The Christian faith affords its devotees a vast amount of knowledge, if they are inclined to pursue it, and a wealth of practice and observances, if they care to adhere to them. Theology, worship, and service can occupy the whole of life to the extent that an individual may well become a highly informed professing, and extremely active, Christian. Knowledge can be gained from a number of sources, formal and informal, and behaviour can be controlled by all sorts of influences and programmes. Familiarity with the faith, and a credible reputation as a believer is easily gained through association with the Christian community and compliance with its creeds and customs. It is not difficult to fit into church life and fellowship in a superficial way. At a certain level Christian society is accepting and hospitable, as some recent investigative reporting (e.g. Matt Tiabbi) has shown in its critical attempt to understand various types of religious attraction and experience. The testimony of defectors and detractors also shows that it is possible to penetrate the world of religion in its various forms without any real heart for it. Hypocrites, hangers-on, and agents of harm and disruption can be smuggled into the brotherhood. Some of these folk are simply curious, others are deliberately deceptive, and some are self-deceived or mislead. Charitable supposition allows almost anybody to mingle with the faithful and assume a resemblance. Religious attitudes and language are infectious or easily imitated. Counterfeit faith is not necessarily intentional or identified by those who are pretenders. Only God can discern the heart and render judgment, but it is the responsibility of every member of God’s church to, “Make their calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10) and to heed Paul’s exhortation to, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). It is too easy, for comfort’s sake, to base one’s hopes and standing before God on assumption, presumption, cultural influence, or subjective conjecture. We can tag along with Christian notions without any genuine internal ties to Christian truth. With obvious hyperbole past Christian leaders have opined that only one in a hundred, or more optimistically, one in ten, is a genuine child of God. Strictly speaking, numbers are not meant to feature in our reckonings about the kingdom. The kingdom and its construction and coming are exclusively God’s affair, but low numbers with reference to the kingdom in Scripture are meant to warn and motivate us to membership, and high numbers are meant to encourage us in service. They do not constitute mathematical information as to the dimensions of the kingdom or the company of the redeemed. It is the prerogative of God to choose as many as he likes. It is the sovereign power of God that makes his purpose successful. It is the gospel that rouses us to concern and confidence in divine mercy.

The point of all Christian knowledge and endeavour is to enable all to know Christ. Education is not intended to foster superiority or inflate egos. Evangelism is not for the sake of statistics, sensation, and ministerial satisfaction. Worship is not entertainment or convenient activity for the sake of swelling congregations. Service is not in order to meet obligations and reach targets. God reached out to us, grace became incarnate, word and sacrament are available, all forms of ministry are appointed, to make Christ graspable. And for those who find themselves in his grasp their lives, dauntingly, are meant to entice others towards him. That is the serious goal in living – to know Christ and make him known, as is stated by Paul: “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ will overflow on account of me” (Philippians 1:21-26). George Whitefield, at the age of twenty-five, was of a similar mind. His desire was to be with God immediately but he was willing to be detained if the will of God so determined for the sake of labour in the gospel to others: “How earnestly do I desire to be dissolved, that I may be with Christ! Sometimes my weak body gives me hopes, that I shall not be long in the flesh; but then the strength that is communicated to me, and the consideration, that I have but just begun my testimony, fills me with fears, lest I should live to be greyheaded”.

To know Christ means that he must become the principal object of our heart’s desire. “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” Matthew 10:37-39). Jesus is not negating human life or love in their proper place and proportion in our hearts, but indicating the life and love that are supreme, and which give true meaning to every other pursuit and passion: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). Life (our ways) and love (our affections) which mean more to us than Christ have become idols, and life without Christ as our all is empty. He must be loved more than anything else because he is intrinsically worthy. His excellence exceeds all else. Our lives must be mastered by him, and lost by us, because self-will is the essence of sin. He must be our over-riding desire because God will not squander his gracious gifts upon the half-hearted, the casual and indifferent, who do not appreciate their value: “Do not throw your pearls to pigs” (Matthew 7: 6). It is God who creates the urgent desire for Christ, and having caused it he will fulfil it. All who truly desire the Saviour may have him, and the faith that possesses him is proof of election (election is no barrier to longing for Jesus or commending him to others). Those who earnestly reach out for him through sincere belief of the gospel will find him within their grasp. They have gone beyond the mere notions and conventions of religion, the imitation of the saints, to the intimacy of holding Jesus in their hearts and being held to his breast. Like Paul, they know him in the power of his resurrection, the reality of new life in him and with him. It is with our whole heart that we must engage with Jesus. Self-renunciation (taking up our cross) is the cost of knowing Jesus authentically and in actuality. That cost is not the price we pay, but the self-centredness we put away as Jesus moves to the centre of our being. It is the displacement of self gratification by conquering grace. It is the transformation of our person and priorities which proves that he is in residence within the heart.

