Tag: sanctification

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Being and Doing

When Howard Hendricks was a student at Wheaton College, his mentor, Dr. H.C. Theissen told him, “Hendricks, master the Master’s life!” On that basis, Hendricks devoted himself to the lifelong study of the four gospels.

One of the advantages of reading and re-reading the gospels, is to show us how we may “learn from” Christ (Matthew 11;29). The apostle Peter reminds us of the importance of following “in his steps” ( 1 Peter 2:21). This is discipleship.

There is a phrase in Mark 3:14 that illustrates this. When Jesus called his twelve disciples, it was so that “they might be with him and that he might send them out. . . .” I cannot help but notice how being with Jesus precedes doing things for Jesus. Before the Lord sent them out he wanted them to spend time with him.

He chose Philip, Nathaniel, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the zealot, Andrew, John and James, the sons of Zebedee, and Simon, whom he nicknamed Peter. He chose them to be his apostles and to learn from him. (Judas Iscariot heard and saw, but he did not listen and learn.)

What did the Lord want these men to learn from him? He modeled perfect holiness and taught compassion, servanthood, prayerful dependency upon the Father in heaven. He was the embodiment of sacrificial love. He cared for the weak, the poor, the marginalized. Their being with Jesus was for the purpose of their learning from him the principles of God’s kingdom.

Many people seem to think that the first requirement the Lord puts upon us is to do something for him. But the first requirement in discipleship is not doing but being. Jesus is primarily concerned with what we are becoming. He wants to remake us in his image. This is a process called sanctification. He wants us to be like himself (Romans 8:29).

Are you spending time with Jesus? Is there a part of your day when you have uninterrupted fellowship with him? A time when he speaks to you through his word and you respond to him in prayer? Some call it private worship, some call it daily devotions, some call it a quiet time.

It doesn’t really matter what you call it. What matters is that there is the cultivation of a growing relationship with Jesus. Out of that “being” relationship flows the “doing” of effective ministry.

E. M. Bounds, in his classic book Power Through Prayer wrote, “Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men.”

Just as certainly as the Lord invited ordinary men to be with him, so he invites you and me to spend time with him. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, God “has called you into fellowship with his Son. . . .”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

 

 

 

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If You Had One Book to Read…

For years I owned the complete 54-volume set of the Great Books of the Western World published by the Encyclopedia Britannica. On occasion I would read samplings from  some of the renowned poets or philosophers whose works are preserved in the collection. But not like I wanted to. And not like I intended to.

I am embarrassed to admit I neglected to discipline myself to undertake a systematic exploration of these volumes. One of the thoughts I had held in the back of my mind was that in retirement I would finally have time to use “The Syntopicon,” the topical index to the Great Books edited by Mortimer J. Adler. It is a guide and introduction to the entire collection, making the great ideas of Western thought accessible to people like me.

Alas, I gave the set away when we moved to Georgia. There simply is not room in our apartment for all the books I wish I could have kept. Before we moved I gave away over 15 boxes of treasures, books that have shaped and enriched my life. I also gave away my set of the Harvard Classics and the multi-volume set of Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization. I miss them every day.

Sometimes as I scan the remnants of my library, looking for a particular volume, I remember that I had had to let it go. “Why didn’t I keep that one?” I ask myself. I am consoled by the knowledge that many of the books ended up in the libraries of churches, younger pastors, missionaries, and my adult children.

If I were going to keep only one book, which one would it be? I could enumerate here some of my favorite authors and their works, but let me cut to the chase. If I were marooned on a desert island, and could have only one book with me, I would want it to be the letter of Paul the apostle to the Romans.

The reason for this choice is the book’s supremely important subject. It is about the righteousness of God and how human beings may be given a right relationship to him. It is an exposition of the gospel of grace for all people, Jews as well as Gentiles. Its themes include guilt and forgiveness, justification by faith, living as a Christian, Israel’s ultimate restoration, the security of believers in Christ, and the priorities of missions and evangelism.

If it has been a while since you read Romans, I urge you to take it up again and read it thoughtfully. Please do not neglect it as I neglected the Great Books. Its subject is too important to ignore. It is (I say this seriously) a matter of life and death.

If you read Romans, you will see that the themes of death and life appear in Romans 6. Paul answers questions from an imaginary critic who misunderstands and distorts his teaching. Doesn’t Paul’s teaching on salvation by free grace promote sinful behavior? “Emphatically not!” the apostle answers.

