Boldness in Grace

This is from a book I have referred to a number of times:

Preaching the gospel to myself each day nourishes within me a holy brazenness to believe what God says, enjoy what He offers, and do what He commands. By the grace of God I am what I am and I have what I have, and I hereby resolve not to let any portion of grace prove vain in me! And to the degree that I fail to live up to this resolve, I will boldly take for myself the forgiveness that God says is mine and continue walking in His grace. This is my manifesto, my daily resolve, and my God be glorified by the confidence that I place in Him.
Understanding that I am not the ultimate end of gospel, but rather that God’s glory is, actually enables me to embrace my salvation more boldly that I would otherwise dare to do. For example, when my timid heart questions why God would want to love someone as sinful as I, I read the answer, “to the praise of the glory of His grace” [Eph. 1:6,12,14]. I figure, then, that my unworthiness must actually be useful to God, because it magnifies the degree to which His grace might be glorified as He lavishes His saving kindness on me.
Indeed, the more I embrace and experience the gospel, the more I delight in the worship of God, the more expressive my joy in Him becomes, and the more I yearn to glorify Him in all I say and do. (Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer, 52, 54)

Bookends Experience

I was reading and discussing Jerry Bridges book Bookends of the Christian life with a couple of friends last weekend. As we read and confessed that we all were in the crosshairs of Bridges' description of self-righteousness, one of the guys who had read the chapter earlier that week said, "I feel like I never read this book until now." He had read it, but it was not until we read outloud and confessed sin togther that he was gripped how much he really needed the gospel. It reminded me too of how we learn: in community with honest and vulnerable friendships.

Faith that produces works

This is Luther on how saving faith produces works:

"Faith is a divine work in us. It changes us and makes us born anew. It is a busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is impossible for it to not do good works incessantly. Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace… This confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all His creatures; and this is the work of the Holy Spirit in faith. Hence a man is ready and glad to, without compulsion, do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer anything, in love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace; and thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as it is impossible to separate heat and light [from] fires." (Martin Luther, Introduction to his commentary on Romans, xvii)

When we see a lack of works of service, or lack of desire for works, we should never simply go directly to works and activity. We should, like Luther, go back to the gospel and see if we are living in it, believing it today from the heart. We repent first for unbelief, not laziness.

The Question is Changed

Through the death & resurrection of Jesus, His question to the rich young ruler, “Why do you call me good?”( Luke 18:19) gets turned upside down. It is the believer saying in astonishment and wonder to God, “Why do you call me good?” And that brings humble gladness where there was sadness and smugness.
Jesus was willing to called bad so you could be called good. He was slandered with a bad report so you could have an absolutely good résumé. If you have put your trust in Jesus’ goodness rather than your own, you are astonished because you know there is nothing in you that would make God call you good. And yet, He calls you good.
By having the perfect goodness of God credited to you through Jesus Christ, it is though God has thoroughly scrutinized you and given you full approval and delights in you. If you renounce your own incomplete and questionably motivated goodness as having any merit and put your trust in Jesus’ total goodness, God pronounces you good—not just forgiven, but scrutinized and approved of, and delighted in. That is what Jesus meant in Luke 18:14 by "justified" and "exalted."

A Glorious Moment

I was stuck by this view of repentance:

"We see our first repentance and surrender to Christ as a glorious moment. But in talking to many believers, I get the impression that most of us consider the on-going repentance of the saved as a not-so-glorious experience. A sort of sad necessity.
We must not play down the seriousness of sin in the life of a believer. But we must come to terms with the fact that God’s grace is GREATER THAN ALL OUR SINS. Repentance is one of the Christian’s highest privileges. A repentant Christian focuses on God’s mercy and God’s grace. Any moment in our lives when we bask in God’s mercy and grace is our highest moment. Higher than when we feel smug in our decent performance and cannot think of anything we need to confess.
Whenever we fail, and fail we will, the Spirit of God will work on us and bring us to the foot of the cross where Jesus carried our failures. That is potentially a glorious moment. For we could at that moment accept God’s abundant mercy and grace and go forth with nothing to boast of except Christ Himself, or else we could struggle with our shame, focusing on that as well as our track record." (Muta Mahiaini, in Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, 27, 28)

The Blood That Speaks Better

Here are some thoughts I had when teaching in Cain and Abel. In Hebrews 12 :22-24, the author declares, "But you have come… to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."

Abel’s blood cries out against Cain and injustice. Jesus' blood “speaks a better word” because it cries out on behalf of unjust people--you and me. Now the justice is not against us, but for us(Rom. 8:31).

Do you know what happens when you realize the blood of Jesus cries out on your behalf? The blood of Jesus changes Cain-like, “elderbrotherish” anger. It drives it out because it changes how you view what you are owed, and what think you deserve.You realize what you are owed is judgment—for your wrong deed and for the reasons you do the right things. You realize there is an outcry against you and you deserve the righteous wrath of God. You received mercy instead! You are loved!
Anger still wells up. But now you know why. And you learn to repent of self-righteous pride and your joy returns. More and more, you lose the anger of Cain, you become sweeter. You sense the privilege of being accepted. You see your life, no matter what you are going through as a gracious gift. You stop trying to justify yourself and tear down others down.You throw away your time sheet that says God owes you. You are no longer a grumpy Cain, but a sweet Abel.

Spiritual Sight

"When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 93)