Sunday, February 22, 2009

Just Do It? By Michael McKittrick


Recently I heard a pastor make the comment that what we need is “less a better definition of the Gospel but a better living out of the Gospel.” When I heard that I wanted to affirm the heart of the message, but I could not agree with that statement. After all, is the answer to a more a Biblically faithful Christianity really “just do it?” I think the church has often talked about either defining the Gospel better or living out the Gospel better, but we are creating a false dichotomy. Why not both? Why can we not define the Gospel better and live it out better? In fact, I think that there is some evidence from Scripture that suggests that purposefulness in keeping the Gospel central has a direct connection to more good works. I must stress that I make this point in hope that good works will increase. A passage that I’ve found helpful in thinking through this is Titus 3.

In Titus 3:8, Paul says, “I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.” Right away you can notice that the insisting on “these things” is directly related to the devoting “themselves to good works.” So the question becomes what things should we be insisting on? The answer lies in verses 3 through 7.

“ 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

After reading this, I had to stop, because I was really blown away by what Paul was saying so clearly. Here Paul lays out the Gospel, and in the next verse, he says insisting on these things leads to good works. I do not intend to do an exegesis of this passage, but I thought that I would mention a couple of things I found of particular importance.

The first thing I noticed was that before Christ, we were trapped in a lifestyle that was destructive to not only ourselves but others around us. The way we were freed was “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy...poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ.” I have heard some people say that we need to focus less on getting people saved and more on just encouraging them to obey God’s commands. I think that misunderstands our inherent sinfulness and how trapped we were in our old selves. It is only God that can save us in order that we might do good works (as Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-10). The salvation is all of God and not of works, but the saved person does good works as a sign of them being saved. The good works do not in any way justify us. I think that this is a crucial distinction to maintain otherwise we can easily descend into works righteousness. The evidence for salvation from God and not from works can be seen in how there is no emphasis on what we do in the passage. Instead it is God who loves, God who appeared, God who saved, God who washed us through the Holy Spirit, God who poured out His mercy, God who justified us, God who adopted us, and God who gave us an eternal hope. The action in these verbs is all God, and there is a clear work of God to bring us from one lifestyle to another. Just insisting on good works does not change people. Every person must be washed by the blood of the Lamb. Insisting on God’s work in us, Paul argues, leads to us responding in good works.

Another thing I noticed was that we have “become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” I think that this hope is an important element to remember. I see it operating in two ways. The first is that it stops us from placing our hopes in the social changes of this world. We are not naive optimists, because we know that ultimately we will not change the world and bring perfect peace. But, we do have the hope that it will come one day. We know that God will create a new heaven and a new earth, but it will be God and not us. So we are not cynical pessimists either, because we know that change indeed will come. It encourages us when we see the immensity of the problem, and it stops us from making social justice our religion. We avoid either extreme, because we have a hope of what truly will be. That is worth clinging to, and it helps motivate us to do good works now.

I hope that you have seen in part the functional centrality of the Gospel as a means to both avoid the extremes of pessimism and optimism and also the mentality of works righteousness. The temptation often in Christianity is to oversimplify or to create false dichotomies. We saw how one extreme failed us so we pick another. Let us remember though the words of Paul that we should insist on the Gospel and remind people of it daily so that they will do good works. Let us not separate a better definition and understanding of the Gospel from a better living out of the Gospel. Let us remember that we are not just called to do good works but also to preach the Gospel in order that God might save others and draw them to do good works.

Friday, February 6, 2009

The End of All Christians by Bob Hartman


The title is a bit of a hook. Of course, I do not mean the death or something that dramatic by “end” but rather the telos or purpose of all Christians.

The popular Christian metaphor of “growth” (2 Peter 3:18) asserts a sort of progress in the Christian life. Of course, there is no such thing as progress without a standard to which one is progressing. Consider bowling: if there is no standard or rule (of 300) to measure my score against, there is no such thing as “growing” or progressing as a bowler.

So, what is the standard for a Christian? What sort of things can the Christian (by God’s grace) purpose to “grow”?

