Reform & Revive

     I don’t want to get into the habit of short posts like this one, but I simply couldn’t resist posting a quote from Charles Spurgeon that C.J. Mahaney used this past weekend at the New Attitude conference:

“I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. ‘Oh!’ I said, ‘that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God putting it there.’ You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God’s love to you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God.” - Charles Spurgeon

     With school done, I had some free time today to read a bit of John Piper’s book The Future of Justification. In this work, Piper responds to the views of theologian N.T. Wright on the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. What was stunning to me (and prompted this post) was that as I read what I consider an academic/theological work, I was struck by Piper’s exposition on Romans 3 and God’s Righteousness.    

     Attempting to offer input for how Wright may be mistaken about the doctrine of justification (for example, Wright claims that imputation of God’s (Christ’s) righteousness to sinners is a “category mistake” and “makes no sense at all”), Piper explains how Wright makes his chief mistake in this area by misunderstanding the definition of God’s righteousness. Wright says that God’s righteousness should be understood as “keeping covenants, judging impartially, dealing with sin properly, and advocating for the helpless.”

     Piper points out that none of these actions are what righteousness is, rather he states that these are merely what righteousness does. From here, Piper continues to offer a proper understanding of God’s righteousness. This is where I was absolutely fascinated and enlightened.

     In his book The Justification of God, Piper notes that the simple way of defining God’s righteousness consists in his “unwavering commitment to do what is right.” However, even this definition is lacking as Piper says “we don’t feel like we have gained much in defining ‘righteousness’ if we use the word ‘right’ to define it.” Thus, he shows through several Old Testament texts that “God defines right in terms of Himself.”

     Therefore, Piper shows that “what is right, most ultimately, is what upholds the value and honor of God - what esteems God’s glory.” Moreover, he points out that the highest value that God gives in accounting for His actions is “the glory of God, or sacred and infinite value of His holiness, or sometimes simply His name.”

     Taking this further, Piper adeptly explains how God demonstrated His righteousness through putting forth Christ as a sacrifice for sins. Here is Piper’s excellent explanation:

“But now we find God ‘passing over sin’ - that is, treating sin in a way that makes it look less outrageous than it is. This makes God look as though He does not properly esteem his own glory that sin belittles…In passing over countless belittlings of his glory (sins), he looks as though he counts his glory a small thing. This would be unrighteousness in God - the very essence of unrighteousness. Therefore, he puts Christ forward to vindicate his righteousness…When he justifies the ‘ungodly’…he is not unrighteous, because the death of Christ exhibits God’s wrath against God-belittling sin.” - Page 67

     This leads me to my main point, namely that every single person reading this, in fact, every person on earth, has experienced the loving grace of God. Not everyone will receive it eternally, but every single time we value or love something more than God and His glory (sin), we deserve the full and complete wrath of a just and Holy God. We have loved and cherished other things and people more and the God who is worthy of our love and honor, we have dishonored through our daily sin and turning away from Him.

     Have you ever stopped to consider that apart from God’s love revealed in Christ, we should and would all be in the face of God’s unimaginable wrath for sin at this very moment? And justly so at that.

     In a world where many cry, “Why do bad things happen to ‘good’ people?”, shouldn’t we instead be asking why more bad things don’t happen to us?

(disclaimer: Whit and Paul are much more qualified to write a post about sanctification after John Owen’s book. The following is only a tiny way that God made this topic real to me, again.)

I park under the trees. Not a fun place to park this time of year. A layer of sap, a layer of pollen, the morning dew, and repeat. Some birds contributed a few decorative elements to the yellow-green blanket.

My favorite time to drive is at sunset. In my opinion, the sunset is one of the most obvious displays of God’s glory and common grace.

I drove at sunset quite a bit this week. I noticed only one sunset.

I’m sure they were there. I’m sure they were beautiful. The pollen and sap and bird crap impaired my ability to see the eight-o’clock-glory-of-God. I was too busy being disgusted at the yellow-green film that covered my windows and was spurting through my air vents.

That is gross. I need to clean it off.
I’ll wait till it rains.
Or till the pollen stops dropping.
Or at least till after school is over.

So I missed sunset
after sunset.

Sin builds up like pollen.
(in my life)
I hate it. It disgusts me. but I’m so busy. And so the film of sin grows until I can no longer see the beauty and love of the Savior.