The most ardent of all evangelists, George Whitefield, knew the peril of professing Christ without knowing him, the plague of “easy believism and cheap grace”. “It is right, my brother, always to insist on poverty of spirit, and emptying the creature of self . . . . I know what a dreadful thing it is, to carry much sail without proper ballast, and to rejoice in false liberty. Joy floating upon the surface of an unmortified heart, is but of short continuance. It puffs up, but does not edify.” Elsewhere he says, “I find no such enemies of the cross of Christ, as those who keep up the form of religion, and are orthodox in their notions, but are ignorant of an experimental acquaintance with Jesus”. Therefore Whitefield offers this exhortation, “Never leave off watching, reading, praying, striving, till you experimentally find Christ Jesus formed within you”. RJS

Deep and vibrant Christian truth can be trivialized when it is reduced to catch phrases that are commonly or thoughtlessly used with a frequency that amounts to flippancy. Clichés originate as expressions that are meaningful, but in due time, and being ready at hand, they are snatched at conveniently and glibly as components in lazy communication and become meaningless. They become superficial substitutes for serious thought and they do not engender thorough analysis that leads to mature comprehension. Great Christian realities are cheapened by the familiar and hasty usage of Biblical and religious language at the expense of authentic sentiment and sensibility. The disease of casual communication spreads until pious speech is evacuated of all value. The salutations and statements of the so called believing community become convenient and customary and less and less genuine. The terms “brother” or “sister” become mere tags and are no longer titles that warmly identify fellows in the faith. Too many letters are concluded “in Christ” or “pax”, etc, when the contents are not worthy of Christ, and have no intention of promoting the way of peace. The language of righteousness and love becomes a lie that appeases the conscience and excuses lines that perhaps should not have been written. Awesome Scriptural truths are bandied about in ways that desensitize us to their weight and worth. References are made to the Lord as if he is simply our chum and every personal emotion and whim is a signal as to his will (too much reliance on inner feeling). We speak in a certain way in certain company because we feel we are expected to, and must keep up with those expectations, and because we do not wish to be shamed or shunned in hyper spiritual society. There are conventions of speech in Christian company towards which we feel the pressure to conform, when God knows that our lips would out-pace our hearts at a given moment and that cautious reserve would be more in tune with honesty and rectitude. There are things going on in human hearts and where it is nobody’s province to pressurize or pry inquisitively and intrusively. Spiritual over-confidence in some persons makes them overbearing and offensive to others in an invasion of privacy that is repellent and not expressive of the sensitivity of Christ who allowed his hearers room to ruminate and react, hence the enigmatic couched in his parables.

Over the course of time there are proverbs and adages that have come to be understood in ways that are a complete reversal of their original meaning ( e.g “A rolling stone gathers no moss”, is an exhortation to constant activity, and not a rebuke for lack of acquisition). There are Christian truths that have become trite or even untrue because of overuse or misuse, and are ingrained in the common consciousness in a manner that is misleading and harmful if not re-examined. “God loves you” is hardly reassuring unless subject, verb, and object are carefully explained, and the assurance carelessly given can even lead to dangerous complacency or disappointed cynicism. The invitation to “accept Christ” and the claim to have “received Christ” can foster the notion that our choices are ultimately determinative in the matter of our salvation. And the concept of “opening the heart to Jesus” again promotes the idea that we permit our salvation by allowing his entry. Revelation 3:20 (Behold I stand at the door and knock) is an approach to lapsed believers and not unbelievers, and the knocking to which the Saviour refers is heavy battering and not a gentle tapping on the portal to the heart. It is the Lord of the heart exercising his proprietorial prerogative. The mere verbal or emotional response to a suggestion that we should “open our heart” is not a guarantee that it is Christ’s. It may be the result of coercion and not indicative of conversion. Grace must initiate and accompany the desire, and human compulsion or compliance cannot cause the realities of faith and fulfilment. Some methods of personal and public evangelism that are intended to “clinch the deal”, as it were, are artificial and unfruitful. Receiving Christ is the result of prevenient (preceding) grace. His interior operations and influences cause his entry and indwelling of the human soul. The objective exertion of divine power precedes and enables the subjective attitude of openness to God and the exercise of confidence in him.

