings and desires generated by lingering over pictures of naked women (or men for homosexuals) are a mixture of sexual desire and worship, and worship comes before desire:

Romans 1:23 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man

For any man using pornography, the alarm bells should be ringing. Using porn is what happens to men when they stop worshipping their creator God. It is a straight swap: God gets kicked out and something made in God’s image takes God’s place. The bible tells us that human beings are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and so images of people attract our worship.

This worship of the human body is the start of a slippery slope, because it does not stop at images resembling mortal man (pornography) it continues to generate lust which, when acted out, leads men and women degrade and abuse each other in gross sexual acts.

Romans 1:24-25 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator

The heart of the matter is this: the use of pornography is idolatry (idolatry is the worship of something other than God). God hates idolatry (Exodus 20:4). If we worship naked people, we must then either face God’s perfect, eternal judgement or turn to Christ and live (John 3:36). It is as stark and straight forward as that. Having turned to Christ to escape God’s righteous justice for our worship of naked women (or men) we need to keep on worshipping Christ. Stay focused on him.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 John 2:4-6 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The war is won, now win the battles

There are three spiritual keys to fighting porn use.

First, if temptation to use porn arises, men must recognise it as an act of idolatrous worship and instead turn their thoughts to Christ on the cross, and worship him for dying in their place for their sin. Worship includes biblical meditation and prayer.

Second, active faith in Christ (hating sin and loving him as Saviour) makes sinners right with God. Jesus makes filthy, dirty sinners brand new, clean and pure; children loved by God.

1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Think seriously about what John wrote and you’ll want to stay pure. Purified, justified sinners, won’t want to get filthy, dirty and guilty again. Imagine a clean, white England rugby jersey before and after a match with South Africa, or a Tottenham strip before a match with Arsenal (if you not British, think of a sports team that wears white). Before the game, the jersey is pristine, fresh out the packet, crisp, clean and sweet. Then 90 minutes later it’s stained, muddy, torn, stretched, sweaty and perhaps covered in blood. The amazing truth of the gospel is this: when we see with our eyes what Jesus did on the cross and our hearts are touched by his love and sacrifice, when we grieve the sin than made him go there for us and put our trust in him as Saviour, we become like a rugby jersey which has never been worn. Totally clean and good. That’s the amazing grace of God which saved a wretch like me.

Using porn only stains the people that God has made pure through faith in Christ, so be what you are in God’s eyes and don’t mess it up.

Third, men must realise that the battle is a spiritual one, as idolatry is a spiritual act, and so they must turn to prayer. When temptation begins to arise, ask God to deliver you from evil (Matt 6:13). Resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7), pray something like “Satan, I tell you in the name of Jesus, to flee from me, leave me alone.” Or, “Jesus, keep me from temptation”.

Walking in the way that Jesus walked comes about by the process of sanctification. Don’t expect to be instantly free from using porn. Practice makes patterns. Keep turning thoughts to Christ, what he’s done for you, what your new status before God the Father, because of Christ, pray, worship and adore Christ. Over time your worship of Christ will increase and temptations to worship with porn will diminish. Persevere for the sake of the gospel of Christ, he died for you so that others might know him as Saviour too (Romans 15:8). Live in the blessing of God’s good commands.

James 1:23-25 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law (who is Jesus, as he kept the law perfectly), the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

For more biblical help on this matter, download Mark Driscoll’s free ebook “Porn Again Christian“
And visit the What is Pornography page at Care.

Tim Keller – Preaching to the heart

Here’s my notes from today’s talks by Tim Keller on preaching at Oak Hill. (These talks are now available as MP3s at the Oak Hill webiste.) It was great to catch up with old friends, both faculty and students, as well as to hear Tim Keller talk about the art of making that essential connection between text of the bible and the present reality in the lives of people.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to his son, “many sermons are bad because they lack art, virtue and knowledge”.