I’ll deal with that attitude later tonight. Or after finals.
I’m just reacting to the pressure I feel right now. It’s only a phase.

The fight of sin is a fight to see His glory, to experience the joy of experiencing His beauty. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matt 5:8)

Maybe my heart is extra wicked, but when I am overwhelmed by my sin, “Honor God” provides weak incentive to change. I want some benefit.

and there is a benefit! There is a promise, a motivation to strive for holiness:

The sight of His beauty. (Matt 5:8)

The treasure of His friendship. (Ps 27:4)

Fullness of joy in His presence. (Ps 16:11)

Although total righteousness is achieved only through faith in Christ and the fullness of salvation from sin has not yet arrived (the “already but not yet”..?), let us, with the apostle Paul (in Phil 3), clean our windshields of the pollen and press on towards the prize: the sight of His glorious face. (Rev 22:4)

Last night I picked up a new Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream called “Imagine Whirled Peace.” It’s this amazing Caramel and Sweet Cream-swirled Ice Cream with chocolate peace signs and toffee pieces throughout. It was amazing. This morning I saw the top in the trash and it got me thinking . . .

The Ice Cream is dedicated to John Lennon and his song “Imagine” (duh). Other than the twenty-something idealists that plan on saving the world, most people scoff at the notions in Lennon’s song of no borders, no religion, and “world peace.” I typically fall in this scoffing camp, but why do we? What doesn’t resonate with us when people start talking like this?

This reminded me of my old roommate. A non-practicing Jew who would say he is practicing, just in the way he deems appropriate right now in his life. So, like I said, non-practicing. But I digress. I had a talk with him once about why Jews don’t believe Jesus was the Messiah. I pointed out all the different prophecies and such and he responded by telling me that there was one prophecy - the most important one - that Jesus never fulfilled. The Messiah would bring about world peace. As long as there was still warring and killing and death and disease, the Messiah had not come.

I gave the typical response you would expect us Christians to give - a non response that really didn’t help him, it just told him (as we were nearing where I was dropping him off at) how there was this “already but not yet” dimension to what Christ accomplished and the “peace” Jesus ushered in that we can experience now was primarily spiritual, not temporal. Feeling I had won the discussion, I dropped him off and slept soundly that night. I only realized this morning, over two years later, staring at an ice cream lid in the trash, how incomplete and unhelpful my response was.

Instead of showing him how his presuppositions may have actually been wrong, I simply offered my opinion and said it was right. This is tantamount to Paul walking up to Athenian leaders on Mars Hill in Acts 17, pointing to the statue to the unnamed god, and saying “that’s wrong. Jesus is right. Repent.” No, he meets them on their philosophical worldview turf and shows how what they believe actually points to Christ ultimately. So what would I say to Julian now?

I realized this morning that the problem here is (as I’m seeing more and more in America) humanism. That “man is the measure of all things.” We all have this dream and desire for that which we call “world peace,” but our arrogance comes in our insistence that this “peace” come from within ourselves - from within humanity. Actually, it’s not an outright insistence as much as it is an unquestioned assumption. What if “world peace” would not come from within humanity, but from without? What if Jesus did accomplish achieving perfect spiritual and temporal peace with God, man, and creation? What if this peace were sitting there, within our grasp - within our reach - if we would but take one moment to look outside of ourselves? What if the perseverance of all that is antithetical to peace comes not from outside of us (bio-socio-cultural-econom

ic-historical-political systems and trends), but rather from within (the total depravity and sinfulness of man that infects us all). So, Peace has come. Peace has been accomplished and purchased by the only One not infected by that which takes away all our peace. We must simply accept this peace and live freely in it. Cease to “look in ourselves” to find the cure to all ills.

To non-Christians: you are like one who has mud on their face and hands and keeps trying to wipe away the mud, but you only make it worse as you strive and try. Christ has taken all the uncleanness you bear on Himself that you might not. Repent from your love of this filth and believe Christ has the righteousness you seek.

To Christians: peace is yours! Trample not the blood of Christ underfoot as you release the cross from your gaze under the fear of unaccomplished peace. Trust that peace has come to the world, and it is not a political, economical, or philosophical system. It is a man named Jesus. Repent for your seeming need for some part of your peace to come from within yourself and believe that it has come from without. It is done. It is finished. Enter your master’s rest.

Thank God for Whirled Peace.