Christ is a gift from God prior to his being a gain for us. He is given to our grasp. In the first instant we are passive as he brings life to our spirit and in the moment of our awareness of his coming to us we accept his arrival with warmth and trust and gratitude and joy. Our acceptance is not permission, but recognition of his suitability, sufficiency, and desirability. Our closing with Christ (embrace of him) is what the gospel announces and invites. The work of the Spirit facilitates our concurrence with the gracious will of God. The call of the gospel and the call of the Spirit coalesce in the conversion of the soul and the change of the heart.

Receiving Christ is the result of his first move upon us and within us. It is a heavenly bestowal in the same sense in which we receive the life giving rays of the sun. Even more dramatically, receiving Christ, the principle of new life communicated through his person, is synonymous with the manner in which we receive natural life in the womb of our mother. We reach out to him and welcome him after the donation of the miraculous capacity to respond. The acceptance of him is the God-given awareness of his Saviourhood, the confidence in his reliability, and the affection born of his mercy. Receiving Christ on the basis of the gospel command and invitation is a universal responsibility, but the ability has been forfeited through our preference for sin and the fallen-ness of our nature. Acceptance of Christ follows the restoration of ability in regeneration and that is why conversion is such a glad moment. We have our first taste of true freedom. We are glorying in grace. Expressions such as “receiving Christ”, or “accepting Jesus” are never to be construed as assertions of divine dependence upon human action and as events in which we can take credit or pride. The “love of God” ought never to be conceived of in terms of universal favour that rules out the necessity of reconciliation with God through the costly sacrifice of the cross of Christ. Always the proclamation of the word of God is to be God-centred.

When Christ is truly received he is already resident in the heart. He has wooed and won it. “The Lord opened her (Lydia’s) heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14). He has begun a good work that he will surely finish (Philippians 1:6). The guarantee is his permanent indwelling as the keeper and compass of the soul.

When Christ is living within the human heart it is transformed into the likeness of the divine nature, expressing (imperfectly) the righteous and gracious characteristics of God. Speech becomes serious and sincere. Actions become authentic and not just an act. Sobriety and celebration go hand in hand. There is a personal communion with the Lord Jesus and not merely a profession of his name. His nature is within us renewing and directing our nature in the resemblance of his perfect humanity. His Spirit is restoring the divine image to its pristine condition. The only proof of Christ received is the evidence of Christ in residence. RJS

(Jeremiah 6:14)

July 11, 2010

The depth of our appreciation of Christ depends upon the depth of our awareness of sin and the dimensions of his love toward the sinful. It is impossible to rely upon him, really trust him, and live in gratitude towards him until we are conscious of our absolute need of him and the measures he has taken to rescue us from our plight and restore us to peace with God. Religious faith, confidence, and practice is superficial and futile until it deals with the fact of sin and its seriousness. The church of God is the clinic of the soul, and its necessary skills are diagnosis and deliverance - the detection and declaration of the spiritual diseases of human nature and the application of the remedy wrought by our Redeemer. Christ is the Healer of our hearts and our hearts cannot engage with him in any authentic way until we begin to comprehend and experience his restorative grace freely despatched from heaven and dispensed from his cross. The tragedy recognized by Jesus was the rarity of the sense of soul sickness that created the knowledge of the need of a physician, and the danger for mankind is the dread of and distaste for the divine diagnosis written in Holy Scripture. We instinctively shrink from the truth that reveals the inwardness, extent, and gravity of our illness and seek solace and relief in first aid rather than surgery. It is impossible to apply and appreciate the cure of the gospel until we have some grasp of the condition of the soul. The probing power of the Word is not popular and we alleviate our discomfort with mere palliative treatment and regular doses of pacifying placebos.

It has been a continuing trend within the life of the church to endeavour to administer a cure without an accurate estimation or intimation of the condition, and because so often its people are doctored lightly the consequence is that they know the things of Christ and his salvation slightly. In some extreme cases there is an air of flippancy about the things of God, the casual application of smatterings of truth to matters of this world alone with an absence of awareness of concerns that are eternal. In other cases there is a disdain for seriousness and the fostering of a dubious joy based on the notion of "cheap grace" that assures its devotees that all is well. But this kind of faith and joy is transient and fading. The church can draw many to itself that it fails to draw to God and it can impart a false comfort to those who have not truly come.