John Frame wrote much the same when he talked about the multi-perspectival nature of preaching, normative, existential and situational (note to self: read the doctrine of the knowledge of God)

Calvin wrote – we can’t know God unless we know ourselves and we can’t know ourself unless we know God.

When Paul wrote: Colossians 1:28-29 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Normative – proclaiming Christ
Situational – preaching to people, bringing the truth to bear on people
Existential – passion, power, in Paul

The skill of preaching is normative (exegetical) but that is only the first stage. We must know people, in their situation and have personal integrity and passion, truth and sincerity, no hypocrisy or vices, defects of character.

Preachers, if we don’t already realise this, we might not like it…people ask “do I like this person” when listening to a preacher (James 3:1??)

Expository preachers have a tendency to focus on knowledge (normative) and not on art (situational) or virtue (existential).

This results in bony sermons, where the word is “without flesh”. Dry, doctrinal, factual, sound but not rooted in reality.

Jonathan Edwards said “a sermon is not just making a fact clear, but real.”

Preachers are not just to tell people about the holiness of God but to help them sense it, as if tasting honey.

The bible is a covenantal document and a covenantal relationship is both more personal than a contract and more obligatory than emotional.

The bible is an invitation from God for us (as a covenant community) to live in intimate, committed, faithful, relationship with him.

Meredith Kline said of Deut 29:29 that everything in the bible is not just to be known but obeyed.

No knowledge is neutral. It will either lead you to God or to following a different god (Romans 1). Knowledge must be done.

Therefore, the application of the passage must be on your mind before completing exegesis. To do this, do a text-flow, exegetical analysis, ask “what does this text want me/us to do?” Then go back and look at the text again with the big question in mind and select the content of the passage which supports that point.

We never come to a text without questions, because we read the bible in real situations with real people, culture, emotions, and issues all of which produce questions.

For example, when preaching Esther, as God is never mentioned but all things work out well for God’s people, the big application is this: The silence of God is not the absence of God. Application directly to those who are not sure if God is still with them.

So, to be able to make things real to your congregation:

Ask, who do you converse (talk) with? Your approach to the text and preaching will be shaped by the people you speak to and who, therefore, shape the questions you are asking.
Positive, upward spiral: if the non-Christians in your neighbourhood shape the questions in your mind, this will shape your preaching and this will influence who comes to church (i.e the non-Christians whose questions you are asking). So read lots of varied things people are reading (the Sun, Guardian, Telegraph), get the narratives of the time, and converse with a wide range of people, at the school gate or down the pub.
Negative, downward spiral: if you are only concerned with issues in the church, either local congregational issues and disputes or wider church theological discussion or debate, then the questions you bring to the text will be shaped by internal matters and so the people who come to church will be influenced to think that church is all about itself or about contention with other churches/theologians/social issues. This is clearly destructive. So, break out of Christian sub-culture and ask “what are the struggles and anxieties of the community around this church?” and let these questions shape what questions you answer as you do your exegesis.

Ask, who do you picture in the sermon? Imagine that you are counselling them. Anticipate the questions & objections. Converse in your mind with them and answer the questions as you speak.

Doctrinalists – pull doctrine out of passage.
Pietists – points out how Jesus can bring about personal, inner healing & transformation.
Cultural Transformationalists – shows how community and world can change.

We have temperamental & cultural tendency toward one way.
MIX OUR APPROACH

How church leaders implement change

When a church leadership wants to implement change, Romans chapters 12-16 sets the parameters:

Change must be for the sake of mission: Christ died for the circumcised in order that the Gentiles might glory God for his mercy (15:8).

Yet, change cannot be implemented without carrying the burden of the weak: Romans 15:1-3 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbour for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself.

So, where traditions have formed, as they do, and these traditions are held by some as a way of honouring God, then the strong must proceed with care. Romans 14:20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.

Paul divides the church in Rome into the weak and the strong in faith, the strong being the Roman Christians and the weak the Jewish Christians. The strong do not believe tradition is important, as Christ’s death for sin and justification by faith render tradition unimportant. The weak have not yet grasped the extent of their freedom in Christ and so hold to some traditions (food laws and holy days amongst others) as a way of honouring God.

