Posted on 11/17/2010 3:28:50 PM PST by Gamecock
Sinclair Ferguson reminds us that piety not marinated in the gospel will run out of gas–that imperatives minus indicatives equal impossibilities:
The first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The Christians who are most focused on their own spirituality may give the impression of being the most spiritual … but from the New Testament’s point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so exclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about us and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sinclair reminds us that the secret of gospel-based sanctification is that we actually perform better as we grow in our understanding that our relationship with God is based on Christ’s performance for us, not our performance for him. In fact, those who end up getting better are those who increasingly realize that their relationship to God does not depend on them getting better. This means, as I said in a post a couple weeks ago, that Christian growth does not happen first by behaving better, but believing better–believing in bigger, deeper, brighter ways what Christ has already secured for sinners.
Is this the full text, or an excerpt?
Whatever, good piece, what there is of it. I watched a movie recently, “Faith Like Potatoes,” about a farmer in South Africa who experienced a conversion and became an evangelist (as well as a farmer.) Angus Buchan - I’d never heard of him, but he was quite an old man when the film was made in 2006. Anyway, at one point he prayed for a Zulu woman who had been injured or killed in a lightning strike (things like that are unclear under primitive conditions), and I was thinking about healing prayer, and the tension between thinking, “I want this person to be healed (or raised),” and “May God’s Will be done which includes this person’s healing.”
It’s whether you’re in you, or you’re in Him, or He is in you so that you are sure of His Will ...
Whatever, I’m not there.
This is the entire piece. Glad you liked it.
Thank you and you’re welcome!
I must admit amusement to the language here--"imperatives" and "indicatives" very trendy in Reformed circles. True, very, but, words which sound good and mean next to nothing to 99% of laymen (at least to the well educated upper-middle class types I know). Rules without Jesus seems a lot more clear to me...which really is ultimately hopelessness.
We have a pastor in Charlotte, the city I live in, an evangelical ex-Presbyterian, who has a regular radio program, he calls about "faith and values." Faith is used here in the typical contemporary way as a synonym for "religion." In this show the pastor will talk about every issue under the sun--and how religious people are cooperating on this or that (Darfur, or teen pregnancy, or raising money for orphans, etc. etc.) EXCEPT THE GOSPEL.
The good news of Jesus seems to be the one topic banned from his show, and, yes, this guy is a "conservative evangelical" and so is his mega-church. It's quite sad actually, and almost like he doesn't really think the gospel is important--or VITAL FOR EVERYTHING.
So you have all this do-good-ism without any hope...(so why do good?).
I'm very happy God has raised up another non-denominational pastor (reformed and baptistic) who now does very short spots on the same radio station, clearly, concisely and consistently proclaiming the good news of faith in Jesus.
Words that deserve bold type!!!
LOL Analog ...I was thinking the same thing the other day.. The first time I heard it at a "New Covenant" Baptist church bible study a while ago ..I thought what is he talking about.. since then I hear it over and over in Reformed circles.. Somehow i was saved 35 years go managed to learn scripture without all this trendy language.. it is the reformed version of purpose driven ...
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