Use your brain

Quote by C.H. Spurgeon:

As the apostle says to Timothy, so also he says to everyone, 'Give yourself to reading.' He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains (inspired by the Holy Spirit) proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers and expositions of the Bible. The best way for you to spend your leisure is to be either reading or praying.

Quote via NewDemonstration.com

My suggestions for profitable reading:

• In My Place Condemned He Stood by J.I. Packer
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. by Kevin DeYoung
• The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul
• The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce by John Piper
• A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A. Carson

Alas, I haven't read Puritanical works yet. I'm going to read an anthology of sermons by Charles Simeon soon, and I really want to read The Death of Death in the Death of Christ: A Treatise in Which the Whole Controversy about Universal Redemption is Fully Discussed by John Owen.

Sanctifying present pursuits for God's purpose in Christ

If suffering and dying for Christ scares us, we may not love the gospel more than life. We may be trying to save our lives. We may lose our lives (Mark 8:35).

If we love the gospel, and we want the gospel to advance against the enemy and Jesus Christ to redeem lost sheep, then we must set our sights on suffering and dying for Christ and for the gospel. That doesn't guarantee we'll all be martyrs, but if we do not set our sights there, our present pursuits may not be sanctified for God's purpose to redeem a people for himself because we're not willing to endure when it matters most.

If you aren't at least open to the possibility of dying for Christ now ("Lord, your will be done!"), you may not be ready when the time comes.

Sermon: Sons of God and God the Son

We had a guest preacher today: Mark Mullery. He preached the final message for The Atonement series on Adoption. It was an excellent message, entitled "Sons of God and God the Son" from Galatians 4:4-7 (sermon audio).

After the message, I went up to ask him about the nature of our inheritance as believers. He said that, first, God has given the Spirit of Christ to us as a deposit, guaranteeing the inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14). Second, we will dwell in new bodies in a new earth with new heavens.

I've been thinking about Romans 8:17 for awhile, and what it means when it says we are "heirs of God," so I asked him what it meant. He said that the word of is ambiguous and can be either an objective genitive or a subjective genitive.

Remember, a genitive is a word expressing possession. An objective genitive serves to indicate the object of possession, and a subjective genitive serves to indicate the source (or origin) of possession. Therefore, if "heirs of God" indicates objective possession, then God Himself is the inheritance. If, however, it indicates subjective possession, then God Himself is the source of other things to be inherited.

Mark said he thinks that the ambiguity is intentional. In other words, God Himself and other things (new body, new heavens, new earth) are the inheritance of the believer.

Sanctification: The struggle against sin

Christian, are you discouraged by your endless struggle against sin? Does it make you feel that you are not being sanctified?

Listen to what J.C. Ryle has to say concerning sanctification:

Sanctification, again, is a thing which does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every believer (Gal 5:17). A deep sense of that struggle, and a vast amount of mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified. Nay, rather, I believe they are healthy symptoms of our condition, and prove that we are not dead, but alive. A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace.

Have you experienced Hebrews 4:12? A SWORD in the heart brings WAR within:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

But, we do not lose hope! for painful though the war may be within us, the WORD within us brings eternal life to us:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63).

Love demands truth

Do you believe Scripture is absolutely true? God is not double minded. The apostles constantly warned the church to obey the truth as they received it. Jesus warned us to be careful how we listen (Luke 8:16-18). The nature of truth is to make strong distinctions. Jesus warned us of this in Matthew 10:34-39. The word of God is a sword that makes distinctions within us (Hebrews 4:12) and even among Christians about certain things, so that it's clear who really loves God (1 Corinthians 11:18-19).

Love demands truth in that love embraces reality, and if you don't know reality (the truth), you can't say your love is genuine. If we say we love God, but don't know what is true concerning him, we can't say our love for him is genuine because we're worshiping an idol -- an image of God in our mind that is not true because it is not God. John warned us to worship only the one true God (1 John 5:20-21).

"If God is awesome, sovereign and holy; if human beings are small, sinful, and lost; if Christ died and rose again by a most miraculous and costly act of grace, then this should impact the way things happen in church. This is not to argue for a one-size-fits-all-my-way-or-the-highway approach to church. Context and culture are important; but what is expressed through the idioms of particular cultural manifestations of the church should be awe, reverence, and, above all seriousness – not a colourless and cold miserable seriousness but a fitting amazement at the greatness of God and His grace.

"A church service involving clowns or fancy dress or skits or stand-up comedy does not reflect the seriousness of the gospel; and those who take the gospel seriously should know better. Frankly, it is more appropriate to liberal theology which does not take the gospel, or the God of the gospel, seriously. Serious things demand serious idioms.