Paul also divided the church in the loving and the unloving, both Jew and Gentile believers appear to have been guilty of not loving each other. The radical challenge of justification by faith alone is Christians must love those whom God loves, despite their differences on second order issues: Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine; Romans 12:10 Love one another (Jew and Gentile) with brotherly affection; Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Biblical church leadership can, therefore, be represented in the following way (the diagram assumes that all are saved by believing the gospel (Romans 10:8-10) and they keep the law to express their love for each other (Romans 13:8), i.e. they are united on the first order issues):

Leadership needs to be strong in faith and loving. This leadership is Christ-centred so missional but it does not make changes to the detriment of the faith of members of the church. Bearing with the weaker members, change is patient, considerate as weaker members are built up in their faith in Christ as their Saviour before they are asked to let go of traditions they believe honour God.

When leadership is strong but unloving, the weaker member is walked over as changes are made for the sake of mission. This leadership is bold, brash and destructive, as weaker members fall away from faith and the church falls into dispute.

Weak and unloving leaders become ritualistic and judgemental of anyone who does not value their rituals. “We do things this way at this church” is the rallying call and other ways of doing things are judged to be inferior ways of honouring God (14:3)

And lastly, weak and loving leaders are timid, not doing the work of mission because they are not sure of the God they are serving nor what the gospel of Christ is. They form loving traditions which make people feel welcome, warm and comfortable, based on the traditions of men and not on the gospel of Christ.

Paul’s imperative for leaders is to loving build people upon in the gospel so that they might let go of time honoured traditions for the sake of mission. A healthy church comes before mission and a strong and loving leadership comes before change.

Finished, at last

I’m finished! This is the last paragraph of Watson’s exposition of the beatitudes:

Let me persuade all men cordially to embrace the ways of God. ‘His commandments are not grievous’. God never burdens us but that he may unburden us of our sins. His commands are our privileges. There is joy in the way of duty (Psalm 19: 11), and heaven at the end.

End.

If you are flagging in your walk with Christ, finding the road hard and the burden heavy, then can I suggest you read this exposition and take your time? Trying to digest too much Watson in one go is like eating Christmas dinner; you end up bloated, wishing you’d eaten a less turkey, had some brandy butter with your Christmas pudding, not vice versa, and that you’d passed on the Quality Street as well as the port. Snack on Watson and you’ll make it through, like I did, in about a year. A little and often is better than force feeding this spiritual feast.

I here present you with a subject full of sweet variety. This Sermon of Christ on the Mount is a piece of spiritual needlework, wrought about with divers colours; here is both usefulness and sweetness. In this portion of Holy Scripture you have a breviary of religion, the Bible epitomised. Here is a garden of delight, set with curious knots, where you may pluck those flowers which will deck the hidden man of your heart. Here is the golden key which will open the gate of Paradise. Here is the conduit of the Gospel, running wine to cherish such as are poor in spirit and pure in heart. Here is the rich cabinet wherein the Pearl of Blessedness is locked up. Here is the golden pot in which is that manna which will feed and refocillate (revive) the soul unto ever-lasting life. Here is a way chalked out to the Holy of Holies.

Reader, how happy were it if, while others take up their time and thoughts about secular things which perish in the using, you could mind eternity and be guided by this Scripture-clue which leads you to the Beatific Vision. If, after God has set life before you, you indulge your sensual appetite and still court your lusts, how inexcusable will be your neglect and how inexpressible your misery!

The Lord grant that while you have an opportunity, and the wind serves you, you may not lie idle at anchor, and when it is too late begin to hoist up sails for Heaven. Oh now, Christian, let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning, that when the Lord Jesus, your blessed Bridegroom, shall knock, you may be ready to go in with Him to the marriage-supper, which shall be the prayer of him who is

Yours in all true affection and devotion,

Thomas Watson

Why God’s law is not a burden

I am a slow reader. It’s been 11 months since I started my blog with a quote from Thomas Watson’s exposition of the beatitudes, and I’ve just reached the book’s appendix; “His commandments are not grievous.”

