This is a quote Jerry Bridges passed out to the Sovereign Grace Pastor's College today in class. I get updates every now and then from a friend who is currently going through the PC.
“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 consciously 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, in the Augustinian manner, 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 upon 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."
Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1979, p. 101.
5 comments:
That's a great Lutheran sort of quote, but I don't think that is the problem with the church today. I think they know they are accepted. They need to hear the call to obedience, of course always in light of the gospel but we protestants need to move past Luther and past the doctrine of justification. There is much more to the Christan life than imputed righteousness. There is a whole Jesus ethic that now must be lived out.
John H.
Thanks for your comment. However, I must respectfully disagree.
John H.
There is no greater doctrine to be expounded than Sola Fide! We have no more power to live out a "Jesus ethic" than a rock, outside of the gospel of Christ. This idea is nothing more than the stuff I grew up on, namely the idea that we needed the gospel to get saved now let's move on to more important things. I could not disagree more.
Fellows, I am just following the text. Justification is only mentioned in 2 of Paul's letters which are occasional. Where does Jesus' teaching fit in? What about the rest of the witness of the NT. This is the problem with the reductionism of the Reformed tradition, and yes friends be honest, it is a tradition. BTY, I never said we should move on from the gospel, it is the 'A to Z's' but it includes sanctification as well as justification. Thanks for the responses.
I have to admit- I forget my justification often. I tend to focus so much on my sanctification and sin that I forget the cross. I tend to base my "standing with God" upon my performance and obedience. From day to day as my emotions change- I "feel" as though I may have a different standing with God. I would never SAY however that I believe I am not justified- but the condemnation I find myself walking around with at times shows that I don't live as though I believe it....this has been on my heart a lot the past two weeks. I just started reading "The Cross Centered Life" and I am finding that my heart is totally laid bare on the pages of this book. The next one on the list is "Disciplines of Grace"....but I had no idea that many people struggled in the same way that I do.
I talked to Dallas about it because I was feeling like David that my "soul was in distress" (Ps 42-43) and he made a great point. Especially being at a bible church we always try so hard to examine our hearts and we pray the Lord would show us our sin...we read books about sin to expose our sin...and those are good things, but we don’t balance that with having our thoughts submerged in God's grace and Christ's work on the cross. We focus so much on ourselves- and not on God's character and not on the cross. Instead of being thankful and joyful when we realize our inadequacy, we get depressed and overcome with guilt.
I have to say that over all this is the biggest struggle that I face. This is the very thing that steals my joy, that keeps me from growing, that keeps me from evangelism, that keeps me from being an effective listener, that keeps me from my love for the Lord, that keeps me from the word and from prayer, and much more! I know that I will not learn this over night- and it is a constant put off and put on- fighting my thoughts and feelings and thinking on what is true...but it is a battle I will fight I am sure my whole life....but the good news is that I have Christ's righteousness- and therefore I know that God does not and will not love me more or less than the moment He justified me. I just need His grace to believe that moment to moment!
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