– Carl Trueman, "Look, It's Rubbish!"

via Colossians 1:18 Jesus Preeminent blog

Debunking fear of knowledge

Some Christians seem to suffer from gnosiophobia --- fear of knowledge. (Gnosis is one of the Greek words commonly translated knowledge, and phobos is a Greek word commonly translated fear.) When you begin to talk about doctrine, theology, the absolute nature of truth, they begin to stress out and act defensive.

I think there are two primary objections to knowledge that give rise to this fear. First, this fear may be caused by a distaste (rightly so!) for the divisiveness that is often caused by knowledge, whether it be the Calvinism-Arminianism debate or differing beliefs about the eschaton. Second, they may be trying to prevent Christian knowledge from becoming an intellectual pursuit that is reserved for the select few who are very smart.

Obviously, knowledge is imperfect. Truth is perfect reality, while knowledge is our faulty human understanding of that reality. That's why 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 says that knowledge will pass away when the perfect comes. And, not every Christian is gifted with knowledge. But, should we fear or reject knowledge (if not fully, then at least in some measure) because of the mentioned objections?

I think underlying those objections are some wrong assumptions. First, there is the wrong assumption that when some Christians have greater knowledge than others, division is inevitable. And, second, there is the wrong assumption that only the intelligent are capable of gaining knowledge and deep insight into God. Let's address these assumptions in order.

Wrong assumption #1: Knowledge Means That Division Is Inevitable

In 1 Corinthians 8:1, Paul is addressing an issue where some of the Corinthians were claiming that they had better knowledge than others and that it was permissible to eat food sacrificed to idols. But, those others were saying that it was wrong to eat it. There was division. However, Paul didn't tell them to stop having knowledge. Paul told them that the issue should be resolved by loving one another. In other words, those who had stronger faith/knowledge should not cause their weaker brothers to stumble. In fact, Paul affirmed that their knowledge was partially correct (1 Corinthians 8:4-7), but only after challenging them to seek for better knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:2). The better knowledge is that it is a sin to use (or boast in) knowledge without discretion, and thus cause your brother to stumble.

Paul's answer to the misuse of knowledge (which caused division) was not disuse, but correct use. Paul is telling us to not cast away the fork because we bit on it, but to seek to use it correctly.

Wrong assumption #2: Knowledge is only for the Intelligent

There are actually two components to my response to this wrong assumption.

1. Every Christian is relationally equal in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). That is to say, we are all given equal status as children in the household of God --- regardless of our gender, race, socioeconomic status, &c. However, we are not all functionally equal in this current age --- whether it be our gender, vocation, or giftedness. Gifts, remember, are given by God's grace (Romans 12:6), and men and women have unique, irreplaceable roles (Ephesians 5:22-32). In heaven, there will be no gifts (1 Corinthians 13:8-13) and no marriage (Luke 20:35).

So, even though every Christian is exhorted to grow in knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), not every Christian can obtain it on their own. This is why Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-13 (emphasis added) that

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ...

Simply put, not every Christian is able or even supposed to be able to build themselves up in knowledge. This passage from Ephesians claims that God gave some people the gift of teaching to accomplish just that.

2. The knowledge of God is not merely intellectual but spiritual. Knowing God well is not as much a function of an intelligent mind as it is of the Holy Spirit giving us understanding. Anyone who lives and breathes can understand the deepest truths of the Bible, because true Christians have the mind of Christ. Like 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (emphasis added) says,

...these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Although not all of us can gain knowledge on our own, unaided by other Christians, all of us have equal capability of understanding knowledge once it is taught to us. Let's close by remember why we should pursue knowledge.

Hosea 6:6 (NASB) 
For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

If I claim that I love my wife Lisa, but I don't know her --- her dreams and fears, her weaknesses and strengths, her habits, her character, her preferences, her convictions --- almost anyone would tell me that I don't really love her. And, if I don't do things to care for her and make her happy, then also I would not love her! If I try to do things for her without knowledge of her, she will be saddened that my primary desire isn't simply to know her well, and although she might accept my ill-offered service, she won't be pleased with it because it doesn't conform to reality. And, if year after year at our anniversary I am satisfied with giving her a second-rate gift, and I never seek to know what she really wants, she will be disappointed and may doubt my love.

I want to blog more on this topic. I'd like to talk about how in Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman crying aloud for all mankind, and especially the simple and the foolish to gain prudence and understanding (Proverbs 8).

Your comments, whether encouraging or disputing, if thoughtful, are most welcome!