The disparity between the message of Scripture and the messages of the church is alarming. A genuinely saving message is a low priority. Hearts are not humbled because of sin, and made contrite before God. Self esteem is heightened and a sense of personal complacency confirmed that translates into an attitude of entitlement before God. Our alienation from him on the basis of our rebellion is ignored, and our expectations of blessing are kindled on the grounds of our creation by him without reference to our responsibilities toward him. Sin is trivialized or explained away and the exoneration of our moral waywardness precludes the exercise of repentance and our resort to the way of atonement provided by Jesus Christ. Worship becomes the celebration and gratification of humanity at one with its Creator but oblivious to the fact of the disobedience of our ways and the evil of our natures that separate us from God and expose us to his displeasure. The truth about sin and salvation has been substituted by a sentimental universalism that pervades Christian persuasion of many stripes. The slogan "God is love" has replaced the description of that love as grace to the unworthy, unlovely, and undone. The One we have offended audaciously and unendingly makes amends for our offences at infinite cost and brings us back from our deserved doom and the second death of eternal punishment in total isolation from God and the torture of an implacable conscience that can never be calmed, and regrets that can never be eased. It is when guilt and condemnation are squarely faced that we begin to gain a glimpse of the mercy of God and our desperate need of it.

A gospel of false assurances is exceedingly cruel. Celebration and confidence devoid of truth is a fatal brew however pleasing to the palate. Spontaneity, gaiety, exuberance, good feelings, are no proof in themselves of genuine Christian joy. The natural man is very happy if he is led to believe that all is well with him forever on the basis of a diluted and carnal version of the gospel that does not preach law, God's holy requirements of us (But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord. Jeremiah 8:7), that leads to conviction of sin and compels us to run to Christ for forgiveness and reconciliation. Sin must be disclosed by God's method of law preaching before grace can be discovered "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." (Galatians 3:24). We must come to hate our sin before we find the happiness of knowing God. Multitudes are duped into thinking that they are finding God whilst indeed they are being taken by deceivers along a false route that circumvents the way of the law. They are misinformed of their condition and therefore miss the benefits of the divine cure. Presumption has supplanted faith in the phenomenon of much contemporary religion. The situation is not new but ever recurring.

Jeremiah, the so-called "weeping prophet", was grief stricken at the casualness and superficiality of the religion of his day. It was prevalent, popular, and impatient of careful inspection through the principles of divine revelation. It suited the mood of the people, filled the temple, and facilitated their lax morality and convenient approach toward their obligations to God. Jeremiah witnessed a scene of overwhelming faithlessness and spiritual fraudulence. God's ministers were complicit in the crimes of the populace. In moral terms the people were broken and helpless and Jeremiah mourned that together prophets and priests, "Dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14 & 8:11). Rather than tend to the people's brokenness the ministry of Jeremiah's day contributed to their brazenness. They had assurance without salvation. They were ignorant of their condition and settled for a bogus cure or credited themselves with a bill of good health. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31). Refusal of the way of repentance is the renunciation of salvation, the rejection of the medicine of the soul. The gospel cannot bless us until the law breaks us, hence the observation of John Duncan: "It is easy to invite rebels to return to God, if there be a keeping out of view of the cause of the quarrel between the rebels and God". There are many religious rebels who have not relinquished their rebelliousness. but deem themselves right with God through healing that is slight. How can the atonement of Christ avail for those who see no need for the healing of their heart and the healing of their broken relationship with God? "Sane adult men never come to experience the benefits of Christ's salvation who are destitute of some knowledge of his person and work" (A.A.Hodge). We must know our condition and we must find our cure in Christ.

RJS

July 5, 2010

Peter was a seasoned professional. People who know their trade well and work hard and skilfully at it are extremely admirable. They have an air of competence about them and that creates confidence in them. There is something awe-inspiring about a true expert and Peter was an expert fisherman. The Sea of Galilee (Gennesaret) was a large lake, some thirteen miles long and seven miles wide. It was approximately seven hundred feet below sea level. Strong winds would blow across the lake and sudden storms would make it hazardous. With his long experience Peter could read the lake and the sky with accuracy. He knew where to find the best catch and at what time. He was aware of the dangers to avoid. He was capable of maintaining his vessel and tackle for safety and efficiency. He would be bold in bargaining for the best prices for his catch for he knew only too well that fish from Galilee were sought for the best tables in the Roman Empire and that their export was a booming trade. Peter was a multi-talented, multi-tasking individual of great intelligence and ability. He was probably multi-lingual also, as many Jews were, and it would have been of great advantage to his vocation in business negotiations. Peter was a fisherman, a handyman, a trader. His conscientiousness indicated high standards and enormous expertise, but he was out of his depth when confronted by the commanding supremacy of Christ in knowledge, purity, and purpose. The master fisherman had to defer to his heavenly Master in obedience, penitence, and occupation.