I blogged last week on keeping God’s law as an expression of love and am pleased that Watson says the same, amongst seven other reasons why the law is not a burden. As with previous posts, this must be set in the context of the cross to avoid a legalistic reading. Christ died for sin to free us from God’s condemnation and from our lawlessness (Romans 8:1 and Titus 2:14):

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

You have seen what Christ calls for poverty of spirit, pureness of heart, meekness, mercifulness, cheerfulness in suffering persecution, etc. Now that none may hesitate or be troubled at these commands of Christ, I thought good (as a closure to the former discourse) to take off the surmises and prejudices in men’s spirits by this sweet, mollifying Scripture, ‘His commandments are not grievous.’…

1 Why Christ lays commands upon his people. There are two reasons.

(i) In regard of Christ, it is suitable to his dignity and state. He is Lord paramount. This name is written on his thigh and vesture, ‘King of kings’ (Revelation 19: 16). And shall not a king appoint laws to his subjects?…

(ii) In regard of the saints, it is well for the people of God that they have laws to bind and check the exorbitancies of their unruly hearts. How far would the vine spread its luxuriant branches were it not pruned and tied? The heart would be ready to run wild in sin if it did not have affliction to prune it and the laws of Christ to bind it…

Divine commands are not grievous if we consider them first positively in these eight particulars:

(1.) A Christian consents to God’s commands, therefore they are not grievous. ‘I consent to the law that it is good’ (Romans 7: 16). …Thus a gracious heart sees a beauty and equity in the commands of heaven that draws forth consent, and this consent makes them that they are not grievous.

(2.) They are Christ’s commands, therefore not grievous. ‘Take my yoke’ (Matthew 11:29). Gospel commands are not the laws of a tyrant, but of a Saviour…

(3.) Christians obey out of a principle of love, and then God’s commandments are not grievous. Therefore in Scripture serving and loving of God are put together. … Nothing is grievous to him that loves…

(4.) A Christian is carried on by the help of the Spirit, and the Spirit makes every duty easy. ‘The Spirit helpeth our infirmities’ (Romans 8:26). The Spirit works in us ‘both to will and to do’ (Philippians 2: 13). When God enables us to do what he commands then ‘his commandments are not grievous’. …When a gale of the Spirit blows upon the soul, now the sails of the affections move swiftly in duty.

(5.) All Christ’s commands are beneficial, not grievous. …To obey Christ’s laws is not so much of duty as our privilege. All Christ’s commands centre in blessedness. …Divine precepts are to the fleshy part irksome, yet, having such excellent operation as to make us both holy and happy, they are not to be accounted grievous….

(6.) It is honourable to be under Christ’s commands. Therefore they are not grievous. The precepts of Christ do not burden us but adorn us. It is an honour to be employed in Christ’s service….

(7.) Christ’s commands are sweetened with joy and then they are not grievous. …Joy strengthens for duty. ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength’ (Nehemiah 7: 10); and the more strength, the less weariness. God sometimes drops down comfort and then a Christian can run in the yoke.

(8.) Gospel commands are finite, therefore not grievous. Christ will not always be laying his commands upon us. Christ will shortly take off the yoke from our neck and set a crown upon our head. There is a time coming when we shall not only be free from our sins, but our duties too…

What women deserve in men

Nicole Starling’s “Husband Material” in this month’s the Briefing challenges Mark Driscoll’s call to young men to prepare for marriage by leaving the parental nest and setting up home before seeking a bride. She suggests that a man setting up home is not necessary and lists the following biblical character traits as a minimum for marriage material:

• A man who loves Jesus (1 Cor 7:39)
• A man who wants to do something worthy and God-glorifying with his life so that you could give yourself gladly to be his helper (Gen 2:18).
• A man who loves you (both in emotion and in action—Eph 5:25)
• A man you can respect (Eph 5:33)
• A man you can desire (Song 5:8).
• A man who has self-control (including control of his sexual desires -1 Thess 4:4)
• A man who loves and wants children, who understands how central they are to the purpose of marriage, and who is eager to play his part in teaching and disciplining and caring for them (Mal 2:15, Eph 6:4).