A believer’s experience in Christ is a spiritual resurrection from death. Paul says we should conclude that in Christ we have died to the life we lived before conversion. And we are raised with Christ to a new life (Romans 6:1-14). Christ died to sin (Romans 6:10) in the sense that he bore sin’s penalty and condemnation on our behalf. God’s moral law is satisfied and we believers are the beneficiaries.

This truth obligates us to think of ourselves as servants (slaves) of God, not of sin. Grace liberates the believer from slavery to sin. That same grace prompts voluntary servitude to God (Romans 6:15-23). All humans are either slaves to sin, Paul says, or slaves to God. The service of God is the true freedom for which Paul erupts in praise and thanks to God (Romans 6:17).

This is practical. What Paul is talking about is how a believer is set apart for God. In theological language we call this sanctification, living to please God as we grow in grace and knowledge. Romans 6 has to do with how we may avoid doing wrong, especially since we live in bodies that are prone to sin, in a world that promotes sin, and against a spiritual enemy called the devil, the tempter, who pressures us to sin.

The answer in Romans 6 is the believer’s identification with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. For success in the Christian life we must “lean into” that truth every day. We may benefit from this daily attitude toward life: Recognizing that we died with Christ to the old way of life and we are raised with him to a new way of life; Relying or trusting in that truth; Releasing ourselves into the service of God, surrendering ourselves, not to law, not to rules, not to resolutions, but to his Holy Spirit.

Can you see why I say that Romans is an essential book? I think it is greater than all the Great Books put together. Read it again as if for the first time.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Saints by Calling

Saints by Calling

How could the Corinthians have been called “saints?” They were contentious, tolerant of flagrant immorality,  confused about theology, disorganized in worship, litigious, divided and rebellious against the one who had brought them the Christian message. Yet in 1 Corinthians 1:2, they are introduced as “saints.” This must mean that to be a saint means something different than to be memorialized in statues and stained glass!

Imperfect saints

When he wrote to the Corinthians, Paul said that they were “the church of God in Corinth… sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the Lord Jesus Christ — their Lord and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2 NIV). These people, he said, were “saints by calling” (NASB), “called to be saints” (ESV), “set apart for a God-filled life” (The Message). Yet they were very imperfect people.

in last week’s entry I wrote about “All Saints Day,” an opportunity to pause and remember those who have stood for Christ in the past. I did not mean to imply that our faithful Christian predecessors were somehow spared from the temptations and failures common to all humanity. They, too, were sinners who needed God’s grace and forgiveness.

Set apart

To be a “saint,” in biblical teaching, is simply to be set apart for God. In the city of Corinth, it meant to bow in worship only to the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ. The Corinthian Christians “called on” him in prayer( 1 Corinthians 1:2) and they sang to him in praise (1 Corinthians 14:15, 26). They worshiped Jesus among neighbors who knew only the worship of Zeus and Aphrodite, who were locked in pagan superstition. The believers were “set apart” from all that. The words Paul used were “sanctified” and “saint.”

Paul used these terms of all Christians, not just of martyrs or exceptional leaders. He says that what was true of them was true of all who call on the Lord Jesus, wherever they are. The term “saint” applies to all who acknowledge the ruling authority of Jesus who is “our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2). This comprehensive term means that Jesus is the divine-human son of God and supreme Lord and Messiah, God’s anointed king. His saints regard him this way.

Be who you are.

Are you a saint? If you trust Jesus as savior you are a saint. The well-known preacher Harry Ironside famously introduced himself to some Catholic nuns on a train with “Would you like to meet a saint?” When they answered yes he said, “Hello. I am Saint Harry!” If you are a believer, then think of yourself as in Christ, set apart for God, a saint for sure.

This means that saints are not stained-glass heroes. If the Corinthians were saints then saints are far from perfect people. The rest of the first letter to the Corinthians was written to correct errors in theology, abuses in relationships,  and problems in public worship. There were many ways in which they were in great need of spiritual guidance, sort of like the church today.

Saints call on Jesus in prayer. Saints worship Jesus. How is it with you? These saints in Corinth were organized into an assembly of believers called a “church.” To boycott the church is to contradict your sainthood. To ignore the Lord’s call to worship is to break fellowship with “all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2).

Paul wrote to these saints to teach them to start behaving like the people they were, God’s distinctive people standing for Jesus amid the idolatry of paganism. We are called to the same things.

    –  Pastor Randy Faulkner Randy 2019-spring

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