At the shoreline of the lake Jesus was standing and observing the men he was about to call. He was observing the parallel between the calling they had followed in their family business from youth and the calling he would issue to them on that very day - a day ordained before time began. Crowds began to gather around him eager for the word of God. As he preached the people pressed in upon him and as their numbers increased Jesus looked for a more prominent and protective position from which to address them. At the water's edge it was obvious that the two boats moored there were empty and not in use. The men he had been closely watching were tending their nets and Jesus took advantage of the situation. Selecting Peter's boat he summoned him to push out a few yards into the water and then Jesus, seating himself, began to teach the people. In one single action The Lord was delivering the word of God and demonstrating Peter's future ministry. Peter was receiving a new education. His preoccupation was with his nets and Jesus diverted his attention to the word of God. The boat he prized as essential to his profession became the vehicle of proclamation.

Peter's second lesson followed fast upon the completion of the Saviour's sermon. The skilful fisherman had had a wasted and wearying night plying the waters of the lake without success. The nets were empty and all effort had been futile. Suddenly Jesus issued an instruction to a man accustomed to making his own sound decisions. "Put out into deep water, and let down the net for a catch" (v4). Jesus' former trade was carpentry and his present occupation open air preaching. How could he advise another who knew his own game so well? Nonetheless, Peter had discerned the authority of Jesus in his reputation and teaching, and whilst making it clear that he had his doubts, he concurred with Jesus' command. "But because you say so, I will let down the nets" (v5). The result was remarkable. The catch was so abundant that Peter and his crew had to call for help (vv6&7). Several strong men and two stout boats that almost sunk had to bring the numerous fish to land.

The authority and guidance of Jesus were evident. Peter had been excelled in his own area of expertise. Peter had met with the absolute impossibility of hauling full nets ashore. He knew his job and had proven that fish were not present in that section of the lake where Jesus had bidden him to steer. He had tried fishing where the water was deep and he had failed, not having caught anything. But at Jesus' bidding "school was in" and from the shoal of fish Peter learned that he had a divine Master before him to whom he had to submit. It was an intimidating encounter and an astonishing event. In the presence of Jesus, Peter felt his own arrogance and self-confidence melt away. Wilful independence knelt before divine sovereignty. Though dimly perceived intellectually, a mere man felt his littleness and unworthiness before his Lord's displayed supremacy, and accordingly Peter was being prepared to respond to the summons Jesus was about to pronounce. "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men" (v10).

Peter had so much to ponder and his reflections would enrich his epistles. Jesus had arrested the fisherman's attention through his message. With instant adaptability he had claimed Peter's craft for the craft of preaching. From Peter's boat he showed his power over creation, the sea and the fish, and revealed his credentials for being in command of men also. In the boat Peter learned the wisdom of Jesus' instruction and the consequent obedience that Peter must render to the reliable word of God. From the boat Peter witnessed the marvelous effect of the word through the instrumentality of compliant men. Far surpassed in his own expertise Peter registered the fear of divine superiority and capability. These things had been brought home to him in profound ways that he could appreciate and could not dispute. He was being primed for discipleship, his magnificent confession, his arduous ministry, and ultimate martyrdom. Through features of his worldly calling he was being shown the features of a higher calling. He was to launch out on a new venture and capture men with the gospel net. But always it was to be under the captaincy of Jesus with the drawing power of the word.

First impressions, however effective and accurate, need to be followed by further and even deeper impressions. The impact of truth increases as we concentrate upon it. Peter had much to learn and unlearn, but he as always the learner. The lessons by the lake had immediate effect. He was humbled. He glimpsed something of Jesus' majesty and felt his own sinfulness. Though he would withdraw Jesus drew Peter to himself. Peter's refusals, denials, and false ways would dog him at various stages of his life but in the divine desires he was a wanted man. His call was to be the pre-eminent part in his life. Nothing could reverse the call of God. Peter and his partners instantly had to forsake a worthy calling for one far more worthy and demanding. They recognized its importance and obeyed immediately, abandoning all that they knew and had for the knowledge and service of Jesus (v11). Their career and the way that Jesus had creatively employed it in his teaching pointed to their new employment and they came to see that the sovereign Lord must bid them to their task and bless them in it. Nature had shaped and informed them to some extent for the role they were to fulfil. Now they were recruited for a supernatural cause and they were utterly dependent on Jesus for the calling and catch. He was demonstrably their Master and Enabler. The word, its spokesmen, and its power come from Jesus.