What do you think? Have I left out anything important?

It’s a great list. What Nicole didn’t point out is that Christian women don’t get that much choice because many Christian men generally still live like teenage boys (see Generation X men).

I feel that the list has a rather feminine and domestic slant, and that the term “A man who loves you” in particular needs further definition in order to clarify what masculine love looks like:

A man who is willing to suffer for Christ in tough places (Phil 1:29, 2 Cor 1:5-6) whilst shielding and protecting his family from the worst the world will throw at them for his standing up for Christ (Eph 5:25, 6:4 and 6:10-11)

Liberals, conservatives, and the fit between the gospel and the law

This post might seem obvious to some people, but I think I’ve put the final piece of the gospel and law puzzle in place in my mind. I know that it’s really important that I work this though, as Spurgeon said those who get this wrong are teaching a false gospel.

So, where am I at?

• The law of God is good (Romans 7:12)
• Jesus keeps and fulfils the whole of God’s law (Matthew 5:17-18)
• No-one can make themself acceptable to God by trying to keep the law (Romans 3:20, 2 Tim 1:9, Titus 3:5)
• Justification (being declared by God to have kept the law and so being made acceptable to God) comes by faith alone in Christ alone. Faith is hating our own law breaking (sin) and loving Christ for keeping the law for us and for taking the punishment we deserve for breaking the law by dying in our place (Romans 3:21ff)
• The law teaches Christians what it good (Romans 7:7)
• The law convicts Christians of their law breaking (Romans 7:13-14)
• The law drives Christians to Christ (Romans 7:24-25)
• Christians are blessed when they mediate on the law (Psalm 1:1-2)

That’s as far as I had got until yesterday, when I preached Romans 13:8-14:

• Keeping the law is how Christians express their love for each other and their neighbour (Romans 13:8ff)

In this section of Romans, Paul shows that there are broadly three types of Christians:

1. Well rounded Christians who do two things. They love everyone who loves Jesus and they keep the law of God as a way of showing that love. These Christians are seen as accepting, loving and moral. For example, one of the least loving things I can do for my wife is to break the law on adultery, except perhaps murder her. Keeping those laws is an expression of my love for her and my kids.
2. Legalistic Christians who put the law above the love of God in Christ. Laws and “Christian behaviour” are more important to this person than the love and acceptance of God on the basis of faith in his Son. Keeping God’s law is important but not at the expense of excluding others for their inability to keep the law or by making them feel unacceptable or unloved for what they do, when Christ accepts penitent sinners at their worst.
3. Liberal Christians redefine love apart from the law or at least according to a different law. Love becomes sentimental, emotional and even romanticised or sexual. This is the Disney, Little Mermaid, kind of love, where the power of romantic love negates well meaning paternal laws. This is why homosexual sex is seen as acceptable to liberals, as an expression of their love (apart from God’s law).

It strikes me as I write that so much of our debate in the Anglican church on the issue of homosexuality has been conducted without reference to the cross. In effect, type 3 liberals hear type 2 conservatives arguing about the law and vice versa. It also strikes me that this debate has had the effect on the church of patterning the behaviour of Christians. As Don Carson recently observed, many evangelicals now think and behave as type 2 legalists or at least neonomians. Perhaps debates on sexuality are the root cause of this and the devil is delighted. I can’t be the only one who’s been affected this way, so conservatives need to repent of making the law more important than love and liberals need to repent of breaking God’s holy law, and they must love each other and accept each other as God in Christ accepted them (Romans 15:7).