I will answer these questions via by weaving the following four strands together:

First, the “ultimate” end of all creation is the Glory of God. As the prophet Isaiah writes, “Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made” (43:7). Or, perhaps an appeal to the Westminster Confession: “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (or you could insert Piper’s reformulation). This is the end of all Christians, indeed the ultimate end.

Second, the “subsidiary” end of the Christian life is becoming like Jesus. Consider the following: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). Whether you understand election here as a Calvinist or an Arminian is irrelevant since the purpose of election is the same—to make little Christs.

A few things are already becoming clear: first, the standard of growth to which a Christian aspires to the character of Jesus, and, second, the purpose of the Christian is to become like Jesus—this is why Christians are graciously called by God. This glorifies God.

Third, to set our minds to become like Christ—we must realize the object at which we aim; we must figure out what Christ is like. What better than Christ’s own description:

And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:17-19, 21)

It is safe to say that one like Jesus is one who meets the spiritual and physical needs of others.

Answering the following question is the fourth and final strand: How do we become more like Christ—how do we “grow”?

I become a better bowler by practicing bowling. As Aristotle once wrote, “We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” Or, to borrow from someone a little less pagan, C. S. Lewis writes, “Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.” Thus, if these two are onto anything, it is the case that we become like Jesus by performing the same actions that Jesus did with the proper qualifications of having faith, relying on God’s grace, the quickening/sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, and the power of prayer.

Weaving these threads together, I humbly suggest that the Christian who desires to glorify God (the ultimate end for which we are made) should purpose to become like Christ (the subsidiary end for which we are made) by doing the things (per advice of Aristotle and Lewis) that Jesus did (Luke 4) with the qualifications mentioned above. For this is the end for which we are created.

As Thomas a Kempis writes, “Each day we ought to renew our resolves and rekindle the fires of our fervor as if it were the first day of our conversion. And we should say: O Lord God, help me to keep my good resolution to serve You; give me the grace to begin anew, for what I have done up to now is nothing. . . . Our spiritual advancement will equal our resolutions, so if we want to make good spiritual progress we need to exercise diligence in make our resolves.”

Here are a few potential resolves to structure “Jesus actions” into our lives:

-Get involved in North Chicago with FaithAlive
-Get involved in FaithActs malaria mercy ministry
-Get involved with the TIU Abolitionists
-Get involved with the evangelism group on campus

For Meditation:

“Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:35-36—Italics mine)


© Bob Hartman

Sunday, February 1, 2009

A Spacious Heart by Daniel Hartman


In the book A Spacious Heart, Miroslav Volf writes, “embrace stands for reaching out to ‘others’ and finding a place within ourselves as individuals and cultures for ‘others’ while still remaining ourselves. More precisely, embrace stands for ‘a spacious heart.’”

This is the foundation of incarnational ministry. Dr. Cha grounded this concept in Scripture for us on Wednesday when speaking from Philippians 2:1-5. He counseled that we need to learn to enter another person’s world, to embrace others, and to leave familiarity.

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: -Philippians 2:1-5

A spacious heart has room for others’ joy and sorrow. A spacious heart empties itself in service for others. A spacious heart humbly enters the margins. My counseling friends may add “empathy” to the discussion. How do we do this? It is costly. Tim Keller said, “The ministry of mercy is expensive, and our willingness to carry it out is a critical sign of our submission to the lordship of Christ.”

Lord have mercy. I see no way I can love like this, save by the grace working in me. I think about that Keller quote and despair at my shortcomings. But there is something in me that says, “Learn from Christ Jesus’ example and adopt His attitude.” I hear, “Let Me work in and through you.” I remember the mercy shown me and find strength in Him who reconciled me to God. So when He calls us to the ministry of reconciliation, may we, by degrees, learn to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, pouring out our lives in service to our King.

All this to say, where on our campus can we step outside ourselves to understand another? Who is suffering here? Who feels marginalized? Let us embrace others with spacious hearts, knowing that we are called to unity through the Gospel.